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I have my hand stretched out, and in the centre of my palm is a cube of raw meat. Near me is a set of striking, almond-shaped amber eyes, and they’re coming closer. Then, whoosh, I scream, and it’s all over. The wolf backs away. My fingers, crucially, are still intact. My heart is racing as fast as Hamilton, I’m sweating all over, and it’s not from the hot Bali sun.
What the hell am I doing, feeding a wolf? Great question. An hour or so ago, I landed at Denpasar Airport, the warm, heady air greeting me like an old friend. This is my fifth visit to Bali – the first time I’ve been back since 2018 – and the jazzed-up airport and swift journey through customs have me impressed. Soon, we’re in a car, in traffic (some things never change), and on our way to Nuanu – Bali’s 44-hectare creative city, found 30 minutes north of Canggu, overlooking volcanic black-sand Nyanyi Beach.
After being reunited with my favourite nasi goreng – with a marigold-coloured egg yolk, oil-slicked rice, zippy pickles and punchy sambal – and a (okay, two) cold Bintangs, we head inside to meet the wolves. We’re visiting Alpha Wolf Lodge – a wolf sanctuary and lodge where you eat rice, pursue art and have a coffee – all surrounded by wolves. Want to sleep with them? You can do that here, too.
This is but one of the (literally) wild and extraordinary experiences I have over the coming days at Nuanu, a futuristic city created by Sergey Solonin, a Russian entrepreneur. His aim was to create a place where people feel a sense of wonder – a city that blends art, nature, technology, education, wellness and entrepreneurship – as opposed to another cookie-cutter development.
And it is big. As well as the wolf sanctuary, there’s an alpaca park, an enchanting butterfly sanctuary and the Aurora Media Park, a 5,000-square-metre art park that lights up at night to look like nature’s rainbow-hued aurora, plus a kindergarten and school. There’s a massive dome for conferences, gigs and events, and an area for artists, creatives and musicians designed to look like Hobbit homes. Keen for a few drinks and a dance? Head to Luna Beach Club – a massive party haven with big-name acts and golden sunsets.
I stayed a few nights at the five-star Oshom Bali, a sunlit 18-room boutique hotel with ocean-facing suites, an aquamarine pool, lush, trickling greenery and beautiful, art-filled design.
One of my favourite parts of my stay was a few blissful hours spent at the ethereal Lumeira Wellness Sanctuary. It’s a big call, but I had the best full-body massage of my life, thanks to neuro-acoustic technology that uses sound frequencies associated with deep restorative states, helping your body fully relax and settle into the treatment. After our massage, we moved between the cold plunges, pool and sunlounges.
One of the most impressive sights at Nuanu is the enormous, handmade Earth Sentinels by South African artist Daniel Popper. They greet you at the entrance – their giant, otherworldly faces and tangled roots come alive with colourful projections after dark.
Nuanu’s sustainability and community efforts are impressive, too. Seventy per cent of the 44-hectare site is kept as green space. The team has planted 15,000 trees with a no-large-trees-are-cut policy (they are relocated if need be), achieved a 95 per cent waste recycling rate in 2025 and given more than IDR 5.6 billion to local education, culture and community initiatives through the Nuanu Social Fund.
The whole place is not yet complete – nowhere near it – but that ties nicely into the name, which comes from the Balinese phrase “nu-anu”, which means “in the process” or “still becoming.” I’m bummed I missed seeing Sutala, one of the biggest developments at Nuanu, featuring 50-plus businesses – a massive market designed to become a third space for both locals and holiday-goers. And I’m excited to come back and dine at Nusantara, an expansive Indonesian hub celebrating the country’s incredible diversity of flavours, with multiple venues bringing the archipelago’s food culture to life.
But wow, there’s still a heck of a lot to explore. And there’s more to come. Nuanu really is unlike any other place I’ve been before.
And without sounding like a daggy old tourist ad, you really do need to see it to believe it. And if you want to feed wolves, take it from me, just hold your palm really flat.
Note: I was hosted by Nuanu, but our editorial recommendations are always honest. You can find out more about our review process here.