INDONESIAN MOTORCYCLE DIARIES IV - Inside The World's Most Private Wave

The Nihiwatu surf break is exclusive to guests of the Nihi resort, who pay up to $21,000USD per night. Surf sessions are charged at an extra $100USD.
On this leg of his solo motorcycle journey, Tom de Souza ventures behind the scenes of Indo's only private wave.
He finds a local perspective from a surfer and former resort lifeguard, and the fascinating story of how founder Claude Graves walked 80 miles along the beach to find the wave, dodging tribal wars along the way.

[@MyMotherWasaNinja]

Thank you for making this video. I am surprised that you were granted an interview with Claude. As is evident in this video, he is a vulgar, foul mouthed and arrogant developer. Nihiwatu is in fact a criminal enterprise. Most of the controversy about the resort is centered around the privatization of the wave, (which is in violation of Indonesian laws). What is not talked about is how Claude has created a monopoly on tourism. Locals are prohibited by force from participating in tourism. Anyone opening a guest house or found accommodating guests face severe consequences, all under this arrogant guise of preventing Nihiwatu from becoming another "surf ghetto" as he describes in the video. He is the worse kind of foreigner yet receives accolades and awards. Sumba has the distinction of being the only island in Indonesia to have never been colonized, yet now there is Nihiwatu.

[@neiljoy8465]

WoW...even locals can't surf Occy's left🤦‍♂️That's insane! Talk about self entitlement...Gila🤑

[@Randsurfer]

Claude is that classic soul surfer who owns the ocean and says 'fuck you' if you don't want to make me rich. Good vibes.

[@nathanbartlett1336]

Stayed with Chief Metabulu in 2001. Scored for a week. Luckily Claude wasn’t there so we were free to surf it.

[@worthplaner3701]

Awesome video dude. Got a chuckle from the first GoPro clips

[@DillTheAlmighty]

Such a cool watch. Thank you for the share 🤙

[@riogrand3783]

Been dreaming about this place for years…

[@nickortcoski6769]

Cheers

[@paulsmith5167]

Another great inspiring video 👍

[@doradosurfcharters]

Surfed there for a few days to ourselfs on our small catamaran was no one staying at the resort 2001 local guy got his head cut off by chief of village by machete for stealing an americans guys camera off the beach at terinbang right wave cheif brought the camera and the locals guys head to the American guy ...heavy ...we sailed on after that

[@janepower6842]

This is a complex story......the introduction of the happiness of surfing and an economic boost but at the cost of a loss of traditional culture and the introduction of malaria.......

[@scenicroutetv]

Malaria was already there and rampant.
The Sumba Foundation has helped treat it.

[@richarddornbusch3327]

Sounds like he said that because of him and the people he brought in their he brought malaria to an area it never existed and it's possible then that a lot of people got very sick and died who wouldn't have. Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like that's what he said only he left out the part where people die and stuff from the malaria that came there

[@eatsurfsleeprepeat5485]

One of Surfings true colonialist. I wonder if he charges Jim Banks to surf the break that Jim discovered

[@walterdavey4196]

Claude did not mention David Wylie......

[@scenicroutetv]

That is a story in itself…

[@jerrybow8779]

Dave was a legend the original king of sumba! Met him many times over the years in sumba and Bali. His life story about sumba would blow most peoples minds

[@walterdavey4196]

@@jerrybow8779 some of his stories into a movie or book would be great.

[@jerrybow8779]

@@walterdavey4196 yea it’s pretty sad now a lot of the original indo pioneers like Dave and Rex P have passed on.

[@StandUpMagazin]

Stoked was there in 1997. They let us stay in a hut.

[@jonasspengler6196]

haha petu with a political statement. New site :,D
Sumba is lovely and sunset for sure the last harbour or for proper surf travelers

[@kelvinng1167]

He became what he hated the most

[@Jason124-zp9os]

Certainly doesn’t look as good as those other waves on the other island, from what I’ve seen.Maybe if it was a better wave , with more people coming to surf it it might not have happened.

[@nigellegrice5913]

Guess your head is made of rocks, no helmet why?

[@stusrambles]

Nah

[@papastreets]

The world is your oyster and it's never going to be a rainbows and lollipops Utopia. You gotta take your pound of flesh, and Mr Claude is a legitimate BUTCHER. None of us keyboard warriors would have a hope of going through what he did to build that place. I'll probably never get to surf it, but i respect this guy for his passion and dedication to making his dreams a reality through serious hardship.
Great interview!😅

[@donniemackenzie1]

Yep lots of work to do what he did, but what he doesn’t understand is, your ego doesn’t need to swell to a god level; you learn to give back! He acts like he built a waterski lake; no one owns the ocean!

[@rataluckens6506]

is not complicated story of colonialism.
total bs the locals cant surf there or travellers that are prepared like the story teller

[@richarddornbusch3327]

The guy's story makes it sound like he's a hero for what he created there but all I got out of it was he brought malaria to an area it wasn't before he and his buddies arrived and probably ended up with a lot of natives sick and dead 13:44

[@chrisnomad]

So long story short, Mr Claude built a high end exclusive surf resort that blocked travelers from surfing an epic wave because he had a moaning German wife? There's a moral in here somewhere... lol

[@pubgutt2076]

Not a secret anymore, call a place paradise & kiss it good buy 😔

[@janepower6842]

Lots of uncrowded waves where i live....but it's pretty cold for 6 months of the year 😂😂

[@scenicroutetv]

Certain areas no. Still a lot of hard to access coast on that side of Indo though.