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August 2015 back issue
by Palani Mohan
It is hard to imagine a more apt setting to hunt sea monsters than Lamalera. The village, about 900km east of Bali, on
the island of Lembata, oozes portents; beyond the steep green hill that divides the twin communities of Lamalera A and
B are volcanic peaks, including the active, smoke-belching Ale Ile. On clear mornings you can see across the Ombai
Strait, a sperm whale breeding ground, to Timor.
The beach is dotted with bleached whale bones, and the restless earth leaks a sulphurous stink, lending credence to
the fire and brimstone sermons each Sunday (the Catholic mission has been established for more than a century and
most of Lamalera’s 2000 inhabitants are Christians).
Lamalera is the last place on earth where sperm whales are regularly harpooned from traditional wooden vessels.
The whole hunting village of Lamalera seen from the air. Like the characters out of Moby Dick the people of Lamalera
still hunt Sperm whales using small wooden boats. This is the only place in the world that still does this.
A fisherman points to the ocean where a sperm whale has been spotted in the far distance. The hunt will get
underway way now.
Fishermen in their wooden boats head out to sea to hunt sperm whales in the village of Lamalera in Indonesia.
A fishermen jumps from his wooden boat to kill a sperm whale.
Before the start of the season, fishermen gather on the beach of the village of Lamalera to pray and ask the Gods for
good fortune in the hunt to come.
Young boys playing in the cool of the evening.
Fishermen in their wooded boats head out to sea to hunt sperm whales in the village of Lamalera in Indonesia. Meat
from the previous hunts can be seen in the fore ground on the beach.
Morning light pours over the huge skulls of Sperm whales in the village of Lamalera in Indonesia.
A hunter in the making: A young boy jumps off a rock into the sea practicing the skills needed to one day be a whale
hunter.
The colors of the wooden boat and the fishermen’s nets on the beach.
Fishermen in their wooden boats head out to sea to hunt sperm whales.
A rainbow over the village of Lamalera on the island of Lembata, Indonesia.
In one of the most perilous moments of the hunt, the enraged whale smashes his tail down on the boat, destroying the
harpooner's platform on the Tena Puka.
One of the crew of the Tena Puka drives a knife into the head of a sperm whale as the blood turns the sea red.
A giant sperm whale is pulled up onto the beach.
The village of Lamalera on the island of Lembata, Indonesia.
A giant sperm whale is pulled up onto the beach in the village of Lamalera.
A fishermen gets ready to jump from his wooden boat to kill a sperm whale.
A painting of a whale hunt.
