Trekking in the Mentawai Islands
You might be wondering how I ended up trekking for two weeks to very remote tribes off the coast of Indonesia? As I wrote earlier, I really enjoyed surfing in Australia and was looking for another spot in South-East Asia. I asked my good friend Tobin and he recommended me to look into the Mentawai Islands. After some Google searches, I soon forgot about the surf and was instead very intrigued by some stories about trekking on one of these islands where some remote tribes were still living very traditionally in the jungle.
Intense stare of a Mentawai shaman
I hesitated much, and finally decided it was madness because of the terrible climate there, the dangerous ferry and it was said to be malaria infested. But I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind and when I approached the area, I decided to contact a guide and discuss it with him. He didn’t really convince me: “Maybe a little risky now, it would be better to come back in August”. But after long discussions, I became so curious that I just decided to go for it!
I was totally unprepared with no trekking shoes, no water purifying pills and so on. And I discovered that it is impossible in Indonesia to find trekking shoes with sizes larger than 43! I finally ended up with only plastic wellington boots bought at 3.50 euros at the local market. Needless to say, I was a little nervous in the 10 hours, rocky wooden ferry that took me to Siberut Island the day after! But as soon as I started the trek, I was very thankful not to have bought trekking shoes. The mud was often approaching knee level and I had to cross countless streams and rivers.
After a 10 hour ferry journey from Padang to Siberut island, followed by 5 hours of traditional wooden boat up the river, another hour trekking to a village where I stayed overnight and finally five hours of up and down trekking through the jungle I reached the remote settlement of Atabai.
Amatopele, the owner of the first house I stayed at.
I didn’t really know what to expect. But straight away found out that this would be an amazing adventure. The whole family was dressed in traditional clothes (loincloth for men, and skirt and topless for women). The owner was away to heal some people in another village. When he arrived the next day with two other shamans, I couldn’t believe my eyes! He welcomed me warmly saying I could stay for as long as I wanted to learn about the culture. After that, he started to sing a traditional song “Baaacho, baaacho kerre, baaacho baacho kerre” to the delight of his six giggling children. He was getting so much into it that he stood up and started a dance with eagle like movements while singing. No, this wasn’t going to be the usual trek.
The Mentawai culture is much more complex than I initially imagined. I was particularly impressed by their sustainable use of the jungle. What first appears as a virgin rainforest is actually a huge garden used by the Mentawais to plant all kinds of trees: the Sago tree from which they get the major part of their diet for them and their chickens and pigs, but also coconut trees, banana trees and dozens of delicious tropical fruit trees. They understood long ago that cutting the forest to have single crop plantations wasn’t sustainable and instead they spread their own trees within the jungle to keep the soil fertile.
Turu Manai, the charismatic owner of the second house I stayed at.
During the trek, I stayed in traditional huts of five different families and learned to get to know them. This led to some fantastic moments and discussions! The people were very welcoming and always proposed to share their meals with me. This is really nice when they eat some good chicken, but a lot less when they prepare to eat a huge plate of worms and look at you curiously to see if you enjoy this delicacy as much as they do…
The trek wasn’t easy either. The tracks are seriously muddy and slippery, the food is often very bland and I was constantly bitten by mosquitoes which seemed to love my mosquito repellent! My clothes were also in a constant humid state due to the very wet climate on the island. But the toughest of all for me was to get some sleep! Mentawais love to talk very late in the night right next to where you sleep and they wake up as soon as the sun rises being just as noisy again and continuing their conversations. Add to that the sounds of chickens and pigs living under the house and the mosquito bites and you get a good idea of my nights there.
Mentawai girl
But this was a reasonable price to pay considering the friendliness of the people, the beauty of the jungle and the adorable Mentawai children!
Some practical tips if you plan to trek to the Mentawai:
- Take Wellington (rubber) boots, with all the mud and with so many river crossings they will be much more convenient.
- You don’t need purifying tablets. Mentawai people will boil the water for 25 minutes before drinking it. In 12 days I haven’t been sick once while drinking it.
- Bring mosquito repellent! It is hard to find in Padang.
- You might want to have your own mattress, I didn’t have one and had to sleep on the ground the whole time (you get used to it though).
- Bring some gifts, but avoid plastic at all costs. Small pearls to make their jewels ( see my pictures) can be bought at the market in Padang, tobacco and cigarettes are also essential ( they all smoke anyways so you’re not influencing them don’t worry!).
- Book a cabin on the ferry.
- Learn some Mentawai in advance, it’s a very easy language and nobody there speaks English or Indonesian.
Watch all my pictures from the trek in the photo gallery.
Amazing! What sort of photo gear did you carry with you? And what were the costs of this hike into the forest, if you don’t mind me being crass and discussing such things.
What a coincidence. I have just watched a one-hour report on a French rock star, Zazie, who has travelled for two weeks in this remote part of the world. If I understand correctly, these indigenous people live up in trees and live totally naturally. They used to be cannibals, but they’re not anymore because of Indonesian government repressions/order. Your trip and this specific experience look fascinating. I envy you… But I am also so happy you are going through such an amazing experience. Long live curious and open travellers,
Gabriel
Thanks guys!
@ Thaths: I used my usual photo gear with 3 prime lenses: a 20 mm, a voigtlander 58mm and an old 105mm f/2.5. No tripod, no lights. I left my tripod at a hotel a month ago because it was too heavy to carry around and didn’t take any lighting equipment for the same reason.
The trek is really cheap if you take local guides. My guide was Mentawai and is called Gejeng. The problem is that he can not read or write, so the only way to contact him is through a guy in Padang called Ricky: ichy83@hotmail.com
I’ll send you the price details by email.
