The Whale Hunters Of Lamalera

Lamalera, Lama meaning feeling or blade and Lera meaning sun, is situated on the southern side of the mountainous island of Lembata, which is part of the Solor Archipelago. It can only be reached by taking a bus, which is a converted truck, from Lewoleba. The drive takes about three and a half hours, mainly due to the bad roads, but is nevertheless quite scenic and adventurous. The roads can be extremely steep and narrow and there are usually many people sitting on the roof of the bus because of the restricted space inside.

Sam, an american backpacker I traveled with at the time, and I arrived in the little whaling village around four in the afternoon on a Saturday in late August 07. We soon found out, that the fishermen do not go out to sea past 4 pm and neither do they work on a Sunday, when the whole community is going to church and rests. So instead of joining the whaling boats the next day as we had hoped, we walked for about half an hour to a nearby beach and a big bat cave and spent a relaxed day out there.

Sige - Prelude To A Traditional Wedding

On the morning of the Monday following our arrival Sam and I went to the beach hoping to be able to observe the whaling. The beach was full of people, but all the boats were still under their protective little shelters. A bit later we found out, that on this day part of a traditional wedding was taking place, called Sige in the local language Lamaholot. There are 12 clans in total in Lamalera and there are certain rules and customs to be followed when it comes to marriage. People are not allowed to marry within their clan and neither are they allowed to marry into the immediate family of their parents siblings.

So on Sige, which proceeds the more formal wedding in the church, the clans of the bride and the groom come together and agree on the dowry the bride is to receive. This usually consists of two elephant tusks, which are then being kept in the new founded family until their son is being married. Meanwhile the rest of the village gets together on the beach, a few pigs are being slaughtered by the men and a huge feast is then being prepared by the women. As soon as the animals are carved up large cans filled with palm wine and cigarettes are passed around. The palm wine is self-made and many ants and other bugs are floating around in it, which does not seem to bother anybody. It is quite sweet and weak, but will still get you drunk before the afternoon. It was during this drinking session, that we met Jeffrey, a management student in Kupang and son of the owner of a guest house in town. Jeffrey speaks very good English and patiently answered all our questions about Lamalera.

Tenas - The Boats And Their Crew

The earliest inhabitants of Lamalera arrived from Sulawesi by way of Halmahera in Malukku, after a big tsunami destroyed their homes. The local fishermen are very skilled in catching whales, dolphins, manta rays and sharks their traditional way. This involves sailing close to their prey, then closing the gap by rowing furiously the last 100 meters. Then the harpooner , or Lamafa, leaps from the very front of the boat onto the back of the whale and uses his body weight to embed the harpoon deep in the flesh of the whale. This kind of whaling can be dangerous business and sometimes people get hurt as arms or legs get entangled in ropes, boats capsize as the speared whale tries to dive or boats get dragged far out to sea by an injured whale.

Almost every clan has it’s own boat, or Tena, which usually carries a crew of 8 to 12. Every Tena is believed to have a spirit and should one of them sink, the whole village enters a long period of mourning as it has lost a valuable member of the community. No whaling is being done in that time. Should a boat need to be rebuilt or repaired, then one of the boatmakers, or Molle or Labak Tilo, is called. Every boat has its own boatmaker, of which there are only six in the whole village, but one Molle can be responsible for more than one Tena. During repairs old parts of the boats are always used so as to preserve the spirit of the Tena. Another duty of the Labak Tilo is to divide the caught whale into its 17 traditional parts.

Every Tena has to have some traditional ropes, called spirit ropes or Leo, on board. Nowadays these ropes, that are made of cotton, are only used to catch manta rays. Sturdier and thicker plastic ropes are now being used to hunt for whales. Another concession to modern times is the use of engine boats. These are not directly involved in the hunt, but are used to spot the whales and then help getting the Tenas close to the whales. The Tenas are made completely out of wood and no metal nails are being used. Even the sails are made not of cloth, but of interwoven stripes of palm leaves. It is because of these traditional ways of whaling and the low numbers of whales caught per year, that the fishermen of Lamalera are still allowed to follow their tradition. Every part of the Tena relates to a human body part. The wooden outrigger are its arms, the rudder is equivalent to legs, the front is the head and the very bottom of the boat is its stomach. The Tena is usually named after its owner and some even carry inscriptions in Latin.

In total there are only 17 harpooners, or Lamafa, in the village, some as old as 60 years. Their trade usually gets taught from father to son and it takes a long time to master all the necessary skills. Keeping up this tradition seems to become more difficult though, as the children get sent to Flores to go to highschool or as far away as Kupang to go to university. Many of them later find better paid jobs away from Lembata, so the future of Lamalera as a whaling village seems somewhat uncertain. In addition to that the WWF together with some villagers is trying to find alternatives to whaling altogether. On the other hand there are villagers, like Jeffrey to settle back here once their university course is finished with the goal to upkeep the traditions and to further open Lamalera up to tourism.

The Hunt For Whales

The whaling season lasts from May to October, though whales and other marine life are being hunted year round.Since May this year 37 whales have been caught already. After five full days in Lamalera without a single Tena going out Sam and I were rready to leave. We had been told that no boats would go out the next few days due to too big waves around full moon. We had our bags packed and had just finished lunch when we heard the shout ‘Baleo’ echo around the village, which basically means that whales have been sighted and the men prepare everything to go to see. Here’s a little video of our experience:

The hunt was very emotional and confusing for me. I found that killing such a grand creature as a whale is far too easy. This experience was a lot of things, as Sam put it. It was very sad, but awesome at the same time; It was exciting and disturbing, and beyond all it was something neither of us is ever likely to forget!

Tags: Indonesia, Lamalera, Whale