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Villa Mamana was built in the late-1990s by Joe Altenhein and his Tongan wife Lola. Joe had come to Tonga in 1994 following a royal visit to Germany by the late King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. during which the king had invited German citizens to come and live and invest in his tiny kingdom. Joe, a pilot, had been looking for the right place to start his seaplane business in an island country with many islands and sandy beaches with shallow lagoons. He thought the Maldives were too Islamic, the Bahamas too screwed up, Fiji too Indian, but Tonga just right: very authentic, relatively untouched, with nice people and beautiful weather, and foreign investment officially welcomed. However, with the Government delaying the issuing of an operating license for his seaplane, he decided to wait and in the meantime build, as a support business to his original plans, Villa Mamana on Teleki'vavau. For more than six years he created, single-handedly, with just the occasional help from some local fishermen, this most exquisite resort. It must've been a labour of love because the logistics and the costs to transport material and build on this tiny and remote island must have been quite daunting. Eventually, with their two children needing schooling, Joe and Lola put Villa Mamana up for sale. FOR SALE The Villa Mamana is situated on deserted Telekivava'u Island in the South Seas' last kingdom, the Kingdom of Tonga, 37 nautical miles south of Pangai with its regional airport. This almost untouched part of Polynesia offers all the lonely island cliche could suggest: crystal clear waters, rich marine life, lush tropical vegetation, an authentic culture, and absolute peace of mind. The Villa (built in 1999) is right at the white beach and the shallow lagoon which surrounds the island. 3000 sq/ft of villa hold 2 1/2 bedrooms with ensuite marble bathrooms, the great room, two huge decks (which become part of the great room with the french doors opened), and a porch. All facing west to ensure beautiful sunsets over the warm South Pacific Ocean. High ceilings, wooden floors, teak furniture, and the light reflecting from the lagoon give the colonial style building its special charm. Amenities include: TV, VCD, Stereo, Satellite Phone, Fans, Washer, Workshop, Fishing Gear, etc. Further down the beach you will find the kitchen house of 700 sq/ft(fully equipped) with a studio, and a smaller house (500sq/ft) which is ideal as caretaker quarter. Included in sale are also a 40ft motor yacht, a 27ft gamefishing power boat, a runabout, two diesel gensets, two inverters, two battery banks, solar panels, desalination system, watertank and much more. After the sale to the current owners, Joe and Lola returned to Germany where they now operate a 'Hotel-Pension' in the centre of Berlin but still miss Villa Mamana. As Joe wrote, "We all had the best time of our lives on the island, and will always miss it - unless we find another island and build a 'Villa Mamana Lite' just for us."

Take one part sun-soaked, palm-lined beach, add hammock stretched between two palm trees, dash of ice-cold beer, and a pinch of gentle tradewinds, and finish with a twist of tropical sunset. It's easy to lose track of time in the land where time begins. Welcome to the South Sea Island Paradise of VILLA MAMANA on the island of Telekivava'u! The peace and tranquility of Ha'apai (in a South Pacific travel poster setting) is an experience not to be missed! If relaxing was an Olympic Games event, this is where you'd come to train! These are the islands where the famous mutiny on the Bounty occurred (could you blame them?), the Port-au-Prince was ransacked, and where Captain James Cook who found Ha'apai to be the perfect place for rest and relaxation and made long stopovers at Nomuka in 1774 and 1777 and Lifuka in 1783, dubbed Tonga "The Friendly Islands." The low coral islands lined by coconut palms along colourful lagoons and reefs, offer miles of deserted white sandy beaches where you can explore and linger as long as you like. Towering volcanoes can be found here too. In all there are 60 small islands in the Ha'apai Group, 17 of which are inhabited, and all are uniquely special. The traditional lifestyle of the locals is supported by fishing, agriculture and handicrafts. The friendliest people you can meet are here in Ha'apai. Caesar is to have said, "Let me have men about me that are fat". Well, he would have loved Tonga because the people of Tonga, by and large, are fat. They are proud to be fat. They want to stay fat. If they aren't fat enough by Tongan standards, they want to get fatter. Perhaps that's why "Fakalahi Me'akai" which means "Grow more food", is inscribed on every Tongan coin. And "The Complete Book of Running" would never make the bestseller list in Tonga. The only joggers here are foreigners while bulky Tongans sit in the shade and follow them with uncomprehending stares.

