Into The Wild takes readers on a journey into entrepreneur Chris Burchs exquisite luxury resort deep in the heart of Indonesias untouched Islands. The first time I went to the island of Sumba, in eastern Indonesia, was 20 years ago. I was on a friends yacht, and we had two well-known fashion luminaries on board. In their honor, a meet-and-greet was arranged, comprising some 200 horsemen. The Sumbanese galloped toward us on a long stretch of honeyed sand, whooping and screaming.
They rode bareback on short-legged, dish-faced Arabian ponies in a mock-charge, the men with machetes tucked into their belts. This was my first introduction to Sumbas unique tribal culture, with its warring clans and animistic belief systems, where villages are still made up of tall, thatched-roof stilted homesunique in Indonesia, the worlds largest archipelagoand large stone-slab graves scattered among the houses of the living. At funerals, horses and buffalo are slaughtered to ensure the deads passage to heaven; the corpse is repositioned so the deceased appears to be sitting. If there is any sickness in the community, a prognosis is given by reading the duodenum of a chicken.
That such a wild and unlikely place should attract the attention of American entrepreneur and retail billionaire Chris Burch appears extraordinary. Burch, who lives between Miami, New York, Southampton, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, commands a brand portfolio including C. Wonder, with previous successes like the Faena Hotel + Universe in Buenos Aires and Voss Water. At 61, Burch has already contributed to the rise of more than 50 companies. He is a larger-than-life characterprivate planes, penthouse apartments, glamorous ex-wives and girlfriends (fashion designer Tory Burch among them)with a straight-talking, Philadelphia-born humor that balances out his razor-sharp ability to cut to the core of a conversation.
For all his successes in business, Burch says he knew he was missing something in his life when at his fiftieth birthday party in Manhattan, he looked around and realized he cared nothing for the canaps, Champagne or conversation. He struggled to find any depth until eight years later, when he went on vacation to Indonesia, urged by his friend James McBride, the South African ex-manager of New Yorks Carlyle Hotel, and stayed at a little-known surf lodge called Nihiwatu on Sumbas west coast. Within a few months of that visit, Burch had partnered with McBride and bought Nihiwatu.
When I ask what drew him to a place so completely off the tourist map, Burch pauses to think. I had no interest in buying a hotel, he says. It just sort of happened. I found a place on this Earth where my six children and I could reconnect. Sumba is also the only place where I can truly relax. I hike. I walk through rice fields. I discover huge waterfalls where non-Indonesians have never been before, on an island where the culture hasnt changed for 500 years. Its crazy.
Nihiwatu sits on one of the worlds most extraordinary beaches: a one-and-a-half-mile- long stretch of golden sand washed by ocean spray, backed by a gentle rise of jungle-covered hills. At low tide, clusters of black rocks are revealed on the empty beach, their bases eroded by the ocean until they look as if they might topple with the next breath of wind. On the western end of the beach is a left-hand breaka perfect curl of blue crested in white foam on which only a few surfers ride at any one time. It was the quality of this waveamong the surfing cognoscenti, the Nihi break has a world-class reputationthat accounts for the existence of the original lodge Burch purchased, built by American surfer Claude Graves. Burch has since spent some $25 million on Nihiwatu and further land acquisitions to upgrade the property, as well as develop a second resort, Nihioka, scheduled to open in 2016.
On two visits in as many years, I have stayed at both the old and the new Nihiwatu, which in both iterations remains my favorite resort in the world. Sure, the resort has gotten more expensivebut also more luxurious. The foot-in-the-sand surfer bungalows were torn down and replaced with villas with private pools, giant stone baths and outsized four-posters swathed in mosquito nets. In place of the wholesome buffet-style surfer lunches of old Nihiwatu are sophisticated Asian dishes (many Indonesian) from Bernard Primm, an international chef who cut his teeth with man Resorts on Bali. There is also a new beach club, Nio Beach Club, for wood-fired pizzas and grilled fish caught off the nearby sea by guests and staff.
The easygoing Boho style of the original Nihiwatu has taken on a more professional nature, instilled by McBride. This translates to tighter service, as well as additions like a game-and-movie room for teenagers and a big spend on new watersports equipment, including powerboats, jet skis and a scuba center, all of which is headed up by Hawaiian big-wave hunter and free diver Mark Healey. With the new Nihiwatu, Burch and McBride have put the property on a global stage alongside resorts where the sheets are perfect, the wines are French and the pedicures are as good as they get.
