Kokomo Private Island Fiji

Seen from the seaplane, Yaukuve Levu is a green hump of hills ringed with pale sand, lying inside the lagoon of the Great Astrolabe Reef off Kadavu in southern Fiji. Kokomo Private Island Fiji occupies the whole island: a line of villas along the beach, larger residences on the ridge above, and coral that begins within swimming distance of the sand.

History

The island was bought by Lang Walker, the Australian property developer behind Walker Corporation, one of the largest private development companies in Australia. He set out to build a private island resort to his own design, with his family closely involved, and the resort opened to guests in 2017. His name is attached to the hilltop restaurant, Walker D'Plank, and the island is still owned privately rather than run under a hotel chain's flag.

Architecture and design

The villas sit along the beach in their own planted gardens, each with a private pool and a deck facing the lagoon. Roofs are high and pitched, and timber, stone and woven materials are used throughout, a contemporary reading of Fijian building. The residences on the hill are houses with several bedrooms and their own staff, laid out for families and groups travelling together, and they look out over the reef towards the open Pacific.

Rooms and suites

The beachfront villas make up most of the accommodation and suit couples and young families. The hillside residences take larger parties, and the island can be booked in its entirety for a family occasion or a celebration. Children are welcome, and the resort runs a kids' club staffed by Fijians from the surrounding islands, so parents can dive or sleep late while their children are kept busy on the beach.

Dining

Walker D'Plank, on the hill, is the main evening restaurant and looks down over the lagoon and the reef. Other meals are served by the beach, and the staff will set up a table in a villa, on a sandbank or on a boat. The kitchen cooks fish from the surrounding waters and fruit, vegetables and herbs from the island's own gardens, with Fijian dishes alongside Australian and Asian ones.

Wellness

The spa stands among the trees above the beach and offers massage and body treatments using Fijian ingredients such as coconut oil. There is a fitness centre, and most days the main exercise takes place in the water: snorkelling, paddleboarding, kayaking or diving.

Weddings and events

Weddings are held on the beach and on the hillside, and the island can be taken over entirely, which gives a couple and their guests the run of the villas, the residences, the restaurants and the staff. The scale of the island keeps such gatherings small.

Location

Kadavu is the fourth-largest island in Fiji and one of the least developed, with few roads and many villages reached only by boat. The Great Astrolabe Reef, which curves around its northern side, is among the largest barrier reefs in the world. Divers come for its hard and soft corals, its reef sharks and above all its manta rays, which gather at cleaning stations not far from the island. The resort has its own dive centre with instructors, and snorkelling or diving with the mantas is the reason many guests choose this island over others in Fiji. Game fishing, sailing and island picnics are arranged by the resort.

Guests reach the island from Nadi International Airport on Viti Levu by seaplane or helicopter, a flight of roughly 45 minutes. There is no road link and no other hotel on Yaukuve Levu, so the resort runs as a closed world from arrival to departure. As a luxury resort in Fiji, its strengths are the reef on its doorstep, the privacy of a single-owner island and the welcome it gives to families.