A fantasy beach holiday may go like this: your boat cruises to a stop, bobbing gently over crystal-clear turquoise waters. You step onto soft white sand, and lush palm trees form a chorus line to welcome you to your tropical getaway.

As the only resort on Tengah Island off the coast of Johor, Batu Batu’s wooden villas and eight private beaches indeed fulfils this sunseeker’s dream.

But this isn’t just another good-looking holiday destination. This pristine piece of paradise in the South China Sea also serves as a refuge for endangered green and hawksbill turtles, a centre for environmental conservation and a model of responsible tourism.

A slice of paradise

Upon alighting at the resort jetty, we had barely taken 10 steps before being drawn to the shimmering seawater teeming with schools of needlefish. A few good minutes passed before we noticed all our fellow boat passengers were still hanging around the jetty, similarly transfixed by the view.

We eventually start strolling towards the villas, shaded by a canopy of coconut, bamboo and palm trees swaying gently in the breeze. I pause (again) for a closer look at the crystal-clear waters, which was when I spot large patches of seagrass and coral reefs – the first hint that a rewarding snorkeling experience awaits at Batu Batu.

As I settle into the spacious villa, I find a copy of the resort’s Green Guide on the coffee table, detailing Batu Batu’s environment and conservation initiatives. It also notes that the reefs surrounding Tengah Island are home to diverse marine life: critically-endangered hawksbill turtles, endangered green turtles, black tip reef sharks, clownfish, barracuda, moray eels, blue-spotted stingrays and more. Occasionally, some dugongs even swim by for a visit.

Resorting to conservation

Such abundant marine life is not something Batu Batu takes for granted, which is why its Co-founder and Managing Director Cher Chua-Lassalvy advocates a “tread lightly” approach in running the resort. 

Her care for the environment stems from a personal place, as Tengah Island used to be Cher’s family’s private retreat for close to 15 years. Her father, who bought the property “out of love at first sight”, was happy to keep things as they were. 

So in 2009, when her father proposed that they start a resort, protecting the natural beauty of a place they love was a priority.

Johor Marine Park — in which Tengah sits, together with popular island destinations like Pulau Rawa and Pulau Besar — has been affected by human activity such as illegal poaching, reckless anchoring and pollution over the years, causing reef health and marine life to decline. 

As such, the resort has been designed to limit negative impact from human activity. “We went from wanting to make sure we didn’t spoil the place by opening something here, to realising after a few years that our presence here meant that some things improved instead,” she shares.

For example, the coral reefs became healthier once boats were no longer allowed to anchor in the area in front of the resort, and turtles also returned to nest on the beaches. 

“Because we’re here, poachers no longer come onto the resort’s beaches – whereas on uninhabited islands there is less to stop them,” says Cher. 

“It started as ‘We don’t want to destroy the island’… and became ‘Can we actually regenerate it?’”

Cher Chua-Lassalvy Co-founder and Managing Director, Batu Batu

In 2017, Batu Batu founded Tengah Island Conservation (TIC), a non-profit “biodiversity management initiative” to focus on research, rehabilitation and regeneration of the island’s natural environment. 

Profits from the resort provide core funding for TIC, which has a team of five full-time marine biologists and environmental scientists stationed on the island. Since TIC began reef restoration efforts, it has seen reefs in its nursery grow up to 5cm per month.

Four-flippered freedom

We were listening intently to one of TIC’s Turtle Conservation Talks for resort guests, when we heard excited exclamations — TIC had just excavated a batch of late-to-hatch baby turtles, and were about to release them. 

Cue a dozen adults running out to witness this rare sight, and cheering on each tiny hatchling in their race to the sea.

The sea turtle hatchery was set up in 2015 to prevent turtle nests being poached — for sale and consumption — from the back of the island. Today, to protect even more nests, the TIC team conducts daily morning and night boat patrols around the seven neighbouring islands as well.

Between 2015 to 2019, TIC managed to protect 254 nests from poachers and predators, and released 17,581 endangered green and hawksbill turtle hatchlings into the ocean.

After the last tiny turtle found the way to its swim debut,  TIC Outreach Coordinator Mohammed Alzam, who was conducting our talk, shares that watching hatchlings being released to sea never gets old – and is in fact, his favourite sight on the island, followed by the black-tipped reef sharks, a relatively gentle species that’s generally harmless to humans. “There are lots of them around here. In the waters around Batu Batu’s restaurant, you can find seven to eight of them circling during low tide,” he adds.   

To support the hatchery,  guests can adopt a turtle nest for MYR300 (about US$72) or more; in turn, TIC provides sponsors with hatching statistics, photos of the baby turtles and recognition at the sponsored nests.

