Unravelled - Dolphin Island Fiji
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travel
unravelled MAY 12 2018
how
to spen
d it t
ravel
editi
on
423 COVER TC_PRESSNEWA.indd 1 26/04/2018 17:36
south
beatific
There’s a new optimism energising Fiji’s tropical islands,
as invigorated commitments to sustainability meet five-star
style. Kendall Hill gets a first look at Six Senses’ new South
Pacific idyll – before checking out the competition
L
egend has it the first settlers to Fiji So all these places around Malolo and the other forests of she-oak. The placid lagoon, a pale candy-
arrived on twin-hulled canoes after Mamanuca Islands have something special.” blue by the shore, deepens to cobalt beyond the
an epic voyage from southern Africa. Legend or not, that prophecy has come to pass. house reef. Seen from the water, it almost resembles
Knox Mudunavere knows the story Paradise hunters from around the globe now fly and a model Fijian village, except perhaps for the two
from his forefathers; he picks up sail to the Mamanuca Islands in search of tropical private marinas and the 35 swimming pools in
the thread as we sit high on Malolo island treasures. As the closest island chain to Nadi various comely configurations. But it is still a model
Island overlooking the very same sea international airport, the Mamanucas are one of Fiji’s community of sorts: a combined hotel and residential
route his ancestors sailed. more developed regions, and home to some of its colony with plans to eventually accommodate 60
“Long time ago in this island chain,” he begins, oldest or most prized destination resorts – Castaway, private homes (some of which will be available to rent
“when the first Fijians came from Tanganyika, they Tokoriki, Likuliku Lagoon and Vomo among them. through the resort), it is powered entirely by solar
came through a passage nearby, and the sea was The latest, and most newsworthy in some time, to panels and Tesla batteries. It supports a substantial
very choppy. Our ancestors had a blessing box with join them is Six Senses, which made its debut last farm of vegetable crops, fruits, herbs, chickens, bees
them – it was their treasure – and it fell off near month beside the exceptionally pretty beach in the and a pet pig named Sid – all managed by Mudunavere
Mana Island.” He nods towards Qalito Island, visible resort of Vunabaka on Malolo Island. The pitched – which supply the two main restaurants. Neither
on the northern horizon; Mana lies just behind. and thatched roofs of the resort’s 24 villas and 10 resembles anything Fiji has offered before. One of the private
“They went to collect it and one of them said, ‘No, residences (example in main picture), reminiscent of The Six Senses mandate for health and wellbeing, residences at the new
just leave it there. People will come from all over to the local bure huts, trim a horseshoe curve of creamy coupled with executive chef Ihaka Peri’s flair for Six Senses Fiji resort
walk on this place because the blessing will be here.’ white sand, backed by emerald hillsides crowned in innovation, have resulted in a resort with its own on Malolo Island
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Clockwise from left: a
seaplane arrival at the
private island resort of
Kokomo, in the Kadavu
Islands. Fiji’s reef breaks
This page: a beachfront make it a surfer’s paradise.
villa at Six Senses Fiji, One of five private
designed by New Zealand residences at Kokomo
architect Richard Priest,
with traditional grass
cloth wallpaper, mahogany
Arriving guests witness the Great Astrolabe
floors and a private pool Reef from the air as a halo of iridescent blue
Statistics, earnings doubled between 2006 and 2016, two are very different in
from FJD822m to FJD$1.6bn (about £293m to £570m), style but there are affinities
Perfumed gardens link the houses – half of them on the beach, and visitor arrivals hit a record high of over 800,000
in 2017. Such is the sense of optimism that the Fijian
in the stone privacy walls
and lavish landscaping,
half facing rainforest inhabited by endangered crested iguanas government has announced an ambitious plan to reap which at Kokomo is
$2.2bn from tourism by the end of 2021. tended by a team of 27
gluten-free bakery (there’s a wheat-friendly one, too) Six Senses’ comprehensive sleep, diet or yoga organisation SurfAid International, the vision was to In the relatively untouched Kadavu Islands, south of gardeners. Australian-born executive chef Anthony sunloungers and hammocks wait and infinity pools
and a bottling plant for drinking water and probiotic programmes would bring most benefit. create a community sustainable enough to leave Malolo the capital Suva, workers have just put the finishing Healy, also ex-Laucala, has created an extraordinary seem to melt seamlessly into the lagoon.
