Nihi Sumba began with a wave. In 1988 Claude and Petra Graves came to this beach in West Sumba looking for surf, found the break now called Occy's Left and built a resort they named Nihiwatu, after the beach. In 2012 the American entrepreneur Chris Burch bought it with the hotelier James McBride, and their investment turned a surf camp into one of the most talked-about resorts in Asia. It spreads across 560 acres with two and a half kilometres of sand, and the 31 villas run from one-bedroom Sumbanese houses with private pools to family estates and a treehouse, all with butlers. Horses are central: guests swim with them in the sea as the tide goes out and ride the beaches and trails, and retired horses live out their days at Nihioka. The Spa Safari begins with a trek, ride or drive to the Nihioka Valley, breakfast on a treehouse platform and treatments in open bales above the ocean. The Sumba Foundation, founded in 2001, runs clinics, clean-water projects and school lunches in villages across the west of the island. Pasola, a horseback ritual set by the lunar calendar, falls in February or March.
- Nearest airport
- Tambolaka Airport (TMC), 25 Miles / 41 Kilometres
- Rooms
- 31 villas and estates
- Taken whole
- Full resort buyout: 31 villas and estates
Insider tip Keep a full day for the Nihioka Spa Safari, and book a swim with the Sandalwood horses timed to the falling tide.
Why I choose it A wild Indonesian island with a living culture, where the resort's work in the villages is as much a part of the stay as the surf and the horses.
