♪ anai leu ita - welcome to mentawai! ♪

After a beautiful two weeks of island hopping, jungle trekking and cave sleeping I am back in Yogya. I was picked up from the airport, I extended my visa, I rented a motorbike, I decorated my new room with an explosion of colours, and then I sat on my balcony full of ants and plants. My gecko made a sound and I looked up: it was peacefully hunting a bugging insect. The sun was setting while Indonesian television filled my head with my newest language. Planes flew over, heading to destinations where I don't even have to think about, because I am at home.

The thought of living in Yogya for another three months isn't bothering me at all. The rainy season has now definitely started and I feel fresh. The falling drops of water make a comforting sound, the sight of a threatening sky is always marvelous and everything is covered in ultimate freshness after yet another tropical shower. For many people it will just continue to be a necessary inconvenience, but I realised that I still love the rain. Someone asked me to teach him how to do that, but it cannot be taught. The rain just soothes my senses.

Waiting on the wobbly water for the ferry to take off

I was happy however, that during our visit to Siberut Island the skies were blue and the trees were green. From blue to green and back, and all the colours in between, that is Mentawai.

It started on a ferry in Padang. Together with Pak Rachmadi we had to wait for a storm to pass in order to safely make the 10-hour journey to the island. When the high waves calmed down and finally disappeared, we took off and this is what that looked like (click on the link and check 9:35) Carlijn and Marieke on Indonesian television!

The next day we were welcomed in Muara, the main town on Siberut and a good starting point for both jungle trekking and boat trips to bounty beaches. Pak Vincent, whom we met via Pak Rachmadi, was going to be our local guide for a week. He made it possible for us to stay away from tourist packages when he opened the doors of his humble house in Muara. We met his family and took on their daily rhythm, which mainly consists of hanging around in the uma, the communal space to gather and relax. He also brought us to the in-lands of the island by speed boat, where we visited a jungle school. The waterways that took us there connect the sea to the in-lands, and we were surrounded by beautiful mangroves. Traveling for hours and hours to reach the most remote destinations is a common activity on Siberut. Sometimes, when the engine refuses to take you any further, the only option is to wait and relax. Santai aja (just relaxing) is often the answer to the question Apa kabar (how are you), and it sounds much easier than it actually is ...

Our house in Muara, Siberut

Andi and Ditto from TransTV were filming our trip

Sekolah hutan, jungle school in the village Magosi

Pak Vincent is preparing cocoa to dry in the sun so that it can be sold later

Local kids looking at a pom-pom (traditional boat) that just arrived 

The road to the next village ...

... where we played volley

The mangroves of Siberut are just so mysteriously stunning ...

Getting ready for the jungle shower ...

Thursday 8 December, scribble. "Is it still morning? There is no signal here, no time, nothing to do, a dead chicken, nothing soft. We have been sleeping on the floor for a week now. Hard, everything sakit. In the middle of the jungle, far away from everything, we are on Siberut. Siberut is derived from Sabirut, which means 'many mice' in the local language. I haven't seen a single mouse yet, just an enormous and friendly beetle, yesterday. 'We play with it', said the boy who was holding the giant bug. It tickled on my arms."

Later that day. "Our friend Pak Rachmadi is always talking, banyak cerita. Everyone is listening to stories without a clue. Same old jokes are repeated and everybody laughs. I'm learning some Bahasa Mentawai, asit magele means sweet pineapple. We ate the most delicious asit magele in a village named Gotab. People are smoking kretek cigarettes and everything is going extremely slow. We'll go fishing on the way back to Muara, later today."

We then took it to the land where we ate it

We caught one!

On our last day Pak Vincent took us up the hill to show us his disaster preparation project. Mentawai is a disaster-prone group of islands, and although Siberut never experienced a tsunami like on the southern islands Sipora and Pagai, the threat is always there. Some years ago Siberut suffered from a rather severe earthquake -6.9 on the Richter scale- and people still clearly remember that day. Experience is the best teacher, and many islanders learned an important lesson: to be prepared for natural disaster in an area like this. Recently, the Indonesian government constructed a jalur evakuasi (evacuation route) so that the villagers can immediately run up the hill in case of an earthquake. Temporary shelter is not provided, so Pak Vincent showed us the house that he built there on his own initiative. 

His shelter is just as equipped as his ordinary house

Yet, much more progress can be made in the implementation of DRR (disaster risk reduction) as a significant element in local development, something that Pak Rachmadi is working on through the organisation YCM. Above all, he advocates for the protection of indigenous right of the Mentawai people. Together with Siberut communities, Pak Rachmadi works on capacity-building and local participation in development projects on the island, while trying to keep the traditional culture alive. For successful implementation of their projects, volunteers such as Pak Vincent are much needed. I have experienced the two as a great team, two people who know how to santai aja but who always end up where they are supposed to be.

Pak Vincent on the hill near his shelter

Pak Rachmadi in the sekolah hutan

It was a real blessing to get to know Pak Rachmadi and Pak Vincent, they added so much fun and knowledge to my Mentawai trip. Surak sabeu kepada Anda berdua!

Tentu kamu juga sayangku! Pengalaman yang luar biasa, surak sabeu!