In the lush highlands of Bali, a towering treetop resort peaks out over the Balinese jungle and surrounding mountaintops. Guest villas, called bales, are dotted throughout the river valley and perched atop waterfalls.
At the “no walls, no doors” resort, breezes pass through open bales as guests drift to sleep under the stars and wake up to sun-dappled morning mists.
This is Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape, the world’s first resort that doubles as a firefly conservatory.
Lina Suryati, the resort’s assistant director of marketing communications, told T Australia that years ago, the Balinese rainforest was teeming with fireflies.
But in the past decade, warming weather, deforestation, artificial light pollution, and rampant pesticide use have taken their toll on the beloved beetle species.
“If you see one firefly, you are very lucky — to see 10 is amazing, but that rarely happens now,” Suryati said.
Suryati added that fireflies are much more than the soft, magical glow they emit. In Indonesia, they are considered sacred.
“Balinese people believe they guide the souls of the ancestors,” she explained.
Firefly conservation is a natural extension of the Banyan Tree Group’s larger sustainability efforts.
At Buahan, every bale is made out of ironwood timbers, salvaged from old boats and defunct jetties.
The resort operates an organic “botanist bar” and plant-friendly, zero-waste kitchen with a menu filled with local ingredients sourced directly by the resort through organic farming techniques to minimize its carbon footprint.
In addition to reinvesting resort profits into community initiatives that support farmers, Banyan also hosts a Stay for Good program, which invites guests to learn and care for the environment through coral reef cleaning in the Maldives, sea turtle releases in Thailand, and mangrove planting in Indonesia.
“We believe that travel should be about more than just a vacation,” Adhiyanto Goen, Banyan Tree Group’s head of communications, said in a press release.
“It should be an opportunity to explore new perspectives, gain fresh inspiration, and immerse oneself in the culture and heritage of the places we visit.”
“Our Stay For Good program offers just that – an opportunity to connect with local communities and contribute to the sustenance of their precious heritage.”
The resort first launched its firefly conservatory program, titled Lentera Bumi (“lantern of the earth”), in March 2023 to coincide with Nyepi — a unique Hindu holiday during which the Balinese Caka New Year is observed with 24 hours of silence.
That night, guests were invited to watch the conservatory’s first firefly release, as the newly bred fireflies were released at twilight under the winking stars.
“Our work at Lentera Bumi is a beginning to what we hope will be a new cycle of life and to inspire people,” said Puspa Anggareni, a resort manager at Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape.
“It is a continuous process to work in harmony with nature, while orchestrating collective efforts from the surrounding community to align with our own operations. And now, we are excited to have our guests be part of this regenerative initiative.”
The years since have been a lesson in patience for the employees working on the Lentera Bumi conservatory and nursery.
Fireflies have an incubation period of up to 18 months, so it may take a decade — or several — to bring the local populations back in full force.
That said, when T Australia visited the resort-conservatory in January, they noted that its sustainable approaches appeared to be working.
“Still in their infancy, both projects are in the ‘trial and error’ phase, but observations after the first release of nursery-bred fireflies last year have been promising, showing an increase in the population,” the magazine reported.
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Header images via Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape
