LEARN
Uncover, Understand, Uplift
Education is the cornerstone of empowerment. Kaura builds cultural resilience and better futures through knowledge. At the heart of every Kaura retreat beats the hum of the Community Hub, a space where locals and guests gather to learn new skills, embrace opportunities, and create a brighter tomorrow.
With programs ranging from language lessons to women’s empowerment initiatives and sustainable farming courses, and creative cultural workshops, every contribution to Kaura helps fund these vital initiatives. Because when a community thrives, we all do.
Cooking Class
Learn the secrets of local cuisine from the true masters, our village matriarchs. Using fresh, locally sourced ingredients, you’ll prepare time-honoured dishes infused with rich flavours and cultural significance. The best part? Sitting down together to enjoy the feast you’ve created.
Before the cooking begins, your hosts will introduce you to the ingredients as they’re meant to be known and used. You may visit the garden to pick produce, and even discover wild edible plants locals have cooked with for generations, like tangy cem-cem leaves or edible ferns used in traditional dishes. It’s a delicious kind of learning, where every spice has a story and every shared meal becomes a memory.
Cultural History
Experience the living, breathing culture of Manggis. On a guided 2km village walk, you’ll move at the community’s rhythm, passing temple courtyards, rice paddies, and family compounds where you might catch the scent of incense from morning offerings. Along the way, you’ll hear how organic farming, local governance, and shared rituals sustain village life. This is your chance to learn not from plaques or placards, but from real conversations – about water-sharing systems, edible wild fruits, spiritual beliefs, and the ways tradition shapes everything from planting seasons to communal meals.
For travellers looking to dive deeper, there are options to hike or cycle beyond the village. A half-day trek through the hills reveals jungle trails, a hidden waterfall, and a towering golden Brahma statue overlooking the valley; or you might take to the coastal path on an e-bike, winding past fishing villages and fruit groves before arriving at one of East Bali’s most stunning beaches. These journeys open quiet, rarely seen corners of the region.
Farming
Roll up your sleeves and join our local farmers in an immersive journey from seed to harvest. In the early morning light, step into emerald-green rice fields with dew on your boots and a welcome smile from your village host. Here, you’ll learn by doing – planting rice seedlings in the paddies, turning rich compost into the soil, or even trying your hand at guiding a plough through the mud. Feel the cool earth between your fingers and breathe in the fresh scent of wet soil as you discover traditional farming techniques that have sustained our community for centuries.
- This farming experience deepens your appreciation for the land and the people who nurture it. Side by side with farmers who learned their craft from their parents and grandparents, you’ll explore organic practices and ancient irrigation traditions. Every task is woven with wisdom: a simple act like watering the plants comes with insights into Balinese subak (water-sharing) traditions, and a break beneath a fruit tree turns into a storytelling session about past harvests. By midday, as you gather for a simple homegrown lunch, you’ll feel the profound connection between food, earth, and community.
School Groups
Kaura warmly welcomes school groups into a living classroom where nature, culture and community are the teachers. Imagine your students venturing beyond textbooks: one moment they’re knee-deep in a rice paddy, laughing and learning as they plant seedlings, and the next they’re gathered around a village elder, captivated by a folktale about the rice goddess and the cycle of seasons. Every activity is hands-on and engaging – from crafting or dancing to preparing a garden-fresh lunch.
Each programme is tailored to be age-appropriate and enriching, ensuring young minds connect deeply with the experience. Our educators and community guides work closely with teachers to align activities with learning outcomes – whether exploring environmental science through farming or understanding global citizenship through cultural exchange. Students return home with more than knowledge; they carry new friendships, awareness, and a deeper respect for the interconnectedness of our world.
University Partnerships
Kaura welcomes universities and businesses seeking grounded, field-based collaborations that create real-world impact. This can include curriculum-aligned projects, community-based research, and internship placements that support long-term goals. Whether it’s co-developing regenerative farming techniques, studying forest-based healthcare access, or exploring inclusive tourism models, each project is shaped by local context and mutual exchange.
We also work with communities living in the surrounding forest areas, where access to healthcare and services is a challenge. Universities and organisations are invited to co-design health, environmental, or social research initiatives that respond to local needs – and amplify local voices. Together, we explore what it means to learn responsibly, and how education can truly serve both people and place.