Ton récit et tes photos sont tout simplement incroyables… C’est hyper émouvant de pouvoir constater par ton intermédiaire – et autrement que via des reportages télé, magazines, etc. – l’existence d’ethnies en totale harmonie avec la nature. C’est magnifique.
En tout cas, tu as l’art de dénicher des plans de dingue…
Bonne continuation, Frans.
Laura
stunning ! this is officially the real beginning of your trip off the beaten tracks and seeking the real gems of humanity.
http://www.survivalinternational.org/ is a great organisation trying to preserve endangered tribes around their unspoilt way of life
Merry Christmas in Thailand and best wishes
Ollie
Hello François
A truly unbelievable and awesome journey the one you’re making! Just want to wish you the best and a Merry Christmas and an awesome New Year. Keep in touch mate
Pedro
Hey François,
Thanks for the fantastic pictures, and for making us dream!
Merry Xmas!
O.
Bonjour François,
Quel joli cadeau de Noël tu nous fais avec ces photos magnifiques.
Impressionnant que ce soit un si proche qui nous fasse découvrir un monde si lointain !
Nos pensées t’accompagnent
Affectueusement
Gin et Bruno
Wow, amazing photos! I’ve been in Indonesia, all though only in Bali and Gili outside Lombok. I will def travel more in Indo in the years to some!
And will def take the time some day to read through your blog, loved your piece on ecotravelling. Written an essay about the matter at uni, although in Norway. Interesting to see what every man can do
Thanks for the comment, and I will try not to be as boring as my lecturer (although I couldn’t resist it today). Looking forward to London, one of my favourite cities so far
hi there..
it has been ages since i stepped my feet on the islands of mentawai, especially siberut!!!
the pictures remind me of the warmherated people..
hey, we are doing a trip like yours in reverse… ish. we are currently in bangladesh having driven overland from the uk and we are now cheating a little and flying over mynamar… love your pictures and was planning a trip to visit the mentawai so any advice you have on how to organise the guide would be appreciated! We don;t want to go through a tour guide but would like to make sure we get to meet some people and do a decent trek. Would you mind emailing me the cost and any advice you can give on how to meet the guide?
Thanks and enjoy your trip!! visit bangladesh, and tibet, and kyrgyzstan… and so many other places we have loved!
Howdy. Thanks for such a good and interesting report and very beautiful pictures.
I would definitely love to go to the mentawais myself. I will be in Bali for a while , and then head up to Sumatra. Then I will try to do something like you. So my question is ,like some others here, would you mind emailing me about the details on how you contacted the guide, and the cost? And how long did you travel among the mentawais. You think this was enough time?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Buddy, very interesting story about the tribe and lovely pictures.
My girlfriend and I would like to do the same as your to see the people there in April and could send me the details how I can get there and how much I could spent for? About the guide, I know some recommended post says to go with local guide. You wrote that your guide is a local and to get him, we have to contact other guy who live in Padang, my question is does that guy really can help? because we heard that lots of city guides just make money for their own pocket, could you explain me a bit of that guy please.
Thanks
Hi all!
As I wrote, I used a Mentawai guide called Gejeng who was great. To contact him, you can send an email to Ricky: ichy83@hotmail.com. He is not Mentawai and lives in Padang, but is very friendly and can arrange you a trek with Gejeng or another Mentawai guide. I recommend you pay the Mentawai guide directly once you arrive in Siberut and agree on a transparent commission to Ricky. This way you will know exactly how much the Mentawai gets.
Remember that a fair amount of the money will be spent on gifts for all the local people you meet ( mostly in cigarettes).
Hi Francois,
Thanks for sharing your story & incredible pictures.
You mentioned you were initially attracted to the Mentawais’ for the surfing.
Did you manage to get to the waves during your stay?
I’m heading over in June/July 2010 for a surf trip.
Apparently you can live with locals near a spot called HT’s, did you hear of anyone doing this?
Any advise will be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Dan
Hi fellow Traveler,
I just made that trip two weeks ago and I did follow what wrote above, I found an amazing experience and I’ll put it on my top memory or my travel this year. I met both of those recommended guys above and we became really good friend with them, they work great-full to help us to gain what we look for of Mentawai tribe especially Ricky. Ricky isn’t Mentawaian but he used to work with an NGO for Mentawai Kids in the past and he know lots about Mentawai even better than Gejeng the native one, our advice for you guys who gonna see them, please ask Ricky to accompany you because he REALLY helpful and speak English pretty well as it what your need to get into there. Gejeng was OK but his English bit limited so bit harder. Please note Ricky’s mobile number 081363811736
Make your trip into Mentawai perfectly as it’s really incredible.
Francois, thank you very much for your information and waiting for your next story. Masura Bagata.
hey francois, we both loved your indeed very interesting report on the mentawai islands, it sounds great! as we have been thinking about going there, too, we’d appreciate it a lot if you could contact us and maybe tell us some more details with regard to the costs of the trip. doyou think 7 days’d be enough for a sufficient insight into the culture?
we’re staying in bukit lawang at the moment and have only limited internet access, but we’re nonetheless looking forward to your reply!
thank you so much and hasta luego,
Iwan & Jonas
Hey, man
My friends and I are planning a trip to this island and your blog here is really helpful. Thank you for doing it and I hope you have many many safe and amazing adventures.
hallo
ik ben van plan om naar sumatra te gaan en kan ik mentawai stam bezoeken op west sumatra en bij wie moet ik wezen voor afspraak
heb er veel over gelezen deze stam en wil nu gaan bezoeken
wie heeft deze stam bezocht en ervaring en tip s
groet…sander
hello
I’m planning to go into Sumatra and Mentawai tribe can I visit to West Sumatra and to whom I rejected for appointment
I read a lot about this family and now wants to visit
Who has visited this tribe and experience and tip s
regards sander