Trash talk

At Batu Batu, you can relax to the rhythm of waves crashing onto the rocks by the seaside pool, or knead your woes away with a traditional oil massage at the resort spa. 

For some outdoor action, kayak into the big blue, or hike through the island’s jungle where multiple lookout points offer panoramic views of the surrounding islands. 

Or consider the impact of human action on our planet; check with the TIC team on whether you can participate in its beach clean-ups. 

In 2018 and 2019, they collected close to 23,080 kg of mixed marine debris (which included 44,140 individual plastic bottles) and removed 10.56 tonnes of “ghost gear” such as lost fishing nets, through their beach and underwater clean-ups. 

At the end of each week, all recyclable items collected are sent to Clean & Happy Recycling in Mersing — the closest town 20 minutes away by boat. 

Aside from leading regular beach clean-ups, Batu Batu has also ventured into Mersing schools, conducting environmental awareness programmes.

“Tourism industries are where things are really beautiful. And if that beauty is destroyed, that destroys the tourism industry,” says Cher. “So if we really want to push change and develop sustainable tourism, we can’t sit here and preach. We have to try and win Mersing locals.”

Recalls Zam: “On my first day with TIC, [Cher] wanted me to come up with a proposal for the school programme right away! After months of discussion, we managed to come up with the name ‘PEDAS’, short for Pasukan Pendidik Ekologi Dan Alam Sekitar. 

“In Malay, this acronym has a double meaning: It has an environmental theme, but also means ‘hot and spicy’! Which is rather catchy and funny, especially for school kids.”

A multi-stakeholder environmental education programme for Mersing’s schools, PEDAS’ partners include Reef Check Malaysia, Trash Hero Mersing, Johor Marine Park Department as well as Mersing’s District Council, District Office and Education Office. 

The partners worked together to create the programme, which comprises five modules on marine ecosystems, coral reefs, sea turtles, marine mammals and marine debris, and visit schools together to conduct outreach. 

“The students don’t know we have sea snakes, groupers, dolphins and sometimes dugongs here as well! They say, ‘Really? How come we’ve never seen them? How can we see them?’ That’s when we’re able to tell the children: ‘If you want to see them, you have to conserve them’,” says Zam.  

Inclusive, not exclusive

Batu Batu began as a private island destination, but it has grown beyond its shores and into the community at large. 

Its latest venture is KakakTua, a guesthouse, cafe and community space in the heart of Mersing, converted from a 1950s shophouse. 

“We get 500,000 tourists in the Johor islands and Tioman every year, but Mersing hardly benefits from that. People literally get out of their car or taxi, they look for their boat, and they go,” says Cher. 

Through community arts, crafts and cultural programmes, Cher hopes that KakakTua will help to grow local appreciation for the town’s unique heritage, and encourage them to develop initiatives to help Mersing’s tourism scene thrive. 

“We believe that increasingly, tourists are looking for authenticity. And what’s authenticity? It’s looking into the soul of a place. Looking into the lives and listening to the stories of its people. By starting KakakTua we hope to initiate the development of authentic tourism products and co-create an ecosystem of regenerative tourism, which will be driven by Mersing’s communities.”

With its powder sand beaches and crystalline seas, Palawan’s charms need no introduction. But sail away with Tao on a journey of empowerment and adventure, and see paradise in a whole new light.

MEET BONG AND THE LOST BOYS

When expedition leader Bong gives a command, his crewmen spring into action, running our bangka (a common term for boats in the Philippines) with skill and efficiency.

Hardly the Lost Boys of Peter Pan, but that’s what the crew is affectionately called, a reference to their ragtag beginnings. Coming from the many different islands that make up Palawan, they were youth fresh out of school, in need of purpose and livelihoods. 

Along came Tao, which wanted to offer travellers the chance to see Palawan’s unspoilt side, and discovered it could provide opportunities to the impoverished communities that call these islands home. 

Bong, for example, was 24 and working as a fisherman and farmer in Puerto Princesa, when he was recruited by his cousin to join Tao. Beginning as a runner and cook, he eventually became in charge of his own ship, bringing in the values that he learned as a neophyte. 

“I learnt a lot here, especially in handling guests that I never knew before,” says Bong, now 30. “My life was way harder than before. Tao gave me a sustainable means of earning. They gave me health and employment benefits, which I am grateful.”  

WILD CHARMS, WARM HEARTS 

Palawan’s island beauty is world-famous, but right from the start, Tao wanted to offer guests a different experience away from the standard resorts found in tourist towns like Coron and El Nido. 

