About us

Travel and food should restore what they touch.

We are a Bali-based social enterprise reconnecting people with nature and food. Astungkara means “hopefully” or “God willing” in Balinese: a prayer to guide and bless the path ahead.

Why we exist

People come to Bali for its rice terraces, culture and living traditions. Yet the farmers who sustain those landscapes face rising pressures, and many young people see their future elsewhere.

We bring these two worlds back together so that each one sustains the other: farming that restores the land and pays the farmer, and travel that helps make it possible.

A team member picking flowers in the garden beside the rice fields

Two team members examining a rice plant with a farmer

Mission

To reconnect people with nature and food, restoring the relationships that sustain us.

Vision

A Bali where communities, travellers, farmers, researchers and businesses restore landscapes and nourish local food systems together, inspiring others to do the same.

Regenerative farming

Our farm and partnerships with rice growers make regeneration something you can see, learn from and take part in.

Regenerative travel

Astungkara Trails turn tourism into a way to fund the communities you walk through.

Regenerative hospitality

Hotels and landowners support farmer programmes, source local food and connect guests with the people who grow it.

Farming Academy

Practical skills and peer learning help farmers make the transition together.

Our journey

It began in the fields of Subak Uma Lambing, listening to farmers and exploring how travel and food could support their future.

2018Living the Rice CycleTim Fijal runs a rice course for Green School Bali families beside local farmers. Fees go to the farmers to cover the risk of farming without chemicals.

2021The trail opensThe Astungkara Trail opens, connecting farming communities across Bali through a coast-to-coast walking journey.

2022The method that heldWe begin adapting Complex Rice Systems with farmers, supported by Dr. Uma Khumairoh and research partners. Farm Experiences bring more people into the fields to learn.

2025RecognitionAstungkara Way becomes a Food Planet Prize finalist, recognising the potential of our work with farmers and food systems.

2026Best of the WorldNational Geographic readers vote the trail Best of the World, Readers' Choice. Hotels and programme partners join the farmers' transition.

The team

We are more than thirty people, over 90% Indonesian, many of us agronomy graduates from Udayana University: farmers' sons and daughters, guides, cooks, researchers and facilitators.