Take the global trend that is glamping — camping in the pristine wild minus the inconvenience of actually setting up camp and little annoyances like being attacked by mosquitoes or sand flies — then multiply it by infinity. The result is Amanwana, a luxury safari tent camp and the only accommodation property on Moyo Island, a nature reserve set in the shimmering blue waters of the Flores Sea about 250km east of Bali. Amanwana, or Peaceful Forest, is one of 31 five-star-plus properties owned by Aman, a hotel chain so exclusive that its repeat guests are known as Aman Junkies for their refusal to stay almost anywhere else.
But even among Aman’s treasure trove of resorts — including a 16th-century Venetian palazzo where George and Amal Clooney tied the knot and a mansion in the Moroccan desert where David Beckham celebrated his 40th — Amanwana stands out. Tennis ace Maria Sharapova described it “as the most romantic place I’ve been”, while Elle Macpherson, Mick Jagger, Ursula Andress — one of the original Bond girls — and the late Princess Diana have used Amanwana as an escape-within-an-escape while holidaying in Bali. Amanwana’s 28 tents, if one can call them that, are resplendently appointed with hardwood floors, cream-coloured lounges, his and her vanities, king-sized beds draped in mosquito netting, handcrafted teak writing desks and marble eggshell desk lamps.
At nearly 60sqm in size, they are capped with palatial canvas big tops and encased by sliding.