They Hunt Whales to Survive (By Hand)

[00:00:03]I've come here to watch people kill whales by hand. Not on factory ships, not with a harpoon cannon. And nobody here gets paid. Guys, [music] what a scene. It is just like a mad blood bath, for lack of a better word. This is Lamarella, a village on a rock in eastern Indonesia, too infertile to farm. I think you can almost start to see why this one village is made an exception and is allowed to continue this tradition where the only food comes out of the sea. And so for 600 years they've hunted whales, some of the biggest animals in the ocean with nothing but wooden boats and bamboo spears. It is one [music] of the most dangerous jobs on Earth. And every year some of them don't come home. Even though it feels like we're constantly putting our very lives on the line, it still doesn't feel like enough. It still comes down to the luck of the individual person. [music] Everybody can ask.

[00:01:01]>> It's also the last place in the Southern Hemisphere where whales are still hunted by hand. To some, it is barbaric. The killing of one of the most intelligent animals on Earth. A creature with the biggest brain on the planet and a culture all of its own. just for a meal you could get another way. To others, it's simply not for us to judge. These are a people who fed themselves this way for more than 600 years, being told by outsiders who've never once gone hungry that their whole way of life and belief system is a crime. So today, we're going to see for ourselves. We're going whaling and we're digging into the history and we're sitting down to eat one of the most controversial creatures on the planet.

[00:01:56]>> This is maybe the last generation of Indonesian whalers.

[00:02:02][music] All right, here's the crew. This our boat been kind enough to take us out on their first row of the season. Literally the first hunt is always done [music] by hand for like symbolic ceremonial reasons. It's good luck. I think it gives us a little less chance of [music] spearing anything. We're doing how the locals really do it.

[00:02:24]>> It's a fight just to leave with these guys. When they say they do it by hand, they [music] mean everything.

[00:02:36]>> It's much easier getting down than it was up. Let me tell you, >> there's no ramp here, no track, no pulleys, no winch. Just a multi-tonon wooden boat hauled in and out of the water every single day with nothing but manpower right across the rocks.

[00:02:56][music] We're not that far off the beach. Maybe 500 m, 600 [music] m. But again, just rolling. Rolling takes a lot of energy, a lot of manpower.

[00:03:11]Once we're past the break, they fire up the one piece of machinery that they're legally allowed to use. This tiny 15 horsepower Yamaha. Guys, with just how hard this is, with the rules that are in place, with the fact that they're on these giant wooden boats that still have sails running down the middle of them, that they are allowed to use a maximum of 15 horsepower engine. And trust me, nothing that small is ever going to chase something down because of its speed. But before the engine ever turns over, there's a prayer. [music] Everyone's kind of in this room now. I see this kind of like sacred rope that's been coiled up beneath some crucifixes.

[00:03:56]Again, the Christian belief here is like pretty tied into the whaling, which is super interesting to me.

[00:04:06]We blessed the rope, the crew and opened the season just for this boat.

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[00:05:28]And soon enough, we're off. Just hours and hours of standing up in the blazing sun, [music] scanning the horizon for signs of life with your bare eyes. There's no binoculars. There's definitely no radio between boats. There's no fish finders or sonar or radar, [music] anything like that. The different boats spread out far enough that sometimes they can still see each other, but other times not at all.

[00:05:58]As it stands, we're just kind of motoring along. We are constantly bailing cuz let me tell you, this thing leaks like a sip. And then we've got one, two spotters just standing [music] up, constantly looking around as we just sort of cruise around this bay. The other boats seem to be roughly the same.

[00:06:15]your two to three spotters standing up.

[00:06:17]It's not like we have a tower or anything. I think that would help. Pair of binoculars be handy. None of that.

[00:06:23]It's just done the complete old school way. Eyesight and it's just endless scanning of the horizon.

[00:06:32]>> Here's the deal. These two [music] BS back to back scanning. Everyone else just kind of chilling. There's three or four BS in the distance.

[00:06:40]>> We're still not that far. like these little engines, you just cannot go too far out. But I don't know. I guess it's just a waiting game. It's only 8:00 a.m.

[00:06:48]We're going to be out here till 2 p.m.

[00:06:51]minimum. So, yeah. Crazy. Just wheeling out to the middle of the ocean. Chill.

[00:07:00]Constantly sucking down an endless supply of homegrown cigarettes. Guys, check out these cigarettes these guys have. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's basically a lont leaf.

[00:07:11]It's basically a type of palm here that they use the fruit for alcohol and the leaves get used for cigarette wraps. And then inside is, you know, just straight up tobacco. No filter. Obviously, my favorite bit is they rip this strip off the lar and this becomes a slider that they rock up and down to keep the thing together because you can lick this stuff. It ain't going to stick that well. So, you got to keep the slider just in front of the bit that you actually have on fire. How badass are these homemade cigarettes? Here you go, cameraman. Enjoy.

