PAID CONTENT FOR WAKATOBI RESORT


Wakatobi Resort SOUTHEAST SULAWESI, INDONESIA


OFFERING FANTASTIC SNORKELLING AMID A TROPICAL PARADISE, WAKATOBI RESORT IS A GREAT CHOICE FOR FANS OF WATERSPORTS AND GUESTS WHO WANT TO RELAX


Wakatobi Resort is a boutique property where Indonesian bungalows and villas are ensconced in a palm grove facing a white sand beach. Guests enjoy attentive personal service, gourmet dining, spa therapies and all the amenities one would expect from an upscale destination. The Wakatobi house reef is one of the world’s best


snorkelling experiences. Shallow-water swims here take place in a pristine and biodiverse ecosystem that’s home to more than 700 coral species and thousands of varieties of fish and invertebrates. But it’s not just the aquatic flora and fauna that consistently earn this site top accolades. Wakatobi combines a journey of in-water discovery with a five-star, remote-island travel experience. In the early 1990s, Swiss explorer and diver


Lorenz Mäder embarked on a multi-year quest to locate the finest coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. This search eventually led to a small island in central Indonesia’s Sulawesi Sea. The area, then known as the Tukangbesi archipelago, was once labelled an ‘underwater nirvana’ by diving pioneer


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Jacques Cousteau. Mäder was equally fascinated by what he called the most stunning coral reefs he’d ever encountered and was inspired to create a diver’s outpost to give others access to this special place. This was the genesis for Wakatobi Resort. And


with its founding, Mäder also ushered in a new benchmark for community-based sustainable tourism. Before breaking ground on the resort, he visited local villages and met fishermen and influential elders to offer a unique proposition. In exchange for honouring specific ‘no-take’ zones within his proposed marine preserve, the resort would dedicate a portion of guest revenue to making direct payments to the community. As a result of this cooperative effort, Wakatobi’s reefs remain in pristine condition, and sustainable fish harvests outside the preserve’s no-take areas have actually increased. Mäder’s efforts also changed the map


— literally. The name for his resort, ‘Wakatobi’, is a combination of the first two letters of each


of the region’s four major islands: Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko. As Wakatobi Resort gained fame in diving and snorkelling circles, the entire region was increasingly referred to as Wakatobi. In 2002, the Indonesian government created the Wakatobi National Park and the following year, the Wakatobi Regency was officially established. In 2012, Wakatobi was named a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. The snorkelling experience at Wakatobi begins


with concierge airport services on arrival in Bali, followed by a charter flight to the resort’s private airstrip. The resort employs five staff for every guest to ensure the highest level of individual attention. This makes Wakatobi the area’s largest employer, giving local communities further incentives to participate in reef conservation programmes.


Superlative diving The centrepiece of Wakatobi’s marine preserve is the house reef, which lies just offshore from the


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