With these upgrades, Nihiwatu will attract travelers who may have always loved the idea of the wild island of Sumba but balked at rooms that were more rustic than polished. Last summer, finishing touches were made to the headline villa: Burchs five-bedroom house, rented out in his absence, which has the most commanding views of all with the waves breaking below. But even with these changes, the new Nihiwatu will stop short of attracting guests who dress to the nines for dinnerwhich I realize when I head to the 1950s-style, clinker-built Boathouse. The spot remains the beating heart of the resort, where the watermen hang out and guestswho include some of Europes first families in fashion, luxury goods and superyachtscasually sip mojitos as the sky turns pink and the tide pulls back over the reef below.
It is these guests and their donations that account for nearly 90 percent of The Sumba Foundations funds, a philanthropic organization designed to benefit the local people. It was founded in 2001 by Gravesby then a long-time Sumba residentand Sean Downs, an American tech millionaire who had visited Sumba on a surfing holiday a year before. Indeed, if the Boathouse is Nihiwatus heart, then the foundation is Nihiwatus conscience. Through visits to local villages as well as an up-front call to arms by the foundations staffwho urge guests to look beyond the resorts boundaries to understand the poor nutrition, health and education that afflict the Sumbaneseguests are converted to a more generous way of thinking.
Nihiwatu is not like other luxury resorts, or like other businesses I am involved in, says Burch, noting that any profit the resort turns will be returned to the community. It is quiet and peaceful. It is defined by the island and the people who live here. This place is a feeling; its not an object, like a handbag. When I press Burch harder to unravel all the emotion he clearly has invested in Sumba, he says, I can talk to you about projects that make me rich. But Nihiwatu is the one that makes me happy. nihiwatu.com; donations to The Sumba Foundation can be made through sumbafoundation.org. Find the full feature in our Fall edition of ONE Life Magazine.
Chris Burchs treasure on the Indonesian island of Sumba is one part luxury resort, one part untamed beauty. Welcome to the new Nihiwatu.
Fall 2014s edition of ONE Life magazine shines a light on world trends, culture and design as the proprietary lifestyle publication of ONE Sothebys International Realty. With the launch of the latest issue, were blogging the unique content available in this exclusive publication. Into The Wild takes readers on a journey into entrepreneur Chris Burchs exquisite luxury resort deep in the heart of Indonesias untouched Islands.
Chris Burchs treasure on the Indonesian island of Sumba is one part luxury resort, one part untamed beauty. Welcome to the new Nihiwatu.
The first time I went to the island of Sumba, in eastern Indonesia, was 20 years ago. I was on a friends yacht, and we had two well-known fashion luminaries on board. In their honor, a meet-and-greet was arranged, comprising some 200 horsemen. The Sumbanese galloped toward us on a long stretch of honeyed sand, whooping and screaming. They rode bareback on short-legged, dish-faced Arabian ponies in a mock-charge, the men with machetes tucked into their belts.
This was my first introduction to Sumbas unique tribal culture, with its warring clans and animistic belief systems, where villages are still made up of tall, thatched-roof stilted homesunique in Indonesia, the worlds largest archipelagoand large stone-slab graves scattered among the houses of the living. At funerals, horses and buffalo are slaughtered to ensure the deads passage to heaven; the corpse is repositioned so the deceased appears to be sitting. If there is any sickness in the community, a prognosis is given by reading the duodenum of a chicken.
That such a wild and unlikely place should attract the attention of American entrepreneur and retail billionaire Chris Burch appears extraordinary. Burch, who lives between Miami, New York, Southampton, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, commands a brand portfolio including C. Wonder, with previous successes like the Faena Hotel + Universe in Buenos Aires and Voss Water. At 61, Burch has already contributed to the rise of more than 50 companies. He is a larger-than-life characterprivate planes, penthouse apartments, glamorous ex-wives and girlfriends (fashion designer Tory Burch among them)with a straight-talking, Philadelphia-born humor that balances out his razor-sharp ability to cut to the core of a conversation.
For all his successes in business, Burch says he knew he was missing something in his life when at his fiftieth birthday party in Manhattan, he looked around and realized he cared nothing for the canaps, Champagne or conversation. He struggled to find any depth until eight years later, when he went on vacation to Indonesia, urged by his friend James McBride, the South African ex-manager of New Yorks Carlyle Hotel, and stayed at a little-known surf lodge called Nihiwatu on Sumbas west coast. Within a few months of that visit, Burch had partnered with McBride and bought Nihiwatu.
