Sustainable Resorts | Boomers Daily

Tetiꞌaroa is an atoll in the Windward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas territorial collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. Once the vacation spot for Tahitian royalty, the islets are under a 99-year lease contracted by Marlon Brando.

Marlon Brando

“My mind is always soothed when I imagine myself sitting on my South Sea island at night. If I have my way, Tetiaroa will remain forever a place that reminds Tahitians of what they are and what they were centuries ago.”

Marlon Brando first came to Tetiaroa while filming Mutiny on the Bounty and was immediately enchanted by the island’s rare beauty and the sense it gave him of being closer to paradise. Enthralled by the Polynesian way of life – and the leading lady Tarita, the love of his life – he resolved to find a way to own this piece of paradise and succeeded in his goal in 1967. It was in this natural wonderland that he settled down, and finally found a home.

Brando was passionate about preserving Tetiaroa’s natural beauty, biodiversity and cultural richness and was determined to find a way in which it could be a center for research and education, and a model of sustainability. He was convinced that this small atoll could bring good to the entire world.

In 1999 he asked Richard Bailey, a long-time resident of Tahiti who shared Brando’s passion for the environment and who had created some of the region’s finest resorts, to help him conceive a plan that would help Brando achieve his dream. Together, Brando and Bailey pursued a vision of creating the world’s first and foremost post-carbon resort—an island where innovative new technologies would enable a self-sustaining luxury environment for hotel guests, residents and scientific research. The Brando is the legacy of that shared vision.

From an Architectural Digest online review:

As a natural paradise rooted in sustainable luxury, only 5 percent of the island is developed, with the rest kept as a nature reserve. “It’s 400 acres of unspoiled jungle, lagoons, mangroves, and beaches that create intimate connections between the land and the traveler,” notes Benjamin Loomis, the architect and developer behind Isla Palenque Resort. From the people to the food to the design materials, everything is sourced locally (most even coming directly from the property).

Let’s strip it back to the basics. Imagine your own private island: 400-acres of lush rain forest with a rich archaeological history and secluded beaches accessible by foot from a beachfront casita. At Isla Palenque, a small private island on the western Pacific shore of Panama, this is exactly what guests are treated to: a sustainable and intimate escape that is the ultimate expression of barefoot luxury. A plane, an automobile, and a boat ride are the minimum requirements to get there, but once you arrive, allow the tide to kiss your feet while you sip a fresh fruit juice at sunset on a beach you have completely to yourself.