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The Whale hunter, see muscular harpooners chasing the whale using the wooden canoe called "Pledang" in which its sail is made of palm leaves
Lembata
Island ,East Nusa Tenggara is a whaling village. The months of May to November make up the whale hunting season for the people of Lamalera. Using simple traditional tools as small row boats and the handthrown harpoons, the hunters sail out to hunt these giant creatures of the sea
The people of Lembata seem a little more outgoing and playful than the people of Alor, bordering on fiesty even.. Some of Lembata’s most famous inhabitants reside on the south coast in the town of
Lamalera . Traditional whale hunting is still practised here, at least still by the middle aged men (the younger generations consider it old-fashioned, so the practise probably won’t last much longer). This is the only place in where whales are still hunted ‘the old way’. Instead of motor boats and explosive harpoons, 12 metre ‘prahus’ are paddled, with the harpooner balancing precariously on a flimsy platform at the front of the boat. When he gets within striking distance he hurls the lance, leaping in after it irrespective of which creature he has speared, hoping to put his full weight behind the spear and pull of a quick a kill as possible. Then the fun really begins. The whale will typically take off, reeling off a couple bundles of rope (woven from palm fronds) before towing the boat off behind – sometimes as far as
Timor !
by
jefri aries
at
Tue Oct 18 06:02:15 UTC 2005
(ed. Jun 24 2006)
Jakarta,
Indonesia
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