About Us

Set on an ancient coconut plantation on the southern tip of Gili Trawangan, Pondok Santi Estate offers simplified luxury and the ultimate getaway retreat. Our 22 beautifully appointed private villas, bungalow & rooms are designed as exclusive sanctuaries amongst the resort’s seven hectares of lawned grounds.

Our luxurious villas & bungalows are set in spacious tropical gardens, featuring an open-air bathroom and large windows throughout.

The resort evokes ultimate tranquility and privacy, ideal for honeymooners, couple or anyone seeking an privacy luxury hideaway. Beautifully-appointed with elegant furnishings.

By day, unwind on the front terrace and plush daybeds overlooking the tropical gardens or the sparkling ocean. At night, enjoy being lulled to sleep by the sound of rolling waves just a stone’s throw away.

Sustainability at Pondok Santi Estate

At Pondok Santi Estate, we highly emphasize the environment and ecosystems surrounding us and strive to employ environmentally-sustainable practices wherever possible. 

Pondok Santi Estate, which was once a coconut plantation, has 22 beautifully-appointed private villas, bungalows & rooms spread over 7 hectares of lawned grounds. Much thought has gone into preserving this breathtaking Estate to the best of our abilities.

We want to show you our current endeavors to live in tune with our beautiful surroundings and let you in on our plans to maintain the Estate while honoring the ecosystem it lays upon. 

Protecting the Planet One Step at a Time

Pondok Santi Estate recycles all water used on the estate grounds through its very own treatment plant. The recycled water is then used to irrigate the tropical gardens, of which we have many! We have planted countless trees and gardens around the entire property. Furthermore, we are continuously growing as we have several tree -, flower -, and plant – nurseries. We are currently working on developing and expanding our vegetable – and aromatic herb gardens to become more sustainable and follow our passion for employing environmentally friendly practices. Our guests are also enjoying the freshness of the ingredients in our delicious food.

We manage our land levels naturally by irrigating about 2 hectares of our lawns from the high tides of the ocean. We also do our best to control our beach levels to mitigate erosion as much as possible. It is not only crucial for the Estate that we maintain the beautiful beach as it is a precious asset having a white sand beach directly at our bungalows’ doorstep, but our beach is also a favorite amongst many islanders as it offers a perfect view of Gili Trawangan’s only surf break. Furthermore, to save the Estate’s ancient coconut palm trees, we raised the land by up to half a meter in 2020. 

To keep the beautiful white sand beaches beautiful, we do daily beach clean-ups as trash from surrounding islands is often swept up on shore. On top of the daily beach clean-ups on our private coast, Pondok Santi Estate hosts a minimum of two more extensive beach clean-ups a year, covering large areas of the general coastline on Gili Trawangan. 

As we all know, plastic trash is a massive problem worldwide. To prevent further damage on our part, Pondok Santi Estate does not sell or store any plastic bottles or plastic straws. 

Additionally, 90% of the food served at Pondok Santi Estate is locally grown, and we source our fish from local sustainable fishermen as often as possible. 

Our existing bungalows are made primarily of local materials, so our guests feel immersed in the local fauna. Furthermore, we also have not and will not overdevelop the seven hectares of the Estate. 

Giving Back to the Community

We not only care about and give back to the environment, but our local communities are equally important to us. 

In order to protect the beautiful island and support the community we live in, Pondok Santi Estate has helped rebuild the local trash dump on Gili Trawangan. 

In addition, living on a predominantly Muslim island, Pondok Santi Estate also contributes to the local community by regularly donating money to the local Mosque. 

As some of you might remember, on August 5, 2018, Lombok and the Gili Islands were hit by a tremendous earthquake. Pondok Santi Estate did its best to support the local community during this time of need. The team supported the local school by helping to rebuild it and continued to help with ongoing maintenance. Pondok Santi Estate sent five tons of rice, five tons of drinking water, kilometers of cable, lights, tarps, generators, and much more to the local community after the earthquake. Temporarily Pondok Santi Estate also became a shelter for more than 300 people during and after the earthquake, becoming a haven for those affected by the natural disaster. 

Furthermore, Pondok Santi Estate held on to all of its staff post-earthquake. At the same time, many other businesses on the island let their staff go or closed their businesses altogether. Even during the troublesome Covid times, Pondok Santi Estate did its best to keep as many of the staff employed for as long as possible. 

The unique luxury retreat experience you receive when staying at Pondok Santi Estate would not be possible without our excellent staff, which we prefer to call our family. Pondok Santi Estate has trained and developed a large number of people from the local community in many trades and skills. This opens a realm of opportunities for the people as they can also utilize these skills elsewhere, either for a business of their own, in their villages, or in any future work they might want to pursue. This aspect especially, is very dear to our hearts, and we will continue to do this as it provides for future generations as well. 

Our Future Endeavours

At Pondok Santi Estate, we are consistently enhancing not only the experience of our guests, but we are also constantly working on ourselves and the Estate to make it the very best it can be. 

Living on a small tropical paradise island, we must take care of the beautiful ocean at our doorstep. Pondok Santi Estate is working together with local organizations to support the replanting of the coral reef. As we also offer snorkeling trips and daytime cruises on our luxurious traditional outrigger, the ‘Princess Margaux’, we want to ensure that our guests will continue to enjoy the beautiful coral and marine life surrounding the Gilis. 

Furthermore, we are fixing the erosion of the beach. This is a difficulty the whole island faces. We want to continue to offer our guests an exclusive private beach at Santi Beach Bar overlooking the sparkling sea with Lombok in the distance while offering comfy day beds, hammocks, towels, and refreshments.

With our new vegetable and aromatic herb gardens, we have also created a compost for all organic waste that we produce at Pondok Santi Estate’s restaurant. We have plans to continue developing this onwards. We are also planning to send all of our rubbish that we cannot compost back to Lombok with our daily staff boat to alleviate the strains on the local trash dump and ensure that the rubbish gets processed correctly. 

On our way to becoming more and more sustainable, we are looking into different options for generating our own renewable energy, specifically solar and wind energy, as well as owning our own desalination plant, which would enable us to irrigate the land with processed water from the ocean.  

A fun project we have lined up is to one day have our own animals on the Estate, including chickens, cows, and goats. This will not only be a way to ensure that the majority of our offer comes directly from our land (eggs, milk, and potentially cheese), but it will also be a fun addition to our Estate. 

Finally, we are in the process of planting an entire “food forest”, the idea is that we will be able to provide our restaurants and bars with the most incredibly fresh and in season produce one could wish for. This project will generate so much food that we will be able to donate fruits and vegetables to local communities here and in Lombok.