How It Began
Traditional whaling is incredibly difficult and therefore an unpredictable path of day-to-day survival. Most of the fishing tradition dates back way before the transcontinental Republic of Indonesia even existed.
Historical tales indicate that the Lamalerans originated from Sulawesi, where they waded out with nets for mackerel or other small fish; with more experience, they pushed off in boats and captured bigger prey, eventually launching a small fleet of sailing boats on the Banda Sea, exploring this watery world until they must have reached what is now Lamalera.
Forty years later, the roofs of whale skin with support beams of whale ribs are gone, but the rest seems to remain largely unaffected by ongoing modernisation. The culture of fine teamwork and the system of sharing and exchanging the sea’s harvest is well preserved as in medieval times.
Every week, they mingle at the local trade market, where fellow Lamalerans swap their sundried fish or whale meat for corn, vegetables, fruits and other commodities from the mountain dwellers, creating a selfcontained business ecosystem. Some fish will be sold for money though, but whale meat has never been traded with other islands outside Lembata.
The Lamalerans live a life far from what a city-dweller could fathom. Usually, a family of six shares only 30 to 40 square metres plus a yard. Their furniture involves a couple of plastic chairs, which are stitched together again when falling apart. Cupboards are rare – there wouldn’t be much to store anyway. When you witness a young boy mixing coffee into yesterday’s rice so that it’s not too dry to eat, your outlook on life will most likely change.
A local credit union opened in town two years ago, offering loans for villagers to pay for modern needs such as petrol, electricity and education. Since then, many villagers have learned that loans cause other problems, and most stay away from the debt trap. A few bad catches, they confess, and they would fall behind on their payments and slide deeper into debt. It puts unhealthy pressure on them while catching fish. Thus they prefer to earn a little at a time, step by step.
Lamalerans swap their sundried fish or whale meat for corn, vegetables, fruits and other commodities from the
mountain dwellers
“Lamalera was one of the most amazing stops in the early days of the 1980s and 1990s. The children astounded us, as even the very young ones threw themselves fearlessly into ferocious surf, and always lived with much laughter. Lamalera was connected to the rest of Lembata island only by a foot path, which only a few experts could navigate by motorbike.
The village was entirely subsistent on trading whale parts and oil with the rest of the island in exchange for living essentials. So they walked for days, with immense slabs of blubber on their heads. Many of the houses had roofs of whale skin, with support beams of whale ribs, and instead of garden gnomes in their immaculate gardens, there were whale vertebrae, skulls and enormous stingray tails. They are among the handful of the world’s communities still subsisting, legally, on spearing and landing whales by hand. Their days are numbered as the last, hands-on hunters of the world’s largest toothed carnivore, the sperm whale of Moby Dick fame.”
Dr. Lawrence Blair, anthropologist, BBC filmmaker and author of the famous book
Ring of Fire