Explore Bawah Reserve: nature-first in Indonesia’s Anambas archipelago

A barefoot, back-to-nature beauty in Indonesia’s Anambas archipelago, Bawah Reserve is like a salve for the soul, writes Cathy Wagstaff.

My overwater bungalow at Bawah Reserve is just two degrees north of the Equator. Things are steamy outside, a situation that doesn’t change much from sunrise to sunset. But I’m determined to sleep with my doors open – I want to enjoy the sounds of the Java Sea below me and wake to the sunrise. From my balcony, a bedazzlement of stars unlike anything I’ve seen before swoops through inky infinity, like someone has doused the heavens with glitter. The sky never felt so big. There’s a lost-world remoteness to this blissful setting, where time seems to stand still.

Staying at Bawah Reserve

Nature’s antidote, Bawah Reserve, is as remote as it is ravishing, but getting here is part of the fun – a ferry ride from Singapore, then a seaplane to the resort. I notice my pilots are barefoot as we begin to pick up speed over the glossy ocean. It’s like a ‘switch off’ signal for the rest of my stay – glimpsing the reserve’s six gem-like, jungle-clad islands from the air only intensifies the pulse-slowing antidote.

The resort is the brainchild of Singapore-based shipping magnate Tim Hartnoll. He once dropped anchor here unexpectedly while on a sailing holiday and, like me, was instantly overcome by the beauty of the Indonesian archipelago. Most people don’t even know it exists – they expect me to be touching down in Bali. But the Anambas is a world away from the country’s most popular holiday destination, scattered between the peninsula of Malaysia and the island of Borneo. It’s far from anywhere else – the nearest inhabited island is two hours away.

Conservation front of mind

Hartnoll was aware of the past damage done to the archipelago’s coral reefs by dynamite fishing. With Bawah, he set about to preserve the ecology of both the land and the surrounding waters. Since the conservation-based resort opened in 2017, the area has become a protected marine reserve. When I get the chance to swim and snorkel, I spot green and hawksbill turtles – the resort has created a turtle nest and hatchery to ensure their numbers thrive – as well as bumphead parrotfish, butterfly fish, moray eels, blacktip reef sharks and ribbontail rays. A pirouette here, flick of iridescent fin feathers there, a dart through coral that waves in synchronised anticipation. A fellow traveller that has dived in the most popular places in the world tells me this is one of the most pristine sites and I can’t agree more. The brilliantly coloured corals are so healthy and mesmerising.

Fittingly, there are two on-site marine biologists employed to help this underwater habitat thrive, building coral tree nurseries and growing staghorn coral fragments to transplant into artificial reefs. They’re nurturing the most magnificent underwater world I have ever seen.

A dreamy island escape

On land, every island fantasy cliché comes into high resolution. The 36 accommodations – a collection of freestanding villas, tented suites, lodges and bungalows – of the resort sit on the main island, draped in the rainforest, beside the sand or over the water. One of the five satellites is home to Elang Private Residence, with space for 10 to 19 guests across two buildings crafted from thatched palm, recycled teak and hand-hewn rock. The rest of the Anambas are blissfully deserted, a patchwork of dreamy lagoons and powdery beaches (there are 13 of them).

Like other accommodations on the island, my overwater bungalow is all sustainable bamboo, driftwood and natural recycled materials. This was the vision of Singaporean designer Sim Boon Yang, who oversaw the development with minimal impact. He added canopied beds and copper bathtubs, hand-painted botanical murals and basket-shaped lighting. There are floor-to-ceiling windows throughout to frame the emerald green hues of the ocean. Seashells placed under cloches are a reminder of the resort’s reverence to nature.

Dine amongst the treetops

The resort’s four restaurants and bars are all open-air to catch cooling breezes, from Tree Tops and the Boat House to Grouper Bar and Jules Verne Bar, the latter named after the 19th-century author whose fantasy remote islands captured readers’ imaginations for decades. Both food and drinks take inspiration from the resort’s organic gardens and sustainably caught seafood. That might be local tuna with mango sambal, lamb satay on sugarcane skewers, coconut and lemongrass curry or petite prawn dumplings. You can even order breakfast to be served on a stand-up paddleboard, floating in the calm waters of the lagoon. Cocktails, meanwhile, come infused with garden herbs and spices like chilli, pandan and pink peppercorns.

I spend much of my time here taking daily cues from my pilot, padding between my villa and restaurants barefoot among a swirl of butterflies and the occasional monitor lizard. Wherever I go, it’s clear that conservation is at Bawah’s core: the shimmering field of floating solar panels, the plastic-free policy, the rainwater catchment and desalination plant, and the permaculture garden, which you can tour.

Exploring the pristine environment around Bawah Reserve

Many of the diversions on offer are inspired by the natural landscape as well. Scuba diving, catamaran cruises, kayaking, castaway picnics, stargazing, forest bathing, reef health monitoring, twilight meditation. Others nod to the location: Indonesian cooking classes, a jamu (health elixir) workshop, batikmaking and traditional dance lessons. A daily spa treatment is included in every stay, and I make the most of the generous offer. Massages use essential oils featuring island-grown ingredients like grapefruit, lemongrass, lavender and peppermint. There are body scrubs featuring Indonesian coffee and cinnamon, and body wraps infused with local cocoa powder, oatmeal and coconut milk. Facials harness the healing properties of raw honey and organic aloe vera.

Leaving paradise behind

As I return to Singapore, I walk along the pier to the seaplane and marvel at just how crystal-clear the ocean is: how can this concentration of tropical fish and kaleidoscopic coral be so close to shore? And how – as I discovered a few days earlier – does the intensity of the marine bounty elevate to such transcendent extremes after just a few minutes of flippering offshore? As I leave Bawah, I carry with me not just memories of its breathtaking beauty, but a renewed sense of purpose to protect such bountiful sanctuaries of nature.