sodas. All can be found at the café and bar above the The Vunabaka developers are a group of mostly New in a better state than he found it. “It’s about being a touches to Kokomo (pictured top and above), the private biosphere of plants and animals to provision his kitchens Kokomo’s most precious asset is the Great Astrolabe
marina, just by the ice creamery and gourmet deli, Zealander friends, drawn here by the beauty of the responsible citizen of the world,” he says. island resort of Australian property magnate Lang with everything from vanilla beans and honey to seafood, Reef; arriving guests witness it from the air as a halo of
while at the retro grocery, pantry items are stored in setting and a love of the ocean. Lead architect Richard The other compelling drawcard of Malolo for wave Walker. Its 21 beachfront villas and five residences harvested by a team of six fishermen. iridescent blue encircling the Kadavu group of islands.
glass jars and served in paper bags. In the beachfront Priest, also from New Zealand, is known for designing chasers like Griffiths is its proximity to top-rated surf actually opened over a year ago, but Walker has only just Unlike Laucala, Kokomo is very much a resort for Staff have identified more than 40 dive sites, from caves
Tovolea restaurant – a lofty longroom with chef’s table spare, elegant beach houses (baches). He drew spots such as Cloudbreak, the left-breaking barrel finished realising his dream. “I thought maybe A$10m families, and despite now having 60 bedrooms spread to giant bommies – all virtually untouristed, given
and lounge bar that spill onto a sundeck and 25m inspiration for Vunabaka from Christian Liaigre’s design eulogised by world champion Kelly Slater. Watersports and 18 months to two years to get it up and running,” across villas and residences, it still feels intimate and Kokomo is the province’s only major resort. “Our dive
horizon pool – executive sous chef Pranil Prasad of Motu Tane, the French Polynesian private island of every complexion – including private speedboat says Walker. “It ended up taking five years and the fun. Accessible only by Kokomo’s helicopter and sites are still very much undiscovered,” says resort
delivers international plates of endemic ingredients, retreat of cosmetics titan François Nars. Hence the excursions to Tom Hanks’s Cast Away island Modriki – budget went many, many times over.” The fine-tuning seaplane (or by private yacht, by prior arrangement), manager Nathan Vassallo. “A lot are island sites that we
such as otta fern heads, ivy chestnuts and oyster- marriage of endemic architecture and neutral interiors – will be a defining feature of the activities roster. operations included expanding the alfresco waterfront the 21 beachfront villas capture sunrise or sunset views have rights to dive on.” During a snorkel off Qasibale
flavoured sea grapes plucked from the shore. At daily grass cloth wallpaper, mahogany floors and carved wood Six Senses’ debut coincides with a tourism boom in the diner Walker d’Plank, building a new gym and teenagers’ over raked ivory sands and translucent seas. The five Island, near a slip of palm-fringed sand used by Kokomo
happy hour, bartenders and chefs pair hors d’oeuvres panels. Sandy paths and perfumed gardens link the bures, Pacific nation that defies its intermittent political strife retreat, both of which opened last month, and adding residences enjoy panoramic outlooks to neighbouring for private picnics and barbecue dinners à deux, I discover
with “living” cocktails using fermented mixers and half of them assembled on the beach (example pictured and devastating storms. The last coup d’état was in 2006; the final foliage to a “spa journey” via moated gardens to islands over waters alive with turtles, manta rays and pastel corals shaped like antlers, brassicas, brains and
fruity vinegar shrubs. Such inspired ideas also define above) and half facing remnant rainforest inhabited by the last major cyclone was Winston, which entered the nine treatment rooms and Fiji’s first accredited hammam. dolphins. The bures are handsome, expansive spaces of lily pads, all arranged into living sculpture walls, as if
the four-roomed spa, where guests can mix their own 17 critically endangered Fijian crested iguanas. record books in February 2016 as the strongest storm to As part of his research for Kokomo, Walker stayed at plantation timbers, woven pandanus ceilings and Patrick Blanc had been down there in a wetsuit.
