Untouched island paradise in Indonesia: Bawah Reserve is an escape from the world not far from Singapore

There are certain milestones by which life is supposedly measured — marriage, children, a mortgage, the purchase of a serious coffee machine and then the realisation that buying a house is, in fact, one of life’s other financial catastrophes.

Bawah Reserve makes a fairly persuasive argument to ignore the lot.

This tightly held collection of Indonesian islands throws a middle finger at the Maldives and comes populated by excellent food and people whose job is to make sure nothing troubles you.

Yes, this is living — this is the milestone you’ve been looking for.

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Bawah — because let’s shorten it — is nothing other than brilliant. And to think it’s but a three-hour trip from the door of any decent Singapore hotel. To be honest, the journey here plays into the sense of seduction — Bawah is not somewhere you accidentally end up after missing a turn 3km after leaving a rural airport. It requires a 50-minute ferry across to Batam, followed by a one-hour seaplane (each leg escorted) that drops towards six forested islands arranged around three extraordinary lagoons. As the plane descends, the ocean becomes a particular shade of blue that Photoshop’s spent years trying unsuccessfully to replicate. The landing is on water. There is no terminal, no Uber, no gent in ruffled black suit holding a board with a mangled spelling of your surname. There’s just a jetty, jungle, reef and the wonderful realisation that civilisation and its layered noises have been left behind.

Hyacinthe de Bougainville is not only a great name but that of the French naval officer who was the first European to sail the Anambas islands in which Bawah sits. That the 1825 logbook and descriptions made by the younger de Bougainville — his father, Louis, was the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe — were recounted in The Greatest Works Of Jules Verne and inspired Verne’s wider tales of adventure furthers the very real presentation of Bawah as a proper paradisiacal pin-up.

Bawah’s modern, more luxurious story comes built around Tim Hartnoll — a British, Singapore-based shipping entrepreneur (he doesn’t like the word magnate) who came across the islands while sailing the Anambas in 2006. He came back. And again a few times more. He envisaged a future of wanting to do things differently, and so, with partners, Hartnoll purchased the islands and set about protecting them from the dynamite fishing that had damaged the surrounding marine environment. The result is an unusual piece of luxury escapism in that this is a resort that began not with the question of how much development the landscape could tolerate, but of how little.

That distinction is important. Because Bawah is Indonesia done differently — far removed (literally and figuratively) from the Indonesia of beach clubs, infinity pools and the international luxury hotel’s usual interpretation of paradise, where the local culture is politely arranged around a European breakfast and beers.

Bawah feels more like an improbable marriage between Indonesia, Fiji and the Seychelles — the Indonesian warmth and colour, Fiji’s barefoot sociability and the African islands’ sophistication and dense sense of lush. It was designed by Singaporean architect Sim Boon Yang and built with bamboo, driftwood, recycled and locally sourced materials, largely without heavy machinery.

Its 2018 opening took years, considerable logistical graft, no doubt a heady dollop of masochism and a level of patience that would have driven most developers into the sea. The objective was to create a resort that feels as though it’s always been there — and on this we cannot do anything other than stand and loudly applaud the obvious success. There’s no sign of a hotel being imposed upon the island — the buildings appear between the trees rather than replacing them, with sandy paths that wind through the foliage of palms and outstretched almond trees, the white sand beaches and waters the property’s stars.

Bawah holds 36 rooms, 11 being overwater bungalows, and a capacity of just 70 or so guests. ROAM stayed in a two-bedroom Deluxe Pool Villa, a place of complete solace directly on the edge of the lagoon, a 210sqm private compound that’s less hotel room than small tropical fiefdom, comprising two tented suites of roughly 70sqm each, open-air living and dining pavilion, enormous terrace and private pool. There are copper bathtubs, rain showers, twin basins, outdoor showers, comfy canopy beds, upscale coffee machine and 26 differing places to sit (yes, we counted them). It offers complete seclusion — a pavilion in which to slink and lose time. To read. To simply watch the lapping waters, accessed by walking all of a few metres, that dance the colour spectrum across any given day.

