When traveling on a dive trip to Wakatobi in the Southern Corner of Sulawesi in Indonesia I was made aware of the Bajau people that live all over Indonesia but have a very strong presence in this island chain known as Wakatobi. Wakatobi as actually a word created by combining the first 2 letters of each island in the group. These are...Wangi-wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko.
When I was there filming for the Wonderful Indonesia promotional media I was able to meet some of these amazing people and film them spearfishing. I knew immediately that I had to return one day and make a film about them. I convinced Earth Touch to fund my trip and the video at the end of this article is the trailer that I cut for them on my return to Phuket.
I based myself on the island of Tomia during the filming as there was comfortable accommodation and a diving operator there. The nearest Bajau settlement was on the neighboring Island of Kadelupa. The Bajau people live in semi-permanent stilted homes above the sea in a tidal area meaning that at low tide you could walk around on the exposed seabed. I soon realised that this tidal area was an important source of food for the community and every low tide people were out harvesting the ocean's bounty.
Village life revolved around repairing fishing tools and nets, making new tools for fishing, cooking the days catch and of course the usual dramas that could be any community on planet earth in any culture. I had a Bajau speaking guide and I was very careful to not film at all for the first two days as I didnt want to be just another "Bule" (foreigner) with a camera intruding on people's privacy. On the third day I felt it was OK to ask gentle permission to film the different characters of the village as they went about their daily lives.
One thing I found very fascinating was the handcrafted wooden goggles the Baujau wear for diving. I had seen these in films and photographs and I asked my guide if he could introduce me to someone who knew how to make them. He took me straight to they guy! I was able to film the process right from the raw log of the particular wood that is used. To my amazement the whole process took less than 30 minutes and was made with a single large machete, right down to the lenses that were fitted - in this case the lenses were made from recovered sea trash - just an old bottle that was found floating nearby.
Prior to spending time in the village with the community I expected that My filming would mostly be on or under the water. Boy was I wrong. I soon learned that although free diving was an amazing talent of the Bajau it was by no means their sole source of food and income, but rather just a small part of their every day life. I asked my Guide to introduce me to a veteran diver who would be happy to have me follow him diving for a day. He was a gentleman and and in great shape for someone over 60. I have not included any underwater images here as the video shows that the best. This short article and few photos barely scratches the surface of who the Bajau are. I cant wait to return to Wakatobi and spend time with the Bajau again!
