Before Mark Shuttleworth became the driving hospitality force in São Tomé and Príncipe, a nation of two volcanic islands off Africa's western equatorial coast, he was merely looking for a place to get away. Living in London and with family in Cape Town, he has long had a stressful life as chief executive officer of Canonical Ltd., the company that developed the Linux-based operating system Ubuntu. "I was spending nights on Google Maps looking for islands along the way where I could be a vegetable and not feel bad about it," he says.

That's how he found Príncipe, where jungles crash into pearlescent beaches dotted with Jurassic-looking palms and vistas are interrupted by little more than the odd thatched roof and emerald hills. The seas hover around 80F (27C), and Technicolor reefs host vast troves of rare creatures endemic to the Gulf of Guinea.