When I ask what drew him to a place so completely off the tourist map, Burch pauses to think. I had no interest in buying a hotel, he says. It just sort of happened. I found a place on this Earth where my six children and I could reconnect. Sumba is also the only place where I can truly relax. I hike. I walk through rice fields. I discover huge waterfalls where non-Indonesians have never been before, on an island where the culture hasnt changed for 500 years. Its crazy.
Nihiwatu sits on one of the worlds most extraordinary beaches: a one-and-a-half-mile- long stretch of golden sand washed by ocean spray, backed by a gentle rise of jungle-covered hills. At low tide, clusters of black rocks are revealed on the empty beach, their bases eroded by the ocean until they look as if they might topple with the next breath of wind. On the western end of the beach is a left-hand breaka perfect curl of blue crested in white foam on which only a few surfers ride at any one time.
It was the quality of this waveamong the surfing cognoscenti, the Nihi break has a world-class reputationthat accounts for the existence of the original lodge Burch purchased, built by American surfer Claude Graves. Burch has since spent some $25 million on Nihiwatu and further land acquisitions to upgrade the property, as well as develop a second resort, Nihioka, scheduled to open in 2016.
On two visits in as many years, I have stayed at both the old and the new Nihiwatu, which in both iterations remains my favorite resort in the world. Sure, the resort has gotten more expensivebut also more luxurious. The foot-in-the-sand surfer bungalows were torn down and replaced with villas with private pools, giant stone baths and outsized four-posters swathed in mosquito nets. In place of the wholesome buffet-style surfer lunches of old Nihiwatu are sophisticated Asian dishes (many Indonesian) from Bernard Primm, an international chef who cut his teeth with man Resorts on Bali. There is also a new beach club, Nio Beach Club, for wood-fired pizzas and grilled fish caught off the nearby sea by guests and staff.
The easygoing Boho style of the original Nihiwatu has taken on a more professional nature, instilled by McBride. This translates to tighter service, as well as additions like a game-and-movie room for teenagers and a big spend on new watersports equipment, including powerboats, jet skis and a scuba center, all of which is headed up by Hawaiian big-wave hunter and free diver Mark Healey. With the new Nihiwatu, Burch and McBride have put the property on a global stage alongside resorts where the sheets are perfect, the wines are French and the pedicures are as good as they get.
With these upgrades, Nihiwatu will attract travelers who may have always loved the idea of the wild island of Sumba but balked at rooms that were more rustic than polished. Last summer, finishing touches were made to the headline villa: Burchs five-bedroom house, rented out in his absence, which has the most commanding views of all with the waves breaking below.
But even with these changes, the new Nihiwatu will stop short of attracting guests who dress to the nines for dinnerwhich I realize when I head to the 1950s-style, clinker-built Boathouse. The spot remains the beating heart of the resort, where the watermen hang ou and guestswho include some of Europes first families in fashion, luxury goods and superyachtscasually sip mojitos as the sky turns pink and the tide pulls back over the reef below.
It is these guests and their donations that account for nearly 90 percent of The Sumba Foundations funds, a philanthropic organization designed to benefit the local people. It was founded in 2001 by Gravesby then a long-time Sumba residentand Sean Downs, an American tech millionaire who had visited Sumba on a surfing holiday a year before. Indeed, if the Boathouse is Nihiwatus heart, then the foundation is Nihiwatus conscience. Through visits to local villages as well as an up-front call to arms by the foundations staffwho urge guests to look beyond the resorts boundaries to understand the poor nutrition, health and education that afflict the Sumbaneseguests are converted to a more generous way of thinking.
Nihiwatu is not like other luxury resorts, or like other businesses I am involved in, says Burch, noting that any profit the resort turns will be returned to the community. It is quiet and peaceful. It is defined by the island and the people who live here. This place is a feeling; its not an object, like a handbag.
When I press Burch harder to unravel all the emotion he clearly has invested in Sumba, he says, I can talk to you about projects that make me rich. But Nihiwatu is the one that makes me happy.
nihiwatu.com; donations to The Sumba Foundation can be made through sumbafoundation.org
Find the full feature in our Fall edition of ONE Life Magazine. Click here to subscribe to all future issues.
