Nihiwatu on the Indonesian island of Sumba has announced that it was acquired by entrepreneur J. Christopher Burch, founder and CEO of Burch Creative Capital, in partnership with hotelier James McBride.
Burch has been an investor in multiple technology and luxury brands, including C. Wonder, Aliph (Jawbone), NextJump, PowerMat, Voss Water and Tory Burch.
The 27 villa estate Nihiwatu is located on Sumba Island, some 55 minutes from East of Bali. The property boasts “absolute privacy, appropriate luxury, spectacular scenery and one of the best waves in the world-in short an un-touched exclusive hideaway in the ‘Archipelago of the Extraordinary’.”
Nihiwatu was created by Claude and Petra Graves.
Considered as one of the best examples of sustainable tourism, having won the Grand Award for Environmental Tourism PATA & Best Responsible Hotel Development (HICAP), Nihiwatu is said to still be committed to continuing the work of the charitable trust, The Sumba Foundation, established in 2001 to extend support to 20,000 islanders and provide clean water supply to villages while addressing malnutrition and education needs on Sumba. Ninety percent of the foundation’s donations come from hotel guests and all of the distributions are made directly to the local Sumbanese community.
The thatched private villas are set within a 580 acre estate comprising forested areas, open savannah and expanses of rice terraces of which only 65 acres are developed. The pink and beige hues of Nihiwatu’s adjacent sandy beach extends to two and a half kilometers (1.6 miles) in length with cliff headlands at each end providing exclusivity.
Nihiwatu is accessed through the international flights into Bali’s Denpasar International Airport with a weekly charter to Tambolaka Airport in West Sumba via Nihiwatu’s private charter or through local flight connections via Lion Air, Merpati Airlines and Aviastar Airlines.