[00:07:46]All right, guys. You might think that whailing would be incredibly exciting. I mean, maybe exciting is the wrong word, but you get what I mean. Like adrenaline inducing, at least getting close to big ass animals, but the reality of it is is a lot of waiting. Just a lot of cruising around really slow boats just waiting.

[00:08:10]Mostly this is what the hunt looks like.

[00:08:12]Just driving around in slow circles, standing up and scanning the horizon for hours just looking.

[00:08:21]Guys, what that Lafa and his assistant are doing is just wild. Like it is pretty choppy now. We are bouncing all around and to just stand there, no hands on anything on these two bamboo rods.

[00:08:33]It's crazy. Then I'm falling over.

[00:08:42]The boredom is punctuated by intense moments of action.

[00:08:51]Just instant panic and frantic pointing and yelling.

[00:08:57]The water here is absolutely alive. It is teeming with krill pushed in from the deep ocean and krill bring everything else. Dolphins, pilot whales, the sperm whales. Once we hit the hunting grounds, it seems [music] like there's pods of huntable creatures everywhere, >> dude. They're all over the place. Crazy.

[00:09:20]>> Giant pods of piler whales.

[00:09:22]>> Wow.

[00:09:23]>> Dolphins.

[00:09:25]>> Cuz these whales are big. basically like sea cow size. 2 3,000 kilos each.

[00:09:32][music] There's dolphins over here. No one's interested in the dolphins right now. I think they're just too fast.

[00:09:39]Everything's just popping off all around us. And we're chasing it all with the intent to kill. Constantly watching the Lafa prepare his harpoon.

[00:09:49]>> Oh wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right here.

[00:09:51]Right here. Right here. Oh [ __ ] But almost always they come to an end with nothing.

[00:10:14]>> Miss.

[00:10:14]>> Yeah.

[00:10:15]>> Yeah.

[00:10:17]>> All right, guys. We just got a miss near miss and they seem pretty pissed. I don't know what the politics are. I don't know if I can talk right now.

[00:10:25]I don't want to rub it in.

[00:10:30]>> Damn. Close one.

[00:10:39]>> Usually to no avail.

[00:10:41]>> It's almost like these things are toying with you. Just like right there, just out of reach of the spear. That was so close. Just wild.

[00:10:52]Most of what's out here just slips right under the hole and vanishes. And then it goes quiet again. And the waiting starts over. But one thing stands out above all the rest. The sheer number of the single largest animal that has ever lived. The biggest creature in the history of the planet [music] is right beside our boat. It is cool as hell seeing these blue whales just pop off in the middle of the ocean like this right around us. There seems to be quite a number of them, which is also cool.

[00:11:24]And not one of these men lift a spear.

[00:11:27]There are blue whales here everywhere, popping up left and right. An easy spear throw off the bow. But the blue whale here is sacred.

[00:11:39]That is not where we're after. These guys seem almost disappointed. To me, that was freaking awesome. Like just rocking right past the front of the boat like that. These guys will harpoon absolutely everything with the exception of one creature, blue whale, spiritual belief, [music] not because of the priests or the government. It's something far older than that. To these people, the blue whale is the origin of their existence.

[00:12:11]500 years ago, the Portuguese bought Catholicism to this rock and the village took to it completely. But the new faith never completely replaced the old ones.

[00:12:22]It kind of fused with it. They have this shrine with this small prayer center in the middle there. Cross Jesus Mary right in the middle because the Portuguese were the ones that settled this island way back when. Like everybody has these Portuguese sounding names. So So do the boats, at least to me. Beneath all the crosses runs something far older. The worship of their ancestors and the spirits they believe move through the sea and the animals in it. To them they were not always here. Long ago, further back than anyone can really count, their homes were on another island entirely out way beyond the edges of Lamba. And one day, the sea just took it. A giant wave swallowed it whole.

[00:13:14]And the people who survived were left a drift on the open water with nowhere left to go. And in the telling, it was the whale that saved them, a blue whale, the biggest animal alive. And it carried their ancestors across [music] the sea and delivered them to the black sand beaches of Lamarella. [music] To them, the blue whale is not an animal. It's their mother, the great [music] ancestor that gave them their home. And they made a promise. It saved us. We will never hurt it. And they never have. In fact, to them, they aren't even hunting at all. Every animal they take here is considered a gift handed down from their ancestors. That's the actual word they use, a gift.

