Whale hunting off Lembata Island (really!)

Thursday 8th September

In Larantuka, Flores. Up at 6:15am (when will I get to sleep in!?) After breakfast of coffee and three tasty cakes, I walked down to the harbour and soon found the wooden ferry to Lembata, an island in the Solor Archipelago (no longer in Flores). The ferry is a bit like a big fishing boat and takes about 60 passengers, as well as 10 motorbikes and lots of boxes of mineral water and noodles. The Captain arrived just on time and we set off into the Solor strait among the islands with Gunung De Boleng, a perfect volcano shape, to our leftside. I chatted to Abdul the carpenter along the way.

After 2 hours, we stopped briefly at Lamakera on Pulau Solar where the drinks were unloaded. We then continued for 2 more hours to Lewoleba on Lembata island. I was excited to be arriving on a remote island in the far eastern part of Indonesia (but although it is remote, most people have better mobile phones than me and are quite westernised in their dress and most people speak a little English).

Abdul had said he would help me get to the market in Lewoleba from where I would get transport to Lamalera but when I got off the boat I could not see him in the crowd of people getting off and those unloading the boat. But I found a guy who would take me to the bus terminal in his ute for a fair price so off we went. I am glad I have picked up enough Indonesian to usually get by.

At the terminal I only had to wait 15 mintues before transport arrived. The 'bus' has a truck's cab and in the back are opposing bench seats for about 30 passengers, with the sides just open, no windows, and a curtain at the back to keep the dust out.

The road was bitumen for a short while and then became like a track and was pretty bumpy. Again the music was blaring but the driver's taste was not so bad as yesterday. I did exaggerate my annoyance at the guys smoking next to me. I know I should be used to it but it still annoys me, especially when there are little kids breathing in their smoke. The mothers don't seem to mind, or maybe it is the same as with the music and they think they can't say anything.

After a couple of hours there was a big bang and we had got a flat tyre. It obviously happens quite a bit on that road, and the guys had it fixed pretty quickly. As we approached the fishing village of Lamalera (population 1900) we were looking down on a stunning bay, with a big fluffy white cloud above the cliffs, which drop down into the ocean. There were lots of trees blocking the view so it was mostly glimpses, I will try to see it again before I leave.

The guest house here in Lamalera is nice. I thought I might be the only Bole (foreignor) in town but there is a French/Spanish couple here. I walked down with them to the beach to arrange with a guy for a fishing trip tomorrow. I walked up the hill and down to the other part of the village. Most villagers say hello and a group of schoolgirls ran over to talk with me.

Today on the bus a guy was transporting two live chickens. He didn't seem to care too much for them. One was tied up such that it's head was on its side with it's cheek against the floor of the bus. Later the other one was moving around a bit so the guy just shoved it back in it's bag and into the corner the way you might treat a bag of potatoes. I wouldn't want to be a pig around here either; most of them are tied up and/or in small pens. But this afternoon, one was tied upside down to a log as two guys carried it away to be slaughtered; it was squealing in distress.


Friday 9th September

The locals like to party, put my ear plugs in at 3am. Up at 6am and after coffee and donuts for breakfast we walked down to the beach to see if the fishing trip was on. But the guy came down and told us there was no fishing today because there is no kerosene; maybe that's why they had a party last night instead. So I went back to bed; it's not often I am lazy but I was this morning.

All meals are included with the room charge at this guest house. For lunch we got omlette and rice and vegies; it was left on the table in bento boxes. After lunch, at the hottest time of the day(!), I walked out of the village and uphill to find the lovely view that we passed yesterday. It only took half an hour to get up there and I saw the bay, but there was no shade up there and it was too hot to hang around, I could feel the heat coming from the tarmac through my sandals.

I walked back down to the village and to the other side. I popped into the Catholic church with it's relgious paintings and discarded plastic water bottles.

I carried on along the track, past some villages and orchards. I had planned to turn around at 4:30pm but as I turned a corner high above the sea there was a beautiful view of the sun reflecting on the open sea, with the village of Tapabali in the foreground, so I decided to keep walking. I watched the sun shining on the cliffs with the waves crashing below. I walked back a bit and sat on the road reading my book while waiting for the sun to set. A few locals came past. The sunset was pretty good, but it went behind the haze.

It obviously got darker as I walked back quickly with my torch. I stopped in my tracks as I spotted a small scorpion cross my path. It cordially sat there under my torch light while I took it's photo, good job it didn't get stuck in my sandal!

