Once upon a time, 2012 to be exact, a girl named Rose arrived on Gili Air in Indonesia and instantly fell in love with this magical island. She found a job as a scuba dive instructor and started calling the ocean her office. She found a secret getaway in the middle of the island called Villa Nangka and started calling it her home. And there, under the Nangka tree, she fell in love again.
“ I didn’t plan on falling in love with him. And I’m pretty sure he didn’t plan on falling in love with me. But one day it was pretty clear that neither of us could control what was happening to us.”
The name of the man that stole her heart was Andreas. A freedive instructor that came to the island in the same year as she did. In September 2015 we found out that Villa Nangka, the place that we both call home, the place where we fell in love, was for sale. We looked at each other and started dreaming about how amazing it would be if they could buy the place. But with hardly any savings, no fixed contracts, and no assets, which bank would be so nice to give them a loan?
First rule in life: If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. We went from daydreaming to actively make plans and after two months of hard work, we got the money together to buy our dream.
Living The Dream
We opened the doors of our little paradise on the 30th of December 2015. Our big adventure started. For more than three years, we continuously tried to improve Villa Nangka and did countless renovations projects. Every time we thought we were almost done, we discovered something else that needed fixing and a new project was born.
As we only had just enough money to buy Villa Nangka we had to be very creative with the interior design of the villas. Almost every piece of furniture in Villa Nangka we sandpapered by hand and we spent hours and hours whitewashing. At one point our friends didn’t even look surprised anymore when we would rock up at their place still covered in paint.
But we loved (almost) every minute of it! It’s a great feeling to wake up every day and to do what you love most. Together with our boys we lived on the premises of Villa Nangka and welcomed guests from all over the world to our family. We can honestly say:
” It’s a fantastic experience to open the doors of your home to the World. To offer people a fun and memorable experience is priceless. It makes us incredibly happy to know that so many beautiful memories have been created in our little paradise.”
And Living Another Dream
Around the same time we bought Villa Nangka we started together with a friend our beloved Gili Shark Conservation Project. As we are both big oceans lovers we made it our mission to promote shark conservation efforts through education and research.
We spend a lot of time in the magical underwater world, but we also love to be in the field and give back to the wonderful community of Gili Air. We started a Plastic Free Paradise campaign to create awareness and reduce the use of single-use-plastic. Our goal is to educate locals as well as tourists and provide information about how you can leave nothing but footprints on our beautiful island.
What Can You Expect When Staying With Us?
The complete package! Villa Nangka is a place where you will immediately feel at home and where we – together with our wonderful staff – will make sure your stay will be a memorable and unforgettable one!
With love,
Rose, Andreas, Charlie & the boys
Opik, Angling, Ifan, Suhir, Ismael, Randi and Ano
p.s.: If you would like more information or share some good vibes with us, don’t hesitate to send us an email at info@andreasz1.sg-host.com.
*Villa Nangka is a product of PT Rumah Kupu Capung