[00:13:59]the pilot whales, the orca, or on the rare year that one comes, the greatest gift of all, cotma, the cattle sent by mother earth, the sperm whale. It comes only a handful of times a year, and if they're really lucky, they might be able to land one or two.

[00:14:20]But when they do, the entire village eats right here.

[00:14:25]>> So, we're definitely in the action again. There are a ton of boats just circling around and [music] these pilot whales seem to pop up from time to time.

[00:14:33]I think they're supposedly either guiding or following the blue whales.

[00:14:36]That's how they get their name.

[00:14:41]So once you see the blue whales, you know these guys are here. There are massive pods of them just popping up.

[00:14:47]Thousands and thousands of them. There's another bunch over there. And these guys are just kind [music] of circling around waiting for them to pop up. These engines are nowhere near fast enough to catch him. And in the middle of one of these moments, it happens for real. The same screaming, the same shouting, the boat wheeling around, and the Lafa is up on the stern, ready.

[00:15:14]He's moving in front of the boat right now. And the Lafa squatting the way he has always, but this time jumps.

[00:15:25]He dives his whole body and the spear down into the water and then it's chaos.

[00:15:43]All right, guys. Line is down.

[00:15:46]>> I think it's a hit. Line starts just screaming off the deck.

[00:15:51]>> More harpoons are ready. Trying to get another harpoon ready.

[00:16:01]>> More lines go out and whatever it is is strong enough to keep a whole boat full of men at bay.

[00:16:12]Eventually, it's clearly not getting away, and the men start singing.

[00:16:22]>> This is a prayer.

[00:16:50]Jeez, >> that is a monster monster mana. I mean, the the wings are slapping into the side of the boat.

[00:16:58]They're trying to put it out of its misery now. I mean, also just trying to basically quiet it down a little bit.

[00:17:04]It's just too hard to really control even with all the harpoons in it. Wow, that is a monster creature.

[00:17:21]>> Wow. We're just getting this thing entirely in the boat without filing it this time. It's not what I was expecting. They've relegated me to the back of boat.

[00:17:28]>> I'm just going to get in the way. Man, that's wild.

[00:17:34]And then it comes up >> three meters across.

[00:17:43]>> It's a giant manta.

[00:17:48][laughter] >> Man, we got some happy faces around. And I've got to admit, man, >> I can't help but be happy for these guys. This is like a brutal thing to see. But just seeing the the love on their faces is wild.

[00:18:06]>> It's just there's so much food for them.

[00:18:08]There's such a big windfall for their families. And I think I think we're done for the day. There's no way they can drive around and still hunt with this thing hanging off the side of it.

[00:18:20]Every evening, the boats come back in.

[00:18:22]And when they do, most of the village is already down on the black sand because this is the moment that decides who eats.

[00:18:31]We came home with a mantle, but other crews had a big day because while we were chasing the rays, they've landed a giant pile of whales.

[00:18:45]All right, guys. This is crazy. I mean, we have this huge pilot whale here. I mean, I've heard people call these things glorified dolphins, but let me tell you, that thing is massive. It's as big as any cow I've seen. Just giant.

[00:18:59]We're trying not to get in on the weight right here, stepping over fins.

[00:19:04]That's a two, three ton animal, I'd say.

[00:19:06]It's a lot of work. A lot of guys trying to haul out up the beach. It's kind of jarring. This is a staple food here, and the crews here tell the same thing.

[00:19:16]Every year, there's more and more pilot whales showing up. The boat that catches it takes charge of carving it up.

[00:19:25]And nothing about this is random.

[00:19:28]It's a hierarchy 600 years old.

[00:19:32]>> Just like everything here, everything is divided between [music] the crew, but it's not exactly perfectly evenly split.

[00:19:40]You know, the harpuna, the laafa as they say, gets [music] the largest share, then the captain, and then it kind of rolls on down until you have the the deck boy. That's how it goes. It's like old school rules. It's like the assortment of parts from inside the central body. And I mean, it's all going to get divided up so everyone [music] gets an equal share, even the tail.

[00:20:04]Every part, every part of the animal is used. And I mean everything. Nothing is wasted. Guys, look at the size. Look at the size of the squid that these things are eating. I mean, it must have been almost eaten whole. This kid has just the most giant squid [music] tube. It's even split between family members who never went to see. The women are like bathing the young kids in the corner of this cove. The men and the young boys [music] are just butchering these whales all along beachside.

[00:20:33]And the sort of grandmas and the really old BS are back there chilling and watching and you just get the vibe that this is this is the way of life here, man. This is a chill, successful [music] evening hunt.

