Our Nature Preserve on Lembeh Island

About Our Location

Located on the south west tip of Lembeh Island. Divers Lodge Lembeh is surrounded by our own 16 hectares of lush forest and mangroves, while only 1 hectare of it is used by the resort itself. We’re situated between Lembeh Strait, the open ocean and Walenekoko Lagoon. The resort is only accessible by boat as there is no road access to the resort.

Divers Lodge Lembeh Nature Resort & Dive Center facing Lembeh Strait

Divers Lodge Lembeh facing Lembeh Strait

The Reforested Peninsula

The resort is split between two parts, the peninsula we reforested and the resort itself. In recent years the growth of the forest at the peninsula has been exponential and new trees are growing by themselves, as a result more and more species of birds and insects have been sighted at the resort.

Green outline highlights the area owned by Divers Lodge Lembeh

We started building Divers Lodge Lembeh in 2002. Very soon we were able to start planting trees at this peninsula. Earlier people tried to make gardens here by the traditional slash and burn method. However the soil was not good for growing much more than some coconut palms.

We began our reforestation project in 2004. Later in 2009 we received the Kalpataru award for North Sulawesi for our reforestation efforts at the Peninsula.

Divers Lodge Lembeh and The Reforested Peninsula in 2026 — 2002

At the left, the situation when we came here – The right image shows how it looks now in 2026
Unfortunately the location of the resort was not visible yet in the data of 2002. That part was completely barren when we started. But it shows on the recent image.

The reforested area is accessible on foot, however the paths become overgrown very quickly. The terrain of the forest is hilly and steep, we highly recommend using good hiking shoes with strong grip, and a walking stick when traversing the forest.

The Cliffs of the Peninsula & The House Reef

The reforested Peninsula – From August, 2026

Walenekoko Lagoon

With the North of the Resort facing Lembeh Strait, Bitung City, Mt. Klabat and Mt. Dua Suadara, the South-side of the resort faces the completely undisturbed and untouched Walenekoko Lagoon. Walenekoko translates to Swallow-House (Walene means house, and koko means swallows). Unsurprisingly there are always a lot of swallows present.

Walenekoko Lagoon and Divers Lodge Lembeh

Divers Lodge Lembeh’s South-side of the resort facing Walenekoko Lagoon

Kayaking

We also offer Kayaking around Walenekoko Lagoon! We use stable “sit-on-top” kayaks, that do not require any experience with handling typical kayaks. They’re quite hard to flip over unless you’d really try to. The Lagoon offers a great view of our resort. Early morning before breakfast or late afternoon is a great time for kayaking. At other times it often gets too hot and the sun is very strong.

A kayak and Divers Lodge Lembeh in the background

Kayaking in the Mangrove Forests within Walenekoko Lagoon

Below is a map for the Kayaking routes! It also gives an impression on the surrounding areas. The lagoon is quite large though, for a complete circuit it often takes between two to four hours to complete.

The Kayak Routes map

Beaches & House Reef

We have access to three different beaches at Divers Lodge Lembeh! From our beachfront facing Lembeh Strait, and our other two beaches located on our Nature Preserve facing the Moluccan Sea.

Our beachfront during late September.

Please note however: The beachfront facing Lembeh Strait is rarely clean, due to wind and currents that often bring waste to our beach from Bitung City. We do our best to clean it every day and make reports to the city’s environment office, however despite our best efforts it is still not particularly appealing for a romantic beach holiday. Fortunately the beachfront does not affect our house reef! Our House-reef is rich with corals, large schools of fish, six different species of Anemonefishes, Banggai Cardinalfishes and even the Mandarinfish.

Anemonefishes on the house reef at Divers Lodge Lembeh — The House Reef’s AnemonefishesOn our YouTube channel

Appears at (7)

Maroon Clownfish (*Amphiprion biaculeatus*)

Ocellaris Clownfish (*Amphiprion ocellaris*)

Clark’s Anemonefish (*Amphiprion clarkii*)

Pink Skunk Clownfish (*Amphiprion perideraion*)

Orange Skunk Clownfish (*Amphiprion sandaracinos*)

Saddleback Clownfish (*Amphiprion polymnus*)

Banggai Cardinalfish (*Pterapogon kauderni*)

Behind the Peninsula are our other two white sandy beaches! Facing the Moluccan Sea they’re significantly cleaner. It’s best accessible via kayak, as going there on foot along the coasts you’ll seriously risk a fall as the stones you’ll have to walk over are very slippery.

The beaches located behind the reforested peninsula – 10 minutes away from the resort by Kayak

Wildlife & Birdwatching

A Gursky's Spectral Tarsier at Divers Lodge Lembeh - Nature Resort

A Tarsius spectrumgurskyae photographed at Divers Lodge Lembeh

The resort is a true butterfly paradise and over the years more and more birds made it their home. Gursky’s Spectral Tarsiers (One of the smallest primates in the world), Civets and Monitor lizards are permanent residents here.