Built by an Australia developer, Kokomo is a luxury resort like no other
The villas languish along the island’s beaches, with ultimate privacy due to their thick volcanic stone walls.
When Kokomo Private Island Resort’s manager tells the story of the 64kg giant trevally he wrestled on a line for 30 minutes before hauling it in and (thankfully) releasing it, it takes me back almost 50 years to another Fijian island, another tropical fish fighting for its life and another crystalline sea.
But that tropical fish caught by my father, Max, wasn’t so lucky. That delicately flavoured wahoo was barbequed and dished up on the lunch buffet to the well-heeled guests on Castaway Island in the Yasawa Islands some 234km north, when Kokomo Private Island Resort was probably just a glimmer in the eye of the late Australian billionaire property developer Lang Walker.
These days in the luxury stakes the 21-villa Kokomo Private Island Resort is an ultra top-tier Fijian property, reached by a Twin Otter seaplane helmed by two smiley, barefoot young American pilots. The seaplane takes off from Walker’s private airstrip, hangar and Kokomo lounge near Nadi airport. About 45 minutes later, after bobbing around through the cotton wool clouds over Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu, the seaplane descends after passing over the great coral reefs and rugged jungles of Kokomo.
Walker, who died aged 78 in January this year, declared he would not be held hostage to the vagaries and timetables of domestic airline operators, so he developed the private hangar and lounge and started his own aviation operation to ferry his wealthy guests to Kokomo.
On landing at the island, one can see why Walker often said the resort was the toughest development he ever attempted.
Kokomo’s infrastructure is breathtaking: spacious house-sized villas replete with sumptuously made-up beds dressed in soft white and beige linens coupled with vast stone bathrooms – both inside and outside each villa – dot the island. Each villa has its own private infinity pool and lavish outdoor entertaining space.
The villas languish along the island’s beaches, with ultimate privacy due to their thick volcanic stone walls. Larger villas are arranged atop the island’s commanding hilltops. One multi-generational Australian family rents a six-bedroom, six-ensuite, two-level villa multiple times a year.
Rates include food and non-alcoholic drinks, and you can hitch a ride on a passing golf buggy (the island has 30 such vehicles) to ferry you to one of the three restaurants, the gym or the spa.
My standout favourite eatery is Walker D’Plank, where there’s a new menu of Asian-inspired treats such as kung pao prawns or samosas on offer on a daily basis. Here you can sit back with a chilled Mexican rosé in hand and watch the antics of baby reef sharks’ feeding frenzies. Walker D’Plank has been described as tree-house-like in its decoration – and that is certainly true – but adding to its charm is the fact that it is positioned just a metre above the crashing waves.
For me, a Kokomo highlight is swimming with five manta rays one morning off a nearby island.
In June, the water is fizzing, it’s so clean, cool and crisp. It’s around 25 degrees so I don a wetsuit, mask and snorkel and followed Kokomo’s resident marine biologists, Viviana and Ma (who both trained at the University of the South Pacific in nearby Suva), to swim with these gentle creatures. The manta rays dip and glide as they go about cleaning and feeding and we are instructed not to get too close and certainly not to chase them.
The champagne-like water is brilliantly clear, the corals are bright, the tropical fish in abundance and the Australian family onboard is friendly; we cannot believe our luck. Other families see turtles and humpback whales on the outer reef.
Viviana and Ma offer beginner marine biologist courses including private tours of Kokomo’s coral gardens, or more advanced sessions where one can travel to Kokomo’s outer reef to assist with drone checks and work on manta identifications.
Back on the island, a visit to the farm which steps down the hillside and feeds Kokomo’s 307 staff and is responsible for providing around 20 per cent of the guest’s food is enlightening, particularly when we see Kokomo’s pristine beehives, avocado trees and chook pens.
The villas are surrounded by gardens of orchids, frangipanis, ginger and bright pink and purple bougainvillaeas, spilling over the volcanic stone walls. The island is a jungle of coconut trees, breadfruit, gotu kola, sea almond, Singapore daisy, layalaya and monarch fern.
For me the highlight is the food, historically not one of Fiji’s strong suits, with the food and wine in Walker D’Plank as good as anything dished up in Sydney and Melbourne. South African-born sommelier Stephen is familiar with the wines of the vast vineyards of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Europe. Apart from the Mexican rosés, we find German rieslings and special Californian wines as well as some of South Africa’s finest.
But it’s not only Kokomo that is raising the bar when it comes to Fijian hospitality and adventure. Sydneysider Allison Haworth West is offering expedition cruises aplenty to far-flung villages, surf breaks and reefs not previously accessible to Australians through Captain Cook Cruises.
From Fiji’s Port Denarau, Haworth West is hosting passengers on cruises through the Fijian islands to destinations including Tonga on her small ship MS Caledonian Sky which has ten Zodiacs, ten expedition leaders and 70 crew aboard. Born into Australia’s tourism royalty, Haworth West has been travelling to Fiji all her life. Daily activities aboard the MS Caledonian Sky include boat rides to uninhabited beaches, plunging off the back of the ship into the crystal clear waters of the Pacific, or perhaps a fitness session with a German instructor.
Passengers get the opportunity to dive on reefs no one has dived on before, swim on beaches that no one’s ever swum off, and front up to villages that no westerner has visited before. And after hectic days of beachgoing and swimming it’s all about cocktails, specifically margaritas, and three course tropical buffets come nighttime.
Lunch and dinner buffets can take place on the ship’s stern or on nearby tropical sandy beaches. If the weather is inclement there are more formal dinners arranged in the ship’s restaurant prepared by the ship’s expert European and Fijian chefs.
Haworth West has expedition cruises running until late October and some of the highlights include three, four, seven and 14-night trips.
A highlight is a day trip to Fulaga, an extinct volcano crater famous for its crystal-clear lagoons, colourful tropical fish and vibrant corals. Swimming in this aqua blue paradise and meeting local villagers and purchasing their hand-carved wooden turtle necklaces is a delight. Judging by the odd gleaming yacht, the place is a hit with in-the-know superyacht owners. First up, though, there’s a visit to Tivua Private Island’s coral gardens. Or you can just relax on the white, sandy beach.
The whole point of Captain Cook Cruises is the opportunity to visit places in Fiji that are not available to the average “flop and drop” tourist who has just landed from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. These cruises are the only way to reach some of these far-flung islands – creating new, undiscovered bucket list destinations. Who knew?
Checklist
Cruise: Seven-night Northern Lau Expedition cruises start from $7693 per person including all food, selected alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages and daily shore excursions; 14-night Southern Lau and Tonga Whale Migration expedition cruises start from $15,386 per person. Discounts apply to some cruises. captaincookcruisesfiji.com
Stay: Rates at Kokomo Private Island start from $US2,200 ($3,276) per night in a one-bedroom Sunrise Villa including breakfast, lunch and dinner, and non-alcoholic beverages, laundry and pressing, nanny services, kids and teens club, non-motorised watersports, resort facilities and land-based activities. kokomoislandfiji.com