Our story began with a simple question: "Did you learn to swim?" The answer stayed with us:
"No... but I used to paddle around in my uncles's buffalo pond."
Since then, Buffalo Pond has been delivering accessible water safety education, swim lessons and community programs across Lombok and beyond - helping people build confidence, skills, and a safe relationship with the water.
Buffalo Pond was founded from a love of the water, the Lombok community, and a desire to create lasting change.
With drowning rates still alarmingly high in Indonesia, we’re working to make swimming and water safety more accessible through lessons, community programs, educational resources, and local partnerships.
Together, we’re building safer, more confident communities, one swimmer at a time.
More than just swimming lessons, Buffalo Pond is a community built around confidence, safety, and connection with the water.
Through private lessons, community programs, ocean safety education, and free educational resources, we create opportunities for children and adults to learn, grow, and feel more comfortable in and around the water.
Every private lesson supports our wider mission by helping fund free scholarship programs and local community initiatives. With the support of donors, partners, and businesses who believe in our vision, we can continue expanding access to water safety education across Lombok and beyond.
Together, we are creating a future where more people have the opportunity to experience the confidence and freedom that comes from feeling safe in the water.
Creating safer communities around water is something we cannot do alone.
We work with businesses, organisations, community leaders, foundations, and individuals who believe in making swimming and water safety more accessible for everyone.
Whether through partnerships, sponsorship, resources, or collaboration, every form of support helps us expand our programs and reach more people.
Interested in working together? We’d love to hear from you.
650+
individuals empowered through our basic water safety skills program
500+
fully funded scholarship swimming programs to children across Indonesia
200
water safety education books delivered to schools and communities across Indonesia
2
Water safety books created
Our mission
We make learning joyful, building confidence, connection and a lifelong love of the water.
We create physical, psychological and culturally safe spaces where everyone feels supported to learn.
We believe swimming can connect people across cultures, communities and borders.
We believe confidence starts in the water as swimmers to step beyond their comfort zones and build courage and resilience - life long skills.
1 - No Poverty
3 - Good health & Well-being
4 - Quality Education
5 - Gender Equality
6 - Clean Water & Sanitation
8 - Decent Work & Economic Growth
10 - Reduced Inqualities
11 - Sustainable Cities & Communities
13 - Climate Action
Find quick answers to the most common questions about our programs, training, and registration process.
Community consultation has helped shape Buffalo Pond with community input, aligning our business plan with community needs. Our commitment to ongoing consultation means we’ll continually seek input from both local and expat communities.
We are committed to ensure that consultation is not only seen as a pre-emptive step but an ongoing one. We will constantly be seeking information and open to learning from various groups within the community.
Swimming contributes to the achievement of nine out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These include:
SDG 1.1: Eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day;
SDG 3.2: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages;
SDG 4.2: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all;
SDG 5.4: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;
SDG 6.1: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all;
SDG 8.1: Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances, and in particular at least 7% per annum GDP growth in the least-developed countries;
SDG 10.7: Reduce inequality within and among countries;
SDG 11.1: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;
SDG 13.1: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Donations play a vital role in ensuring that water safety remains accessible to everyone in our community, regardless of their circumstances. Donations will subsidise swim safety program costs when barriers exist. Funds also support the ongoing costs to support day-to-day operations.
