Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
Tuesday July 21, 2015
After a night of calm crossing, we drop anchor in front of Panjang Island. We're all going to wake Jonathan up for his birthday by singing at his door ... !!!
From the boat you can see a row of small wooden houses on stilts, tidy just behind the beach, no color ... These are Badjos who live here therefore fishing. We walk down the main street but the village seems deserted by the population, almost a ghost village.
The island of Panjang taken by Christophe Gruault from the drone
Agus explains that the government built these small wooden houses to replace others that were on the sea and probably dangerously placed in the event of a Tsunami.
The fact that these barracks are aligned well in line along the street gives a rather strange, almost military effect.
There is finally a house with a little life, it is a kind of grocery store as there are often in these small villages where there is everything and anything. The lady is delighted to welcome us, little by little a few people arrive and the atmosphere becomes warmer ....
Agus triggers general hilarity by giving the famous photos taken two months ago ....
We are intrigued by the fact that many houses are padlocked, a sign of a prolonged absence. In fact most of the inhabitants have gone to a wedding on another island and in addition there is the end of Ramadan holiday.
We can't seem to feel as good as in the other villages, we stay for a moment on the beach in the shade of a coconut tree, a group of young boys is watching us, one stands out like Le Caïd ...
With Christophe, we leave to discover the other side of the beach, The interior of the village is more lively and friendly, we pass in front of a pretty family installed on its terrace, two small children with their parents, the mother speaks good English .... Further on, a gentleman is carving a rake out of a piece of wood .... under a palm shelter, a pool table ....
Tanahjampea Island
An hour at sea and we land on the island of Tanahjampea. Very pretty houses on stilts, two ethnic groups live here, the Bajos and the Bugis. They have two resources, the sea and alternating rice and soybean crops. Distribution of photos when arriving, crossing the village towards crops.
A woman appears at the bend of a street and begins to provoke Christophe by pinching him and giving him some slaps on the arms ... ????? !!!
She follows our group on the way with a stick and tries to give us a few shots, very funny for her, obviously she is "to the west" ...
Last stroll on the seafront, we discover a big porcupine at a local's house, it is tame, it is the attraction of the moment!
Agus received this morning a call from a fisherman from Bimba (wonderful island where we were two days before) he found Ethan's little camera forgotten in a small wooden pirogue on the beach .... We are all amazed and touched by so much kindness on the part of this fisherman, who remembered us, asked the duck merchant's Agus phone number and who takes care of keeping the device until we return. ...
Around 5.30pm we take the road towards Flores, making a stopover in Bimba ...
