Nihiwatu beach was discovered by Claude and Petra Graves in the spring of 1988. At that time they were at the end of a two and a half week long trek along 60 miles of the rugged southwest coast of Sumba in search of a location on which they planned to build a small resort.

Their intent was to do something that would make a difference in their lives and for their neighbors living nearby the resort that they would build. Their dream slowly became reality but not without hardship.

For the first three years they lived without clean water, refrigeration or electricity. They lived on the edge of the jungle, six hours from the nearest town and medical facilities, just as their Sumbanese neighbors did.

Their daily routine was to rise early to fish the sea so that they could eat. Then they would spend hours pumping dirty creek water through filters for water that was safe to drink, and their spare time would be spent in the traditional villages to gain an understanding the culture they had immersed themselves in.

At the onset of the construction of Nihiwatu in 1991 they divided their work responsibilities. Petra would become the designer, the accountant and the teacher to the villagers who showed up to work each day.

She taught them basic hygiene, cooking and English and paid them daily. Claude was the project engineer and construction manager whose first task was to build an eight mile road to access the building site.

In the first months of work there were only a dozen villagers who showed up daily to work, but over time the number would rise to more than 500. Many from this original crew would stay on to work in the completed resort and now have become leaders in the local community; they are also the main asset of Nihiwatu resort.

The Graves’ became intimately involved in the lives of their neighbors and committed themselves to help in any way they could. The experience they gained during their early years at Nihiwatu laid the foundation for what would become the mission of their resort and what would later transform, with the help of good friends, into The Sumba Foundation.