Research Associations
Kaura offers a dynamic environment for researchers exploring sustainable living – both on land and at sea. From testing new rice varieties in our terraced paddies to studying organic fruit farming in the valley, our site supports hands-on, community-rooted inquiry. We welcome research into traditional farming techniques, climate-resilient crops, and the evolving relationship between people and food systems.
Just 15 minutes from Kaura, the coastal waters of Tanah Ampo open new possibilities for ocean-based studies. Here, small-scale fishers practise sustainable catch methods, selling fresh fish within the community or preparing pindang – a traditional preservation technique using natural salt and spices to cure ikan tongkol (mackerel tuna). These practices hold valuable insights into low-impact livelihoods, marine biodiversity, and local food security.
Virgin Coconut Oil Making
Step into the heart of village life with the women of Manggis as they guide you through the age-old art of making virgin coconut oil.
This workshop reveals the coconut as Bali has always known it: a gift with many lives. You’ll take part in the traditional process, from preparing the coconut to patiently drawing out its pure oil, while hearing how this craft supports families and protects local knowledge. It’s hands-on, slow, and deeply satisfying, leaving you with more than a product: a new appreciation for the care behind everyday essentials, and the women whose work transforms village abundance into sustainable opportunity.
Body Butter Making with the Women of Bakung Asri
Join the women of Bakung Asri in creating their signature coconut body butter. Using age-old techniques and locally harvested coconuts, you’ll learn how raw ingredients are transformed into a nourishing balm for the skin. As you stir, blend, and pour, you’ll hear stories of how this craft has become a source of empowerment and sustainable income for the community. At the end, you’ll leave not only with your own hand-made body butter but also with the knowledge that each jar carries the resilience, tradition, and care of the women who made it possible.
As the mixture warms and the scent of coconut rises, the experience becomes both practical and personal, a moment of creativity guided by women who have turned tradition into enterprise. You’ll learn how each ingredient is chosen for a reason, how texture and aroma are balanced, and how small-batch making protects quality and reduces waste. It’s the kind of learning that stays with you: every time you use your body butter later, you’ll remember the hands that taught you, the conversations shared, and the community it continues to support.
Atte Weaving
Sit beside local artisans and learn the meditative rhythm of Atte Weaving, a craft deeply tied to our heritage and the land. Using natural fibres harvested nearby, you’ll shape your own beautiful piece of woven art.
There’s something quietly powerful about weaving, the way time slows as your hands repeat a simple motion and a pattern begins to emerge. Your artisan host will show you how to work with the fibres, how to correct the weave when it shifts, and how this craft has been carried forward through generations. By the end, you’ll hold something you made yourself, not a souvenir bought, but a memory shaped, threaded with patience, skill, and the spirit of the village.
Making Offerings – Canang Sari
Join the women of Manggis in preparing canang sari, the delicate daily offerings seen across Bali. Each leaf and flower you place has a purpose, carrying a message of gratitude, protection, or balance. As you weave your own offering, guided by patient hands, you’ll learn how this practice is an act of devotion and harmony woven into everyday life. By the end, you’ll understand the symbolism of the canang sari and enjoy this heartfelt a tradition that brings beauty and meaning to each new day.
As you fold leaves and place flowers with intention, you’ll feel how this practice brings calm to the day, a small ritual that carries a deep sense of meaning. Your host will explain the symbolism behind colours, placements, and gestures, and how offerings are part of living in balance with nature, spirit, and community. Many guests describe this as one of the most grounding experiences at Kaura: gentle, beautiful, and moving.
Tea Party: Herbal Tea & Balinese Cake Class
Gather around for a village tea party where each sip and bite carries meaning. Guided by your host, you’ll blend healing herbs, (ginger for warmth, lemongrass for digestion, turmeric for strength), into soothing teas, then pair them with traditional Balinese cakes made by your own hands. This is more than a cooking class; it’s a storytelling session, where you learn the rituals, symbolism, and care woven into every recipe. By the end, you’ll have tasted Balinese history and will understand its philosophy of wellness and balance.
This is a lesson in wellbeing the Balinese way: simple ingredients, shared slowly, with care. As you blend herbs and shape sweet treats, your host will connect flavour to feeling, explaining how these recipes fit into daily life, family traditions, and seasonal rhythms. The tasting becomes its own kind of pause: warm cups in hand, fresh cakes on the table, stories flowing easily. It’s a soft, sensory window into Bali’s philosophy of balance, one you can carry home in both memory and practice.