Fall 2014s edition of ONE Life magazine shines a light on world trends, culture and design as the proprietary lifestyle publication of ONE Sothebys International Realty. With the launch of the latest issue, were blogging the unique content available in this exclusive publication. Into The Wild takes readers on a journey into entrepreneur Chris Burchs exquisite luxury resort deep in the heart of Indonesias untouched Islands.
Chris Burchs treasure on the Indonesian island of Sumba is one part luxury resort, one part untamed beauty. Welcome to the new Nihiwatu.
The first time I went to the island of Sumba, in eastern Indonesia, was 20 years ago. I was on a friends yacht, and we had two well-known fashion luminaries on board. In their honor, a meet-and-greet was arranged, comprising some 200 horsemen. The Sumbanese galloped toward us on a long stretch of honeyed sand, whooping and screaming. They rode bareback on short-legged, dish-faced Arabian ponies in a mock-charge, the men with machetes tucked into their belts.
This was my first introduction to Sumbas unique tribal culture, with its warring clans and animistic belief systems, where villages are still made up of tall, thatched-roof stilted homesunique in Indonesia, the worlds largest archipelagoand large stone-slab graves scattered among the houses of the living. At funerals, horses and buffalo are slaughtered to ensure the deads passage to heaven; the corpse is repositioned so the deceased appears to be sitting. If there is any sickness in the community, a prognosis is given by reading the duodenum of a chicken.
That such a wild and unlikely place should attract the attention of American entrepreneur and retail billionaire Chris Burch appears extraordinary. Burch, who lives between Miami, New York, Southampton, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, commands a brand portfolio including C. Wonder, with previous successes like the Faena Hotel + Universe in Buenos Aires and Voss Water. At 61, Burch has already contributed to the rise of more than 50 companies. He is a larger-than-life characterprivate planes, penthouse apartments, glamorous ex-wives and girlfriends (fashion designer Tory Burch among them)with a straight-talking, Philadelphia-born humor that balances out his razor-sharp ability to cut to the core of a conversation.
For all his successes in business, Burch says he knew he was missing something in his life when at his fiftieth birthday party in Manhattan, he looked around and realized he cared nothing for the canaps, Champagne or conversation. He struggled to find any depth until eight years later, when he went on vacation to Indonesia, urged by his friend James McBride, the South African ex-manager of New Yorks Carlyle Hotel, and stayed at a little-known surf lodge called Nihiwatu on Sumbas west coast. Within a few months of that visit, Burch had partnered with McBride and bought Nihiwatu.
When I ask what drew him to a place so completely off the tourist map, Burch pauses to think. I had no interest in buying a hotel, he says. It just sort of happened. I found a place on this Earth where my six children and I could reconnect. Sumba is also the only place where I can truly relax. I hike. I walk through rice fields. I discover huge waterfalls where non-Indonesians have never been before, on an island where the culture hasnt changed for 500 years. Its crazy.
Nihiwatu sits on one of the worlds most extraordinary beaches: a one-and-a-half-mile- long stretch of golden sand washed by ocean spray, backed by a gentle rise of jungle-covered hills. At low tide, clusters of black rocks are revealed on the empty beach, their bases eroded by the ocean until they look as if they might topple with the next breath of wind. On the western end of the beach is a left-hand breaka perfect curl of blue crested in white foam on which only a few surfers ride at any one time.
It was the quality of this waveamong the surfing cognoscenti, the Nihi break has a world-class reputationthat accounts for the existence of the original lodge Burch purchased, built by American surfer Claude Graves. Burch has since spent some $25 million on Nihiwatu and further land acquisitions to upgrade the property, as well as develop a second resort, Nihioka, scheduled to open in 2016.
On two visits in as many years, I have stayed at both the old and the new Nihiwatu, which in both iterations remains my favorite resort in the world. Sure, the resort has gotten more expensivebut also more luxurious. The foot-in-the-sand surfer bungalows were torn down and replaced with villas with private pools, giant stone baths and outsized four-posters swathed in mosquito nets. In place of the wholesome buffet-style surfer lunches of old Nihiwatu are sophisticated Asian dises (many Indonesian) from Bernard Primm, an international chef who cut his teeth with man Resorts on Bali. There is also a new beach club, Nio Beach Club, for wood-fired pizzas and grilled fish caught off the nearby sea by guests and staff.