[00:20:48]And when boats come in heavy like this, the whole place lifts. It's pretty good spirits. Laughing, sucking down cigarettes, and consuming copious amounts of [music] liquor. No. All right, guys. I don't drink anymore. This stuff's like covered in whale blood sand. It smells sweet as hell.

[00:21:12]Good.

[00:21:13]>> Good one way to put it.

[00:21:17]That's my first shot in a long time. But >> that no thank you. No thank you.

[00:21:23]>> That's got some punch, whatever it is.

[00:21:24]And mixed with all the like sand, whale bladder, and oil that's kind of like stuck to it as it's been passed around.

[00:21:31]It's got a real funky flavor, let me tell you. I think it's kind of like a corn rice wine as they call it here, but basically like moonshine.

[00:21:40]And you can't drink like this on an empty stomach. [music] Luckily, dinner is already on the fire and it's the reason I came here in the first place to eat whale the traditional Indonesian way. Okay guys, so you will see the pilot whale, the dolphin, the whale shark, manta, big time, just everything is just drying out all around this village always. Just every open space you've got, there's just meat drying out and that's cuz there's just no real refrigeration here. So, the traditional way to eat most of this stuff, it starts out dry and it's if you give it a squeeze, it is slightly soft still. It's crazy.

[00:22:21]It's about as old school as you can get.

[00:22:25]The meat just goes straight on that fire. It's just charred to to a crisp.

[00:22:30]It looks like just cooking on raw coals like that. It is blackened beyond belief.

[00:22:38]The charred meat is then heavily tenderized with a rock.

[00:22:45]I guess maybe there's just not that much moisture in it. It's really just cooked out drying out there. Or maybe these pilot whales just have really tough flesh. But we've gone to a fair amount of ex we've gone to a fair bit of effort here to just like pulverize this big time.

[00:23:01]All right, guys. We're just going to grab some food inside.

[00:23:05]Oh, wow.

[00:23:08]All right, guys. This is my first pile of whale. It's uh my first Well, actually, it's a lie. It's not my first whale at all. We've got kind of two sides of things. We've got some chunked up pile of whale. We've got the shredded stuff that almost looks like jerky. This stuff was cooked for seconds over open coals. It looks deep and black and almost almost like just charred. I mean, it looks basically charcoal colored.

[00:23:34]Okay.

[00:23:36]pallet oil chunk and a bit of rice. Wow.

[00:23:39]It's crazy how fishy that is. It's like the first thing that hits you. I wasn't expecting that at all. I'm not going to lie. I don't know if it's gained that kind of fishiness, that giness from just hanging out in the sun, but the flavor is super rich. Crazy overpowering. That is That is really strong. Really chewy.

[00:23:57]The chunk stuff that I just had, I mean, you can kind of see maybe why they're pulverizing it. Like that is just so intensely draw stressing just you got to crank on that and that is crazy. Maybe you can see I mean that's like basically like chewing leather. Maybe you can kind of see there guys the difference [music] on the outside of this fried meat. It's kind of formed like this thick crusty skin and then it's slightly red on the inside and it's given it this basically like jerky like consistency. [music] It's almost like beef jerky that's fish flavored.

[00:24:37]And that's it. That's the most controversial meat on the planet, hunted and eaten for survival. I think this is a borderline pristine, untouched culture, and one worth saving. A whole belief system centered on one of the most ancient huntergatherer ways of life [music] that we have left. They hunt whales. Yeah, I get it. It's uncomfortable. But they don't use cannons or modern high-tech boats.

[00:25:08]There's no sonar or radar. Hell, these guys don't even use binoculars. And they hurl their own bodies at an animal 100 times their size from small wooden boats. Their take from the ocean in general is tiny. No one's rounding up whole pods of anything around here.

[00:25:29]They're lucky to land a single sperm whale in a year from boats that can't go more than 15 km from home. And it's a brutally hard, grueling existence. Most days you come home with nothing. Is it every year that you will catch a spot?

[00:25:49]>> Not every year.

[00:25:50]>> Almost 2 years. Nothing.

[00:25:52]>> Nothing. But if you're still [music] not convinced, if this still makes you uncomfortable, honestly, I don't think you have to worry because the truth is this is probably going away anyway. This is the most traditional [music] way to get protein for this village. In fact, they've been doing it for up to 500 years. Once it's gone from here, it's [music] going to be gone forever. I don't think that you need to do anything. This is one of the hardest ways I've ever seen. These guys are [music] all still sending their kids off to school and university in Jakarta.

[00:26:30]Just [music] how hard this is to scrge food for your family, just to feed yourself in this way. Trust me, this ain't going to be [music] around for long. And for the next generation, I think it's just going to be too tempting.

[00:26:48]And when it's gone, it'll [music] be a real loss.