The hotel's new owner, Chris Burch (the US retail entrepreneur and co-founder of Tory Burch), lounges in an Adirondack chair nearby. He's on the island to formalise his relationship with Nihiwatu's creators, Claude and Petra Graves.
The deal should extend the resort's visibility beyond the surfing community, while ensuring future profits will be channelled into The Sumba Foundation, which is the philanthropic concern Graves will continue to help drive.This includes tackling the very real issue of malaria, so far reduced by 86 per cent within a 20km radius of Nihiwatu with a convincing strategy overseen by health director Dr Claus Bogh.
But that is not the only strand of the foundation's work: it has already provided 172 villages with clean water and is also addressing education and malnutrition.
Evidence of success in every village I visit is brought into sharp relief by those island communities that haven't yet been reached by the foundation. Indeed, there's still much to do: another five to eight years work and about £5 million, says Bogh, and there's a chance malaria can be eradicated island-wide.
It's a bold statement, and one the resort's new owner says he will take on board. First, he has to ensure Nihiwatu turns a decent profit - and attracts the kind of traveller who might engage with local issues. For this, Burch will rely heavily on another shareholder, James McBride, the South African-born former manager of The Carlyle in New York, who originally brought Graves and Burch to the table.'When I first came here, the rawness and the tribal culture felt like Africa,' says McBride.
'Then I dug deeper and began to understand the foundation's goals and the islanders, and that changed everything. I had to help make it work.
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