Love at first sight
In spring 2007 we went on holiday to Greece with our daughter. In the Netherlands I (Will) worked as a teacher at a school for secondary special education and Jan had his own interior carpentry workshop. In fact, we had never thought about living or working abroad. We had a nice life, family and friends. Until we ended up on the island of Kythera on this tour. At the same place and at the same time, love struck both of us. Suddenly there was the need, almost necessity, to live there.
But actually we were much too young. Yet we knew from the depths of our hearts that we didn’t want to wait until retirement. An island is not convenient then, because as a foreigner you usually work here in the tourist industry. If the weather is bad, boats and planes don’t go. That means no guests can come (or leave😉) And on an island everything is a lot more expensive than on the mainland. Enough arguments for us to look for a part of Greece where we have the same feeling.
Photos from ‘the old box’.
Autumn 2007
With the original ‘for sale’ sign from our olive grove!
That happened in the autumn of 2007. Earlier we had literally ignored the province of Messinia because the train we were traveling with at the time did not run in this area. Somehow we felt we had to come here but we knew nothing about this area. A fierce autumn storm raged for several days. And yet the atmosphere felt like a warm bath! Due to the enormous hospitality of the Greeks, we quickly felt at home. In the blink of an eye we decided that our future lies in this part of Greece.
Finally, in February 2017, we moved to our small paradise to live here permanently.
We introduce ourselves
Will
“I had a varied career before I started teaching at a later age. In the end I worked for 10 years at a school for Secondary Special Education.
When building Hakuna Matata Holidays, my inspiration came from what I like when I go on holiday in a place like this. Such as a basic stock of coffee, tea, herbs, etc. in the kitchen. Share great advice for a nice walk or a restaurant where locals meet. Born into a hospitality family, service was instilled in me from an early age. It makes me very happy when our guests travel home fully rested and yet full of new impressions and experiences.”
Jan
“In my younger years I sailed on merchant ships all over the world. In 1995 I retrained as an interior carpenter and started my own workshop. I built our lodges by myself with the help of Will and some friends.
Now we work together to create unforgettable experiences for our guests. I share my passion for the sea with many of our guests through the boat trips with our own boat. They often tell us the boat trip is the highlight of their holiday. I enjoy taking them to places where few people come and showing them the underwater world!”
Together we build our paradise
Why this place?
Jan found this beautiful olive grove. A magnificent view in all directions, here and there a dash of the Mediterranean Sea. The mountains of Agios Nikolaos in the west, the mountains behind Pylos, the plains to the east, many olive trees and a piece of state forest. Alternating with birds of prey, howling jackals in the evening, cheerful singing birds, the song of the crickets, the incredible silence and the infinity of the universe at a new moon.
Here we built our own mini-paradise. Between the olive trees, surrounded by nature and yet very easily accessible.
Our piece of happiness on earth that we like to share with our guests.