Pretty tired when I got back to the guest house, but dinner was on the table (Omelette, potato and too much rice), and an Italian guy, Jacomo, has arrived so that's 4 Bole. We took the opportunity to charge up laptops and phones as there is electricity only at night.

 
Saturday 10th September

Lamalera is not an ordinary fishing village; it is unique because it is, apparently, the only place left on earth where whales are hunted by hand, using bamboo harpoons, with the approval of conservation groups, because they only catch about 25 non-endangered whales per year; sperm whales. The whole village lifestyle and survival is based around hunting.

As soon as you arrive in the village you can see signs of whale hunting. Whale meat is hung up to dry in people's yard's, on the beach, all around. The fat from the neck is allowed to drip off into a plastic channel and into a plastic bottle and is used for cooking. There are plenty of whale bones around too. The locals also catch sharks and dolphins. 

The fishing boats are stored in thatched boat houses just at the top of the beach. It was there that we met local fisherman Stefanos to begin our fishing trip at 7am this morning. While we waited we saw a couple of guys come ashore with a dolphin and a shark that they had caught in the nets overnight. The shark had already had it's fin cut off and was being cut in half. I prodded the dolphin with my finger; the blubber is a few millimetres thick and then it's rock hard underneath. 

Our fishing boat was wooden and about 20 metres long with an outboard motor, and 5 bamboo harpoons along the side. There were 5 crew including Stefanos, and four of us Bole. They pushed the boat down to the sea across logs placed at 90 degrees to the boat. We were not sure what to expect today, some people get to see whales being harpooned and stabbed repeatedly in a bloody mess until they die. I was not sure I wanted to see that but was prepared for anything. Ours was the only boat out at that time.

My first priority was not to get sunburned and I was constantly putting on sunscreen. We headed a couple of kms out to the open sea with the crew scrutinising the sea for their prey, while I continuously bailed out the small swimming pool gathering around our feet. After about half an hour they spotted, I think, a dolphin. The one guy stood up the front of the boat, harpoon in hand but then it got away. Soon after, though, they spotted a whale, a prize target. I had wondered how 5 guys on a small boat would catch a whale, and of course they can't and we headed back for reinforcements.

With the outboard motor at top speed we approached the village with the guys all shouting 'Baleo, Baleo', so that the villagers could hear that a whale had been spotted and get themselves organised. It was crazy and exciting as about 90 men from the village descended onto the beach and dragged their boats down to the ocean to join the hunt. Some of the boats don't have motors; we towed one back out to sea.

With about 12 boats, the hunt split up and went looking for the whale. And sure enough the huge grey whale surfaced quite near to us; and other boats zoomed over. The hunter on the nearest boat perched on the front end of the boat with his harpoon raised, but the whale dived and got away.

All the boats split up again and then all killed their engines and waited for the whale to come up for air again. The whale was spotted a couple more times after that but after a couple of hours the whale seemed to have disappeared and the fishermen decided to call it a day and we headed back (I thought they would have stayed longer, but they know best).

Back at the coast the fishermen were hauling their boats back up the beach, across the same logs as before while all the village kids were playing in the water, and body-boarding on pieces of wood. I helped to push the some of the fishing boats back up to their thatched boathouses. They sing/chant as they push the heavy boat and there was a sense of camraderie among the men. It was a bit of a carnival atmosphere; I wonder what it is like when they bring a whale back?

So in a way it was a disappointment that we didn't get to see the fishermen display their hunting skills, but perhaps the kill would have been too traumatic to watch anyway. I didn't really have any moral qualms about what they do, since this is how they survive, they sell some of the whale products and keep the meat for themselves.


Sunday 11th September

Ideally we would have left Lamalera this afternoon, but then we found out there is no transport out of the village on a Sunday, so it was a lazy day. When I got up at 9:30am most of the villagers were away at church. We sat on the verandah reading books, sharing travel stories and watching people go by. And we got in the sea in the afternoon.

Lamalera is as far east as I will travel; tomorrow I will start retracing my steps as I head back west. I am not sure what I will do with the my remaining 15 days in Indonesia (except diving) as I will probably be just heading back the way I came. Oh well, there are plenty of beaches to sit on and I enjoy just being here without necessarily doing anything. I will take my time and hopefully not travel on too many consecutive days.