The easygoing Boho style of the original Nihiwatu has taken on a more professional nature, instilled by McBride. This translates to tighter service, as well as additions like a game-and-movie room for teenagers and a big spend on new watersports equipment, including powerboats, jet skis and a scuba center, all of which is headed up by Hawaiian big-wave hunter and free diver Mark Healey. With the new Nihiwatu, Burch and McBride have put the property on a global stage alongside resorts where the sheets are perfect, the wines are French and the pedicures are as good as they get.
With these upgrades, Nihiwatu will attract travelers who may have always loved the idea of the wild island of Sumba but balked at rooms that were more rustic than polished. Last summer, finishing touches were made to the headline villa: Burchs five-bedroom house, rented out in his absence, which has the most commanding views of all with the waves breaking below.
But even with these changes, the new Nihiwatu will stop short of attracting guests who dress to the nines for dinnerwhich I realize when I head to the 1950s-style, clinker-built Boathouse. The spot remains the beating heart of the resort, where the watermen hang out and guestswho include some of Europes first families in fashion, luxury goods and superyachtscasually sip mojitos as the sky turns pink and the tide pulls back over the reef below.
It is these guests and their donations that account for nearly 90 percent of The Sumba Foundations funds, a philanthropic organization designed to benefit the local people. It was founded in 2001 by Gravesby then a long-time Sumba residentand Sean Downs, an American tech millionaire who had visited Sumba on a surfing holiday a year before. Indeed, if the Boathouse is Nihiwatus heart, then the foundation is Nihiwatus conscience. Through visits to local villages as well as an up-front call to arms by the foundations staffwho urge guests to look beyond the resorts boundaries to understand the poor nutrition, health and education that afflict the Sumbaneseguests are converted to a more generous way of thinking.
Nihiwatu is not like other luxury resorts, or like other businesses I am involved in, says Burch, noting that any profit the resort turns will be returned to the community. It is quiet and peaceful. It is defined by the island and the people who live here. This place is a feeling; its not an object, like a handbag.
When I press Burch harder to unravel all the emotion he clearly has invested in Sumba, he says, I can talk to you about projects that make me rich. But Nihiwatu is the one that makes me happy.
nihiwatu.com; donations to The Sumba Foundation can be made through sumbafoundation.org
Find the full feature in our Fall edition of ONE Life Magazine. Click here to subscribe to all future issues.
Fall 2014s edition of ONE Life magazine shines a light on world trends, culture and design as the proprietary lifestyle publication of ONE Sothebys International Realty. With the launch of the latest issue, were blogging the unique content available in this exclusive publication. Into The Wild takes readers on a journey into entrepreneur Chris Burchs exquisite luxury resort deep in the heart of Indonesias untouched Islands.
Chris Burchs treasure on the Indonesian island of Sumba is one part luxury resort, one part untamed beauty. Welcome to the new Nihiwatu.
The first time I went to the island of Sumba, in eastern Indonesia, was 20 years ago. I was on a friends yacht, and we had two well-known fashion luminaries on board. In their honor, a meet-and-greet was arranged, comprising some 200 horsemen. The Sumbanese galloped toward us on a long stretch of honeyed sand, whooping and screaming. They rode bareback on short-legged, dish-faced Arabian ponies in a mock-charge, the men with machetes tucked into their belts.
This was my first introduction to Sumbas unique tribal culture, with its warring clans and animistic belief systems, where villages are still made up of tall, thatched-roof stilted homesunique in Indonesia, the worlds largest archipelagoand large stone-slab graves scattered among the houses of the living. At funerals, horses and buffalo are slaughtered to ensure the deads passage to heaven; the corpse is repositioned so the deceased appears to be sitting. If there is any sickness in the community, a prognosis is given by reading the duodenum of a chicken.
That such a wild and unlikely place should attract the attention of American entrepreneur and retail billionaire Chris Burch appears extraordinary. Burch, who lives between Miami, New York, Southampton, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, commands a brand portfolio including C. Wonder, with previous successes like the Faena Hotel + Universe in Buenos Aires and Voss Water. At 61, Burch has already contributed to the rise of more than 50 companies. He is a larger-than-life characterprivate planes, penthouse apartments, glamorous ex-wives and girlfriends (fashion designer Tory Burch among them)with a straight-talking, Philadelphia-born humor that balances out his razor-sharp ability to cut to the core of a conversation.
For all his successes in business, Burch says he knew he was missing something in his life when at his fiftieth birthday party in Manhattan, he looked around and realized he cared nothing for the canaps, Champagne or conversation. He struggled to find any depth until eight years later, when he went on vacation to Indonesia, urged by his friend James McBride, the South African ex-manager of New Yorks Carlyle Hotel, and stayed at a little-known surf lodge called Nihiwatu on Sumbas west coast. Within a few months of that visit, Burch had partnered with McBride and bought Nihiwatu.
