My feet are back on solid ground and as I steady myself I luxuriate at the feeling of sand between my toes once again. We have spent the past 3 days at sea with a family of Bajau Laut (Sea) gypsies that sail the waters off of North East coast of Sabah of Malaysian Borneo. Tamilhusin is approaching 60 years old (by my best guess – the Bajau do not remember birth dates or in fact any dates, days, hours or minutes in fact) and earlier this morning he and his son pulled in his simple fishing net for the last time and collected the last blue spotted stingray before declaring to the whole family unit, of 22 men, women and children, spread over 5 small wooden house boats, that they should head to the sheltered beach of a nearby Kalapuan island.

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Over the past 3 days the family has managed to catch just 9 stingray, which were dried on the boat’s roof to sell later at the local fish markets. When combined with the cowry, conch and clam shells, which are foraged for at low tide and stored in net bags by the boat (a wet net wallet of sorts), these make up the Bajau’s staple “cash crop”.

Money from the sale of these pays for boat fuel, spares, rice, sago flour, and fishing gear. In tough times the whole family goes without until they are “lucky’ once more. The Bajau don’t use the word “fate” but “lucky” instead. The Bajau have a mix of religions from animalist, where they believe in many gods, to believing in the God of the ocean, to Islam as well as Christianity – it all depends on with whom they have had contact with in the past – but the common belief across all is that which ever God they entrust their lives to, this God will always provide – in this they have no doubt. When you ask about their plans for the day, never ask for tomorrows or next weeks plan – tomorrow and next week don’t really exist – they will reply that if they get “lucky” they will catch a lot of fish to eat and sell and if they are “not lucky” they will go without. That’s it black and white – “lucky” or “not lucky”. Everyday they play the fishing lottery abiding by that age old adage of “you have got to be in it to win it!’ I asked several of the older men if they looked to learn new ways of fishing from relatives or friends or save for better fishing gear but was always left dumbfounded when they would more often than not reply that they choose to stick with the little they know and trust in the ocean to provide. As with many of the seas and oceans around the world fish stocks are plummeting due to over fishing and or destructive fishing methods such as bottom trawling, which destroys the sea bed habitat, or giant gill nets, which indiscriminately trap and drown any unwary ocean traveller. Coupled with the widespread scourge of bomb and cyanide fishing all across South East Asia fish stocks and the marine environment are failing fast. As a result over the past 15 years or so that I have been filming and getting to know the Bajau Laut, around Sabah’s shores, it is clear that their “luck” is running out. This is more than apparent in the lack of large cash crop sales in the markets which means they can not afford to run and repair their house boats and are being forced to move to the outskirts of offshore islands where they build simple and flimsy bamboo and rattan stilted houses.

 

If you visit these islands it is easy to tell the difference between a Bajau Laut house and that of a settled Malaysian ID holder as a true Bajau Laut will always build over water with no connecting wooden walkway or bridge to any other adjoining house or to the island itself. At high tide you can only reach them by boat and even at low tide they will often be a foot or so of water beneath.  Settled Malaysian ID holders see themselves as a cut above the Bajau Laut and their houses are either on the island proper or at least connected by wooden walkways and left high and dry at low tide. A once high-ranking Bajau Laut family that I have known for over 10 years once had 6 decent house-boats within the family, now they have just the 1. The once tight knit family is now scattered around Sabah’s coast in flimsy stilt houses near offshore islands and in one case on an abandoned and isolated seaweed farm over an offshore reef. In my minds eye the situation seems desperate but when I speak with them they are resolute in their belief that their “luck” will return and their nets will be full and they will once again be able to raise enough cash to pay for new boats.

 

But back to the here and now and as the boats pull up to the golden sands of the island everyone is excited and focused of what he or she will do for the rest of today.

 

Although the Bajau Laut hate to leave their boats and will always choose to sleep on them these island visits are essential.

 

Such offshore islands offer access to fresh water, food, wood, and other scavenged materials. Simple sandy bottomed wells, at the centre of these islands offer filtered water for onboard drinking and cooking but also a chance to wash the salt and fish scales from clothes. Women cover their faces in rice flour to protect themselves from sunburn as they work – a paler face is perceived as more beautiful in Bajau society.

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The Older women head out to forage for fire wood whilst young boys scramble up coconut trees to gather young sweet water filled nuts, not the old dried out ones we always see in our western supermarkets.

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Whilst the older men clean out the boats and wash them down in an effort to drive out the ever increasing numbers of cockroaches before making simple repairs.

 

As all of these chores and activities unfold before me I am struck by the overall happiness that pervades the air. Singing, laughter and excited chatter rings out and around. Once all the chores are completed the youngsters gather around a rope hung between two of the tallest palm trees. Laughter and squeals of excitement ring out even louder than before and even louder still when I put down my camera and take to the swing for myself!

 

But like all good things they soon come to and end and as high tide approaches and lifts up the house boats once more they are packed up with the scavenged materials and the whole family clambers back aboard before pushing the boat out to the deeper water near the coral reef edge. Nets are re-set to catch fish entering the island lagoon on the incoming tide in the hope they will provide enough for an evening meal. True Bajau Laut choose never to sleep ashore and no matter how cramped a house boat maybe they will always sleep aboard.

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I truly love filming and getting to know the many Bajau Laut families and individual characters that make the East Coast of Malaysian Borneo home. By capturing and telling their story, their way of life and the perils and threats they face I hope to be able to raise their plight with the policy makers that can protect their way of life. Like many of the worlds poorest subsistence hunter gatherers they are some of the most friendly and welcoming of people however like other such tribes living on the edge of existence and taking whatever “luck” comes their way I cannot help but worry that this is a fast disappearing culture and whether they will still be sailing between these beautiful islands in another 15years.

 

But for now we all head back out to sea!

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All Photos ©simonenderby