body scrubs and poultices at an Alchemy Bar and For Vunabaka director Andrew Griffiths, a former make landfall in the Southern Hemisphere. But tourism Laucala, the ultra-exclusive, $5,000-a-night Fijian resort timber joints fastened with magimagi-patterned coir. In the aftermath of Cyclone Winston, many Fiji
submit to biometric testing to determine which of investment banker and co-founder of the development barely flinched; according to data from the Fiji Bureau of owned by Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz. The Glass walls slide open to luminous beach scenes where properties were forced to close for repairs or full
howtospendit.com 37 38 howtospendit.com
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Clockwise from left: the
exclusive-use Dolphin Island
resort, off the northern coast
of Viti Levu. The eclectic
interior of Dolphin Island’s
restaurant/bar/lounge
pavilion. Diving destinations
abound in Fiji’s reefs
makeovers, meaning that today even veteran resorts
feel fresh. At tiny Dolphin Island (pictured top), off the
northern coast of Viti Levu, antipodean lodge queen
Virginia Fisher’s interiors look as crisp and cool as when
she completed them eight years ago, following a recent
refurbishment. There are just four suites in two pavilions,
set like sun temples on stepped platforms facing the water.
A third pavilion functions as a restaurant, bar and lounge
(pictured right). Over the hilltop on the windward slope,
an open-sided hut with netted bed and filtered views to An open-sided hut with netted bed and filtered views to Vanua
Vanua Levu stokes the fantasies of romantics or would-be
Robinson Crusoes. Across the island the lawns are
Levu stokes the fantasies of would-be Robinson Crusoes
immaculate and the sands groomed; a swing dangles
invitingly from the branch of a beach almond. Vunabaka in his youth to buy black-market beer person and includes return economy flights (with Air New
Best of all, Dolphin guests don’t share the 14-hectare from an old German guy who lived in a hut roughly Zealand/Fiji Airways via LAX); three nights at Kokomo Private
idyll with anyone they didn’t invite. Whether a couple, where the marina is now. That was 20 years ago. Island in a Beach Villa on a B&B basis; three nights at Six
or eight people or – in my case – just one, it’s always He didn’t recognise Malolo when he first came to Senses Fiji on a B&B basis; two nights full board, all inclusive
exclusive use. My private paradise for the night. work here. “After Vunabaka developed it, it’s different at Dolphin Island; all road, boat and seaplane transfers; and a
Would I like a snack? Champagne? How about some hey? It’s heaven on earth.” ✦ full-day guided trekking and cultural experience on Viti Levu.
lobster for dinner? Actually, no, a whole coral trout Dolphin Island, dolphinislandfiji.com, from about £1,027 full
just pulled from the sea will be perfect. Perhaps with FIJI WIZZ board. Kokomo Private Island, kokomoislandfiji.com, from
some prawns to begin, and a chilled Hawkes Bay Kendall Hill travelled as a guest of Original Travel $2,500 per night full board in a one-bedroom villa. Six Senses
Chardonnay. (No set menus; simply request your (originaltravel.co.uk), which offers a seven-night tailormade trip Fiji, sixsenses.com/resorts/fiji/destination, from about
culinary desire and it will be answered.) to Fiji from £4,500 per person, including return economy flights £714 per night B&B in a one-bedroom Hideaway Pool Villa.
Back atop the hill where we started, Mudunavere on Air New Zealand/Fiji Airways from Los Angeles International British Airways flies from London Heathrow to Fiji
reveals he used to sneak across to what is now Airport. Kendall Hill’s eight-night itinerary costs £10,600 per via Sydney four times a day, from £896.
40 howtospendit.com
423_Fiji_EU_PRESS.indd 5 27/04/2018
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