Ulaman Eco Retreat - Bali’s Newest Gem
Photos by Lutz Soedibjo & Deniz Reno
In a secret Kaba Kaba jungle valley a mere twenty minute drive from the bustling tourist centre of Canggu, lies Bali’s newest gem - Ulaman Eco Retreat. Offering a luxurious, tranquil and picturesque getaway from urban life, the 11 room eco sustainable resort had its soft opening at the end of May of this year, which is when it fell at the top of my radar of places to visit. This past week I had the pleasure of being invited for a two night stay at the Ulaman Eco Retreat and get better acquainted with its unique charm and conscious living inspired features.
Ulaman is named after the river which flows through the perimeter of the property and is surrounded by untouched jungle forest, rice fields and of course, spectacular river views. The retreat offers on site yoga, meditation and sound healing experiences, a massage spa, salt water pools, comfortable landscaped outdoor seating areas, a private jungle waterfall and curated island tours accompanied by a private chauffeur. It is an ideal space for singles and couples, retreats, yoga teacher trainings, conferences and weddings. For its guests, Ulaman offers a selection of locally sourced Western and traditional Balinese cuisine and vegetarian/vegan options, prepared by Chef Arik. All produce, including vegetables, fruit and meats are curated from neighbouring farms and served on serving ware created by local artisans. Inside the suites, all of Ulaman’s natural bulk soaps, shampoos, massage oils and bug spray are sourced from local Balinese suppliers. Private chauffeur, butler and room service are provided with every stay. I couldn’t wait to experience it all for myself.
Day I
I arrived at Ulaman Eco Retreat just before 2pm on a Wednesday. Upon entering the reception area I was warmly greeted by Nengah, a member of the front desk staff, given a cool fresh towel to freshen up and offered a delicious complimentary drink made of organic cucumber, mint leaf, lemon and tonic water. Nengah showed me to my room, a spacious one bedroom with a private plunge pool overlooking a lush tropical garden and the Ulaman Retreat grounds.
Having grown up in a family of sculptors and being an artist myself, I have developed a sharp eye for detail and my suite at Ulaman did not disappoint. In fact, upon entering the retreat you can immediately appreciate the unique touches which make Ulaman so special. The resort’s walls have been created out of rammed earth. Rammed earth walls are constructed by ramming a mixture of selected aggregates, including gravel, sand, silt and a small amount of clay, into place between flat panels called formwork. It’s a recently revived, sustainable building method which has been used in construction for centuries. The rest of the paneling, roof and furniture is made out of wood and predominantly bamboo. The suites are decorated by Papua New Guinea inspired artisan pieces, which complete the ‘look’ created by Ulaman’s designers, renowned British-Chinese architect Charlie Hearn and his team at Inspiral. The design of the retreat grounds is reminiscent of an enormous bamboo spaceship with tasteful elements of traditional architecture, surrounded by stunning landscaping design executed by Imaji.
There is nothing accidental, nor ordinary about Ulaman’s choice in decorative pieces or furnishings. As I would come to find out, Dino Magnatta, the owner and visionary behind Ulaman Eco Retreat spent years dealing in the exotic furniture import and sales business. His extraordinary attention to detail can be seen throughout the retreat. Magnatta designed all the interiors and lighting himself. Perhaps one of the centre pieces of Ulaman’s main courtyard area are the sprawling rock walls surrounding the little valley in which the retreat is nestled. They have been meticulously carved with reliefs of local deities and animals. A magnificent Buddha carving graces the rock wall opposite Ulaman’s Treehouse Spa. Ulaman isn’t just an eco retreat, it’s an architectural feat which could easily double as the set of a big budget Hollywood film.
After taking a tour of the resort and enjoying a blissful afternoon bath in my ensuite designer wooden tub, I walked down to the dining area to meet the owner of Ulaman, Dino Magnatta, and Shanty, Ulaman’s manager of marketing and communications. What I anticipated to be a cordial and brief meeting turned into a pleasantly surprising revelation. A few moments into our introduction it came to light that both Dino and I are from Toronto, more remarkably still, prior to building Ulaman, Dino, a successful Canadian businessman of Italian descent, owned Kuda, Canada’s premier retailer of exotic furniture and accessories from Indonesia, Thailand, India and China. For years, Kuda’s 20,000 foot warehouse space was located just half a block north of my lower East side condominium. Aside from this chance familiarity, I was quickly won over by Dino’s warm and witty demeanor, and his indomitable drive to create a unique and progressive hospitality experience for his guests, while consciously utilising all the functionality of the eco friendly materials and construction systems which Bali has to offer. Presently, Ulaman is in the process of designing a custom hydro-turbine system fueled by the adjacent river that will power all the resort’s electrical use ‘off the grid’ and will be implemented during the development of ‘Phase II’. Throughout our conversation I found out that Ulaman plans on expanding it’s resort to the neighboring property, overlooking a lake. Dino showed me the preliminary architectural renderings of ‘Phase II’, which is set to be completed by late summer of 2021. Without disclosing all the remarkable details, I can safely say that it will put Ulaman on the world map, as the first true eco retreat in Bali.
