Bawah Reserve
A hundred hectares of land inside a thousand hectares of protected sea the reserve does not own.
Bawah Reserve holds six islands in the Anambas archipelago, a hundred and sixty nautical miles northeast of Singapore and reached only by seaplane. Bawah, Elang, Sanggah, Muerba, Batu Tokong and Lidi carry between them thirteen beaches, three lagoons and something over a hundred hectares of forest. The number that matters more is the other one. The resort sits at the centre of a marine conservation area of about a thousand hectares, where fishing, anchoring and the taking of marine life are prohibited. The water is ten times the land, and it is protected by designation rather than held by deed.
The islands were uninhabited. Tim Hartnoll, a Singapore shipping investor, and his partners bought the cluster with the stated intention of stopping the dynamite fishing that had been working the reefs, and the resort opened in 2017 as the means of paying for it. Anambas had been made one of Indonesia's first marine conservation areas in 2011. Everything was built by hand in bamboo, driftwood and reclaimed teak, without heavy machinery landing on the islands, and the place runs on a renewable microgrid with water made and recycled on site.
A holding that is mostly water. Land here is the smaller part of the territory and the least of the point. What the reserve exists to keep is a thousand hectares of sea it can influence but does not own.
Conservation as the business model. The islands were bought to stop something happening on them. The hotel came second and pays for the first, which reverses the usual order and is worth recording as such.
Who it is not for
Bawah is wrong for travellers who cannot fly in a small seaplane, which is the only way in and out. It is wrong for anyone who wants to fish or to take anything from the water, since the whole area is closed to both. It is wrong for guests who want a room with a television or reliable connection, because neither is offered in full. For an archipelago estate where the empty islands belong to the resort, Soneva Jani holds five in the Maldives.
Sources
- Operator record - six islands named Bawah, Elang, Sanggah, Muerba, Batu Tokong and Lidi, with thirteen beaches, three lagoons and more than a hundred hectares of forest; the resort sits within a marine conservation area of about a thousand hectares where fishing and anchoring are prohibited; access by seaplane from Singapore
- Independent coverage - the islands were uninhabited and were bought by Tim Hartnoll and partners to halt dynamite fishing; Anambas was designated one of Indonesia's first marine conservation areas in 2011; construction was carried out by hand in bamboo without heavy machinery
Verification
- Official source
- Not yet checked
- Sources disagree
- accommodation is published as thirty-five and as thirty-six suites, bungalows and villas.
- Property confirmation
- Pending
- Last verified
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Booking
Private Resorts arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the resort and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.
Request a proposalClassified by The Resort Collection House · The Register · Edition 2026 · LHL-E-125
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