The founders, inspired by a free-spirited expedition they made around Palawan guided by the weather and their instincts — “with mosquito nets for walls, stars for a roof” — sought to recreate that experience for other travellers by setting up Tao in 2006.

Guests could sign up for sailing expeditions to Palawan’s more remote islands, sleeping in custom-built camps on the beaches. The raw, carefree experience was a runaway success and Tao’s reputation spread like wildfire — from a handful of guests, it now has hundreds each week. 

But as we were to discover, another reason Tao has prevailed for almost 13 years is its connection to the local communities they work with. 

Believing that a business only thrives if it also benefits the communities on the islands visited, Tao channels part of its revenue to its community development projects. 

It builds a relationship with each community by engaging them to find out what their needs are. Tao then helps each community develop skills, such as training locals to give massages, make soap and massage oil, ferment fruits and raise livestock like poultry and pigs. 

Finally, they secure their incomes by becoming the communities’ customers, such as by buying produce and soaps from them, and engaging them to provide Tao guests with massages — one I can say was the most relaxing experience I’d ever had.

The communities can also sell their products to other businesses in Palawan, a process that Tao is happy to facilitate. 

WANDER WITH PURPOSE

Visit Tao’s website, you’ll be reminded throughout that the journey “is not meant for everyone”, and I was eager to find out whether I was up to the challenge of a different experience. 

Our trip would start in Coron and end in El Nido. Once aboard, I immediately felt as though I was living the life of a pirate (minus the robbing). You experience what it means to live in the present, with whatever is available — what the boat carries, what the sea gives for food, where the weather takes you. Unlike hotels and resorts, you interact closely with the crew every day as they go about their work. 

One of the highlights is the Tuka huts, the simple yet elegant bamboo structures that have become Tao’s signature lodging. Tuka is Tagalog for “beak”, and as its name implies, the Tuka huts have roofs shaped like a bird’s beak, curving gracefully into the air. 

Not everyone wants to give up air-conditioned comforts, but for us, going to sleep beneath the open, airy Tukas sent off by the sound of waves, and waking up to the sight of the sea, was paradise. 

And behind the Tukas’ rustic coziness is a great story. Each of the islands we camped on has 10 or more Tukas. Each Tuka is built by three to five locals, using three materials: nipa palm leaves, nylon and bamboo; in particular, a species of bamboo called bayog because of its sturdiness and abundance in Palawan.

“It is typhoon-ready. The bamboos are bent because the more it exerts force against each other, the stronger and sturdier it gets. It will just tumble over strong winds [but] the structure will remain,” Bong explains. 

The Tukas provide one-of-a kind lodging to the guest, and support local employment and business. The furnishings in each Tuka — bed linens and tote bags for the guests — are produced locally, and the women’s association making these products has formed a cooperative to manage its earning activities. 

Knowing the source and purpose behind the materials that surrounded us made the experience truly unforgettable. 

Guests can also stay on the Tao Farm, which serves as the nexus of all things Tao: its administrative office, the Tao Foundation which provides livelihood training, Tuka lodges for guests, and the Kantina, where the magic of food preparation happens. 

At dinnertime, the Kantina lights up as skilled chefs fire up the burners and cook before the guests, and the aroma of fresh meat and produce cooking fills the air — a true feast for the senses. As a seven-course meal is served, staff explain what each dish is and how they are prepared, and share about the farm at the Kantina where the food comes from. 

LIVES CHANGED

To ensure that livelihoods are sustained, Tao has added other projects over the years, such as daycare centres. “Because if we are going to ask the women to work or manufacture, they need someone to look after the kids,” says Alejandro Pirela, who is in charge of outreach and product development at Tao. 

Partnering with the Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare and Development, Tao sent women to be trained as childcare teachers, and built the centres.  

Among the women trained is Maricris (pictured above), who joined Tao in 2016 as a masseuse, and is now a teacher at the daycare center on Papachelin, one of Tao’s island bases. 

Says Maricris: “We used to loiter before. We sleep when the night comes, without even thinking about getting a job. When we started training for Tao Philippines, we woke up with a purpose. We became excited to get our job done.” 

During the rainy season when there are no trips, Tao sends its staff for training. It has also supported employees with the potential to further their studies, such as Jimmy, who is now a biologist.

A former “lost boy”, Jimmy (pictured above) joined as a crew member on the expedition boats, and left to attend university in 2009. But every semester break, he returned to Tao Farm and helped with its construction until it was completed — the same year he graduated. 

Now, he is Tao’s resident biologist, and is in charge of securing food supply across the entire enterprise — a challenge as Palawan suffers from overfishing and the negative impact of slash-and-burn farming. Jimmy is now studying how to farm in a way that complements nature. 