Dino, Shanty and I were soon joined by my friend Janey at Ulaman’s sprawling restaurant space. As the sun set, we were invited for a private guided meditation and sound healing session at Ulaman’s Yoga Studio, led by Nhi, Inner Peace Coach and Healer visiting from Ubud. The open concept treehouse style studio, situated up on a small cliff overlooking the resort grounds, sits on top of the Ulaman river. Upon entering the studio I was met with a ceremonial altar layout of candles, crystals, local flowers, oracle cards and traditional Balinese incense. I took my place on one of the resort’s signature eco-mats and lay down for the guided meditation. It wasn’t long before the sound of the river below us, the sonic ambiance of the jungle, coupled with the healing hertz frequency soundtrack and Nhi’s tibetan bowls took me under. What a perfect way to wind down in paradise. An hour later the meditation was complete and we made our way back down into the retreat grounds for dinner. If I thought Ulaman was beautiful during daytime, I was in for a real treat. At night the resort is a sight to behold, the lighting, originally designed by Binar Lighting Studio, and executed and refined by Magnatta, tastefully showcases the buildings’ magnificent curves and construction detail. Downstairs in the restaurant area we were greeted by staff and Dino invited me to try Ulaman’s own signature wine ‘The Drunken Monkey’ along with my delicious mushroom alfredo dinner prepared by Chef Arik and served on handmade plates especially designed for the resort by local artisans. Dino designed the menu with Arik, drawing from over 25 years of experience in the Canadian restaurant business. Magnatta opened up his first restaurant at the tender age of 18. When you are in great company time flies, and before I knew it, it was nearly midnight. I retreated to my beautiful poolside suite and ended the night with a face mask and a candle lit bath listening to Luciano Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma.
Day II
I woke up at the crack of dawn, 5:00am to be precise, to meet my good friend and photographer Lutz, so we could catch the first light and create some visual content with a backdrop of Ulaman’s beautiful spaces. After the shoot, Chef Arik prepared us a nutritious breakfast, ‘bliss’ smoothie bowl for me and traditional Balinese nasi goreng for Lutz. After breakfast I made my way up to the treehouse to enjoy an hour long Balinese massage with Fitri, one of Ulaman’s specially trained therapists. The treehouse is located just above the Ulaman river, creating the perfect backdrop to undoubtedly one of the best massages I have ever had on the island of Bali in the past four years. Following the massage I enjoyed a flower bath in a stone tub sitting on the edge of a small cliff overlooking Ulaman’s private waterfall. Of course it was just a matter of minutes before I jumped out of the tub, gloriously covered in blossoms, and dove into the rock pool beneath the waterfall itself for a cool refreshing afternoon swim, my sense overwhelmed with the abundance of natural beauty and experiences on offer at Ulaman. Following the waterfall I decided to round off my afternoon swimming delights with the last body of water at Ulaman Eco Retreat - the salt water pools, where I had a fun little ‘influencer’ photo session with the resort’s giant pink flamingo floatie. This place has everything.
Before I knew it it was time for lunch, and Chef Arik sent a scrumptious three course meal up to my suite poolside verandah. For lunch I had ordered tofu teriyaki skewers, house salad, vegan pad thai and choco banana sushi. Just twenty minutes after my food arrived, I sent the plates back completely clean, a testament to Chef Arik’s exquisite culinary skills and impeccable visual presentation. Having had a chance to catch up with Arik later in the day, I asked him what inspired his journey into the culinary arts. He smiled and told me that as a little boy growing up in a Balinese family he used to watch his grandmother create amazing dishes and share them not just with the family but with everyone in their neighborhood. His story fell close to my heart and reminded me of my own Russian grandmother, who used to do the same. Arik told me that he grew up associating food with love and cooking with sharing and connection. I remembered Dino’s words from the night before “Arik cooks with love, you can taste it in the food”. Indeed I could, and yet another reason to love Ulaman was added to my growing list of reasons why everyone must visit this magical place at least once. After my meal and a short swim in my private pool I settled in to work on interviews for The Fearless Nomad to the backdrop of my favorite selection of buddha bar tunes, playing out of Ulaman’s ensuite House of Marley eco-conscious speaker system.
A few hours later it was time for dinner. This time I chose to have my meal downstairs in the dining area by the saltwater pool. I ordered vegan vegetable spring rolls, caesar salad, spelt cavatelli with jackfruit bolognese and for dessert, a pumpkin coconut panacotta. Once again, Chef Arik delivered a beautifully presented delectable culinary experience. After dinner I caught up on some business calls in the lounge area in front of Ulaman’s backlit pool, read a few chapters from my Kindle and retreated for the evening, once again ending the night in a blissfully relaxing candlelit bubble bath.
Day III
I woke up around 7am and took my time getting out of my king size bed to take in the comfort of being nestled in it’s feathery crisp white linen and being bathed in gentle morning light peaking through the curtains. The night brought a downpour of torrential tropical rain, and when I walked out on the verandah, the jungle was a lush neon green, veiled in morning dew. Around 8am my breakfast was delivered up to my room along with a surprise visitor whom I welcome to join me. Johnny Ulaman, the resort’s rescue dog played at my feet as I enjoyed the fresh fruit platter and scrambled egg toast with roasted veggies by my private pool. At 9am I was invited for a private yoga session at the Ulaman Yoga Shala led by my friend Janey, Ulaman’s stunning private yoga instructor. There was no better way to start a day full of appointments. Janey led a great flow and I left the studio feeling completely rejuvenated.
Two hours later it was time to check out and after one last walk through Ulaman’s beautiful grounds I bid the resort and the incredible team who runs it adieu … for now.
I would definitely love to come back!
When I first arrived at Ulaman, I anticipated wanting to drive out into town in the evenings or for short errands during the day, but the retreat left me completely enchanted. In the three days and two nights that I spent there I never left the premises, which speaks volumes about the quality of service, ambiance and activities on offer. It felt like a sanctuary. If you live on the island and are looking for a weekend or a week-long retreat, or are making plans to visit Bali, I would highly recommend staying in this magical, serene paradise and experiencing all that it has to offer.