> > by Rachael Oakes-Ash
Nihiwatu attracts an eclectic celebrity crowd so take your dark glasses. The Hermès fashion family book Nihiwatu out for two weeks every year and the visitor’s book features signatures from Layne Beachley, Mark Occhilupo and their surfing friends drawn to the resort’s famous surfbreak.
ECO-CREDNihiwatu’s Sumba Foundation focuses on sustainable education of local staff, the building of medical clinics, clean water wells and schools for the island’s community and has significantly reduced the number of malaria cases on the island.
All waste at the resort is recycled, the generator works on biodiesel fuel, they utilise a bio mass treatment for waste water, no trees are cut on the 480 hectares and a turtle hatching program keeps the local underwater wildlife breeding.
ROMANCE FACTOR
Blue curaçao waters break onto a two kilometre private beach. Come sunset the local ponies come down to the ocean to bathe. Watch from the deck of your cliff top bungalow or sup cocktails barefoot on the sand bottom bar.