SULAWESI

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Synopsis

Photographs of Sulawesi, Indonesia

  • A collection of traditional Bajau lepa lepa boats off the coast of Pulau Bangko. More and more Bajau are abandoning their traditional life on boats to settle in permanent homes in stilt villages but many Bajau still choose to live the majority of their lives in their handmade lepa lepa boats.
  • Leaving the mosque in the Bajau community of Mola, Wangi Wangi, Wakatobi
  • A young Bajau girl wades out from Torosiaje village to forrage for sea cucumbers and shell fish, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
  • Moen Lanke, seconds after freediving for clams with a tyre iron. The weight of the iron holds him down on the ocean floor allowing him to run along the reefs. In order to get around the problem of equalising (a technique used by scuba divers to balance the pressure of the inner and outer ear at depth) it is common practice amongst Bajau to intentionally burst their ear drums at an early age in order to side step the problem.
  • Whilst few young children are now born on boats, the ocean is still very much their playground and whilst they are getting conflicted messages from their communities, who simultaneously refrain from spitting in the ocean and continue to dynamite its reefs, I still believe they could play a crucial role in the development of western marine conservation practices. Here Enal plays with his pet shark, Wangi Wangi, Indonesia
  • Foraging for seafood off Tomian island, Wakatobi
  • As Moen Lanke retrieves clams from the reef, his wife shucks them and lays them out on a wire mesh to begin preparing his dinner, which she will cook at the back of their traditional Bajau Lepa Lepa, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
  • Sansang Basangre, dukun ('shaman') of torosiaje village performs a ceremony to ensure there are no complications with the pregnancy of his daughter. After the ceremony, Sansang explains to me the 'Pamali' a set of taboos and ritual observances that govern the Bajau's interaction with the sea.
  • The indonesian government have made a concerted effort to move the traditionally nomadic Bajau Laut into settled communities such as this stilt village at torosiaje. The village located 1km out to sea still lacks basic amenities and, since many of the governments promises have turned out hollow, many Bajau are beginning to head back out to sea.
  • These two children are from a Bajau family who have taken up residence on one of the innumerable uninhabited islands that line the coast of Sulawesi. Unable to stake out a living ashore they have turned back to the sea inorder to live a self sufficient lifestyle based around 'cari laut' searching the ocean.
  • Night time prayers at a mosque on stilts over the ocean, Wangi Wangi, Wakatobi, Indonesia.
  • Night time prayers at a makeshift mosque on stilts over the ocean, Wangi Wangi, Indonesia.
  • Akbar ***, kapaladesa of Torosiaje Village, a settled Bajau community living in houses on stilts over the ocean 1km off the shore of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
  • Akbar ***, kapaladesa of Torosiaje Village, a settled Bajau community living in houses on stilts over the ocean 1km off the shore of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
  • More and more Bajau are abandoning their traditional life on boats to settle in permanent homes in stilt villages such as Torosiaje. Ibu Ani, pictured here, still spends six months of the year at sea, whilst a few Bajau still spend their entire lives on the ocean.
  • Ibu Ani looks on as her son, Ramdan forages the reef for clams. Since Ani's husband died of the bends as a result of compressor diving, she has relied on her son to support her during the months at sea.
  • Compressor diving remains a common practice amongst the Bajau Laut despite being unsustainable, illegal and highly dangerous. Young Bajau men, and often children, will routinely dive to depths of sixty metres with air pumped down to them through a hose pipe and a regulator - with no knowledge of the dangers inherent in diving to such depths they often ascend far to quickly resulting in nitrogen build up and the bends. Compressor diving is one of the main courses of unnatural death amongst the Bajau communities i have visited.
  • Compressor diving remains a common practice amongst the Bajau Laut despite being unsustainable, illegal and highly dangerous. Young Bajau men, and often children, will routinely dive to depths of sixty metres with air pumped down to them through a hose pipe and a regulator - with no knowledge of the dangers inherent in diving to such depths they often ascend far to quickly resulting in nitrogen build up and the bends. Compressor diving is one of the main courses of unnatural death amongst the Bajau communities i have visited.
  • A young Bajau girl wades out from Torosiaje village to forrage for sea cucumbers and shell fish, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
  • Bajau children enjoy the last few minutes playing in the shallows before a typical wet season storm hits the village.
  • Bajau children enjoy the last few minutes playing in the shallows before a typical wet season storm hits the village.
  • Children make the most of a calm day at Torosiaje village to forage for sea food.
  • Children make the most of a calm day at Torosiaje village to forage for sea food.
  • Imran Lahassan, 40, off the coast of Pulau Bangkau. Imran used to bomb fish to pay for his five children to go to school. His children, however, have come back from school with an education in the science of marine conservation and have asked him to return to traditional artisanal fishing practices.
  • Imran Lahassan, 40, off the coast of Pulau Bangkau. Imran used to bomb fish to pay for his five children to go to school. His children, however, have come back from school with an education in the science of marine conservation and have asked him to return to traditional artisanal fishing practices.
  • A freshly speared Moray eel (Li Ndo), a delicacy amongst the Bajau Laut, is offered to me off the coast of Pulau Bangkau, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
  • Bada Ipus lays out square kilometre of net. When he was young, he tells me, his nets were much smaller but his catches much greater.
  • Bada Ipus lays out a square kilometre of net. When he was young, he tells me, his nets were much smaller but his catches much greater.
  • A collection of traditional Bajau lepa lepa boats off the coast of Pulau Bangko. More and more Bajau are abandoning their traditional life on boats to settle in permanent homes in stilt villages but many Bajau still choose to live the majority of their lives in their handmade lepa lepa boats.
  • Pulau Langkoba, once inhabited by a thriving Chinese-Indonesian grouper fishing company, now inhabited by *** who supervises the derelict buildings and half built grouper fishing vessels that lie abandoned on the beach.
  • Refil spearfishing off Pulau Bangkau.
  • Refil spearfishing off Pulau Bangkau.
  • Preparing sea cucumber (teripang), a staple food (and valuable export product) for the Bajau.
  • Fixing the trigger of a speargun. The Bajau 'pana' is made from local wood, scrap metal and rubber salvaged from tyres.
  • Bajau children learn to line fish from a very young age.
  • Two young boys fishing off the boardwalks at Torosiaje Village.
  • Torosiaje Village, Sulawesi
  • A bajau boy passes sheaves of dried palm used as thatch.
  • Every morning, thousands of salted lolosi fish line the boardwalks to dry out in the sun, Torosiaje Village.
  • Every morning, thousands of salted lolosi fish line the boardwalks to dry out in the sun, Torosiaje Village.
  • Torosiaje Village, Sulawesi
  • Torosiaje kitchens, and houses in general, are typically very neat and ordered, no doubt as a result of learning domestic organisation from life at sea.
  • Torosiaje kitchens, and houses in general, are typically very neat and ordered, no doubt as a result of learning domestic organisation from life at sea.
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  • Leaving the mosque in the Bajau community of Mola, Wangi Wangi, Wakatobi
  • Repairing nets in the evening is much easier to do on land, Mola village, Wakatobi