 

The South Seas have always been a favourite setting for romantic pictures ever since "Moana of the South Seas" and Dorothy Lamour. Somerset Maugham's famous "Rain" has been filmed several times, but never in the actual locale of the story, Pago Pago. Tahiti saw the filming of Nordhoff and Hall's novel "Mutiny on the Bounty", and Bora Bora was the inspiration for the same authors' "The High Barbaree", an exquisite story wretchedly pictured. "Return to Paradise", starring Gary Cooper, was filmed in the village of Lefaga in Samoa, some fifty miles from the port town of Apia, about as far away as one can get without leaving the island entirely. The village is straight out of a fairy story and the lovely bay on which it is located was for a few weeks in 1952 inundated by Hollywood. The tropical beaches surrounding Telekivava'u are even more paradisical but you share them with no one when you walk the few steps from VILLA MAMANA to the water's edge.

 

They inspire feelings of great passion and serenity ... they give people the opportunity to find themselves ... they are revered as paradise ... they provide a real, friendly community ... What is it about islands that has captivated millions of people around the world and through the centuries? In this penetrating, brilliantly written book that weaves travel, history, politics, personality, and ancient and popular culture into one compelling narrative, Thurston Clarke island-hops around the oceans of the world, searching for the explanation of the most passionate and enduring geographic love affair of all times - between humankind and islands. As you read this book and experience what Lawrence Durrell called an 'indescribable intoxication' at finding yourself in 'a little world surrounded by the sea', you may discover that islands are more liberating than confining, more contemplative than lonely, more holy than barbaric because they remove us from all the wickedness of the world. And you will feel totally liberated and completely removed from all the wickedness of the world at VILLA MAMANA on tropical Telekivava'u.

 

Have you ever wanted to chuck it all and spend the rest of your life on a South Sea island? Every ten years or so a pied piper with a literary bend comes along and captures so perfectly the haunting sound of surf on a South Pacific reef that the dreams of every reader are refurbished, and not a few actually cast off their humdrm routines and set sail for Tahiti, Rarotonga, and points south. Men such as Conrad, Maugham, Michener, Nordhoff and Hall have been caught in the spell of the islands, and they in turn have written so convincingly and compellingly of the Polynesian paradise that there has been a steadily increasing flow of bewitched believers - a flow that included footloose, carefree, resolute individualist Julian Hillas, the author of the book "South Seas Paradise". In 1930, when the full weight of the Depression was felt round the world, Julian Hillas found himself in Sydney, Australia, with a wife (whom he had married more for convenience than anything else), a car, little money and no prospect of employment. An old silent movie called "White Shadow in the South Seas" was playing in the local theatres and after seeing it for the third time Mr Hillas liquidated his limited assets, left half with his wife, and booked passage for the islands of the South Pacific. He has been living in the Cook Islands ever since. "South Seas Paradise" is his warm, refreshing, unusually candid and ungilded account of a thirty-year holiday spent rewardingly, if not exactly idyllically, in the pursuit of happiness. As Julian Hillas relives the best years of his life, it's just possible the reader may decide to get aboard the next jet, liner, or banana boat and join him. Or us at VILLA MAMANA on tropical Telekivava'u.

It is easy to fall under the spell of islands. They possess powers to heal us when our spirits seem frayed and our bodies feel battered. We dream of their slower pace of life, seek their simplicity, and covet their protective surrounding waters which isolate us from the frenzy of "mainland mania". Islands welcome us with fresh clean air, liberate our souls with their insouciance, entice us to think differently. They whisper lessons to us - to slow down, to rest, to rediscover ourselves." So reads the introduction to the book "Island Wise - Lessons in Living from the Islands of the World" by Janis Frawley-Holler. Read the book, then take your very best fantasy about a pristine South Pacific island, multiply it by a thousand, and maybe, just maybe, you might come close to envisioning VILLA MAMANA on tropical Telekivava'u.

 

I once met a man, not my husband, another man. He looked back on a life. What will you take with you into the dark? For me, I'll take the smell of a pearl shell, freshly opened, one late day on a beach." This whispered voice-over sets the perfect mood for "In A Savage Land", a richly satisfying and haunting movie filmed in the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea. It's a little like opening the cover of an adventure book, and tumbling down the rapids of life into a dangerous, uncertain world saturated with colour and contradictions. The story engages, the images stimulate the senses and our imagination is let loose. Set on a tentative backdrop of impending war, "In A Savage Land" is more than an adventure story. A genuine intrigue of another world and another time, it is an absorbing exploration of culture, taboos, traditions and superstitions. The memories of this movie will linger. And so will your memories of VILLA MAMANA on tropical Telekivava'u.