One afternoon we sat and tracked a large green turtle glide about the lagoon.

There’s serious temptation to come to Bawah and spend an entire stay doing absolutely nothing. And this is both allowed and encouraged. But the activities are so good that doing nothing also feels slightly irresponsible.

You can snorkel straight from the sands, out and around the main jetties and over corals that still hold bold swatches of colour and shelter a spectrum of marine life — from spotted yellow boxfish to a wealth of larger humphead parrot fish, darting clownfish and confident striped angelfish. Bluespotted ribbontail rays cut arcs as bold blue sea stars anchor a position, clams slam shut on your passing and shy moray eels retreat.

Snorkelling and dive tours to larger coral systems are also included. It’s here we swam with reef sharks and more turtles, were encircled by whole schools of fish and returned to the main jetty along a lagoon of impossibly clear water.

Kayaks are also on offer (head for Coconut Beach “out back”, where the team can also arrange a private picnic), so, too, are paddleboards and catamarans, and hikes across five trails reaching an elevation of 150m with stunning views across the archipelago and which shine at sunrise. There’s also a lush lawn tennis court, yoga and Pilates, SUP yoga and twilight meditation as well as a well-equipped waterside gym. Visit the permaculture garden, explore the architecture, go stargazing or help with coral transplantation.

Each Bawah stay comes with daily treatments (yes, daily) at the calming and multi-level Aura Spa, some rooms held high above with striking views back and across the trees to the water. Each visit begins with kunyit asam, a soupy and strong welcoming drink of turmeric and ginger and general greatness, before entering a calming state of massage, scrubs, facials, masks and more (know the Aura Spa treatment menu runs to 40-plus pages).

One of Bawah’s great luxuries is the offer of choice. Nothing is compulsory and there’s certainly no activities director blowing a whistle at 8am. Talk to your appointed and gently spoken “butler” about each day’s desires. Sail in the morning, snorkel some more, opt for a pre-lunch massage or read until an afternoon paddle in the lagoon. Bawah understands something many resorts don’t: adventure is considerably more enjoyable when you do things at your own pace.

The food follows a similar philosophy. There are two restaurants and two bars, from the laid-back Boat House on the sand, where bare feet are encouraged, to Tree Tops, where more formal meals are served amid the canopy looking out to sea. The Grouper Bar handles any central poolside drinks and Jules Verne offers elevated late-night tipples.

The cuisine, with menus designed and overseen by Michelin-trained executive chef Joaquin Soler, draws heavily on Indonesia and the region, alongside international influences. Produce comes from the island’s own organic gardens when it can, alongside sustainably sourced seafood.

From Island Aromatic red snapper, steamed in a kombu and lemongrass papillote, through to a delicate lobster carpaccio to gulai ayam (chicken curry) and a seafood paella heroing stone crab, menu items linger in memory — as does the indulgence of three courses, three times a day (if so desired).

Meals can also be taken behind closed villa doors for a nominal fee. Indeed, there were some guests who remained unsighted for the duration of ROAM’s stay.

Opposite the main island sits the exclusive Elang, a private buyout that’s said to have recently welcomed a certain Australian tech mogul and which is labelled a “mini-Bawah” by staff, mirroring all that’s available on the main island, with greater privacy across its six villas and seven rooms.

Hartnoll has said that his first impression of Bawah was it made him feel like the first person to discover a lost island. And that sensation has been deliberately and wonderfully preserved.

This never feels like an Indonesian resort. It feels like an undiscovered island that’s gently developed a peerless sense of sandy luxury that, frankly, is difficult to improve upon.

Bawah’s offer of luxury isn’t the waterside villa or the private pool or the copper bath or the seaplane or the service — although each are excellent. No, its real trick is the restoration of wonder.