Asked why he chose to return to Tao Philippines, Jimmy says, “What I liked about our company is that they are sincere in helping. They give livelihood for the people, they also build foundations.  On remote islands, they construct learning centres. That’s what I like about Tao, they help others and these communities help them, too.” 

Sumba’s unexplored beaches and quaint villages are set for a tourism boom, and your relaxing getaway in this island resort will help enthusiastic locals like Jeffry meet the demand – funds go towards training programmes to hone their hospitality skills.

MEET JEFFRY 

Curious, cheery and always ready with a smile, Jeffry is more than happy to show you around the place he calls home - the beautiful island of Sumba! Located near Bali, in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, Sumba’s stunning coastline and lush greenery makes it an appealing attraction for travellers looking to get away from the crowds. He’s the proud graduate of a training programme by Sumba Hospitality Foundation, which provides Jeffry and the local farming community the opportunity to gain the skills needed to reap the economic benefits of tourism.

“To see economic hope for the future, you have to teach local people, so they will have the opportunity to work on their island.”

Redempta TetaBato, Director, Sumba Hospitality Foundation

FUN IN THE SUN

Who doesn't love relaxing on the beach? Or how about visiting a Sumbanese village to learn about their culture and traditions? For something a little more adventurous, you can also explore the Blue Waterfall, named for its unbelievably blue waters. These are just a few of the possible itineraries – there’s much more to explore, depending on your tastes and how much time you have.

DOWN TIME ON THE ISLAND

During your stay, you can also spend some time getting to know the students to learn more about Sumba, or share any valuable experiences that may deepen the students' knowledge or thirst for learning. If you feel like it, you can even participate in their community English classes, or sit in a culinary class!

Explore Lombok’s natural beauty and laid back charm with a former shark fisherman who has hung up his nets in favour of guiding tourists, instead of hunting down the dwindling shark population. When you book an eco-tour, you support his new livelihood.

After we first told their story a few years ago, many like Eunice were inspired to go on these eco-tours. We also made a journey with The Dorsal Effect to take in the natural wonders of Lombok - and find out how it has changed lives.

MEET SUHARDI

He dives into the clear blue waters of Lombok, proudly guiding snorkellers as they take in the vibrant coral reefs.

It is a long way from his previous trade - shark fishing. Born and bred in Lombok, Suhardi became a shark fisherman when he was 10 years old.

He would go out to sea two to three weeks at a time, cut off from his wife and two children. As the relentless demand for sharks decimated their numbers, his income dwindled.

Fishermen have had to venture further to hunt sharks, which meant that each expedition cost more. Depending on the catch, Suhardi would take home around S$50 to S$200, notwithstanding the inherent dangers of being out at sea.

Now, working for The Dorsal Effect, “I can sleep at home every night with my wife and kids,” he shares. He has also saved enough from his four years as a guide to buy a second boat, which he uses to run a local boat taxi service for extra income.

And he loves meeting new people, and showing off the beautiful and pristine islands of Lombok.

DIVE INTO THE DREAM

A trip with The Dorsal Effect is both a venture into a dreamscape and stark reality.

As a guest, you will be taken on a boat to pristine snorkel sites and secluded beaches far away from the touristy areas, where you can swim in crystal clear waters amid healthy reefs. If you’re lucky, you may even spot sharks swimming in their natural habitat.

And you can choose to trek around scenic rice paddy fields and visit beautiful waterfalls in Lombok’s luxuriant rainforests. Meals consist of local delicacies such as nasi campur (mixed rice with vegetables) and yummy curries.

But you also visit Tanjong Luar market to see firsthand the shark trade, and learn how precarious it is for both the sharks and the men who hunt them, as the trade is increasingly unsustainable.

And you see the pitfalls of tourism, when you see how little care other tourists take when traipsing through the islands. During our trip, we saw some guides and tourists on other tours picking up corals from the sea floor, to pose for pictures.

You also learn how to not just enjoy, but also respect the environment - Suhardi, unlike other boat operators, only lands his anchor on sand, to ensure that the coral reefs are not damaged from the boat tours.

THE ONE WHO STARTED IT ALL – KATHY

An ex-secondary school teacher from Singapore, Kathy’s passion for the environment and dismay over shark trade spurred her to start The Dorsal Effect. Her solution? Persuade shark fishermen to earn their livelihoods as eco-tour guides, and save sharks from being hunted down for their fins.

“When you see sharks in their natural habitat, I think there is a point where something would change in you and you really want your future generations to able to experience that as well.”

Kathy Xu, Founder, The Dorsal Effect