When I ask what drew him to a place so completely off the tourist map, Burch pauses to think. I had no interest in buying a hotel, he says. It just sort of happened. I found a place on this Earth where my six children and I could reconnect. Sumba is also the only place where I can truly relax. I hike. I walk through rice fields. I discover huge waterfalls where non-Indonesians have never been before, on an island where the culture hasnt changed for 500 years. Its crazy.
Nihiwatu sits on one of the worlds most extraordinary beaches: a one-and-a-half-mile- long stretch of golden sand washed by ocean spray, backed by a gentle rise of jungle-covered hills. At low tide, clusters ofblack rocks are revealed on the empty beach, their bases eroded by the ocean until they look as if they might topple with the next breath of wind. On the western end of the beach is a left-hand breaka perfect curl of blue crested in white foam on which only a few surfers ride at any one time.
It was the quality of this waveamong the surfing cognoscenti, the Nihi break has a world-class reputationthat accounts for the existence of the original lodge Burch purchased, built by American surfer Claude Graves. Burch has since spent some $25 million on Nihiwatu and further land acquisitions to upgrade the property, as well as develop a second resort, Nihioka, scheduled to open in 2016.
On two visits in as many years, I have stayed at both the old and the new Nihiwatu, which in both iterations remains my favorite resort in the world. Sure, the resort has gotten more expensivebut also more luxurious. The foot-in-the-sand surfer bungalows were torn down and replaced with villas with private pools, giant stone baths and outsized four-posters swathed in mosquito nets. In place of the wholesome buffet-style surfer lunches of old Nihiwatu are sophisticated Asian dishes (many Indonesian) from Bernard Primm, an international chef who cut his teeth with man Resorts on Bali. There is also a new beach club, Nio Beach Club, for wood-fired pizzas and grilled fish caught off the nearby sea by guests and staff.
The easygoing Boho style of the original Nihiwatu has taken on a more professional nature, instilled by McBride. This translates to tighter service, as well as additions like a game-and-movie room for teenagers and a big spend on new watersports equipment, including powerboats, jet skis and a scuba center, all of which is headed up by Hawaiian big-wave hunter and free diver Mark Healey. With the new Nihiwatu, Burch and McBride have put the property on a global stage alongside resorts where the sheets are perfect, the wines are French and the pedicures are as good as they get.
With these upgrades, Nihiwatu will attract travelers who may have always loved the idea of the wild island of Sumba but balked at rooms that were more rustic than polished. Last summer, finishing touches were made to the headline villa: Burchs five-bedroom house, rented out in his absence, which has the most commanding views of all with the waves breaking below.
But even with these changes, the new Nihiwatu will stop short of attracting guests who dress to the nines for dinnerwhich I realize when I head to the 1950s-style, clinker-built Boathouse. The spot remains the beating heart of the resort, where the watermen hang out and guestswho include some of Europes first families in fashion, luxury goods and superyachtscasually sip mojitos as the sky turns pink and the tide pulls back over the reef below.
It is these guests and their donations that account for nearly 90 percent of The Sumba Foundations funds, a philanthropic organization designed to benefit the local people. It was founded in 2001 by Gravesby then a long-time Sumba residentand Sean Downs, an American tech millionaire who had visited Sumba on a surfing holiday a year before. Indeed, if the Boathouse is Nihiwatus heart, then the foundation is Nihiwatus conscience. Through visits to local villages as well as an up-front call to arms by the foundations staffwho urge guests to look beyond the resorts boundaries to understand the poor nutrition, health and education that afflict the Sumbaneseguests are converted to a more generous way of thinking.
Nihiwatu is not like other luxury resorts, or like other businesses I am involved in, says Burch, noting that any profit the resort turns will be returned to the community. It is quiet and peaceful. It is defined by the island and the people who live here. This place is a feeling; its not an object, like a handbag.
When I press Burch harder to unravel all the emotion he clearly has invested in Sumba, he says, I can talk to you about projects that make me rich. But Nihiwatu is the one that makes me happy.
nihiwatu.com; donations to The Sumba Foundation can be made through sumbafoundation.org
Find the full feature in our Fall edition of ONE Life Magazine. Click here to subscribe to all future issues.
Socials