Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine January 2018 | Page 107

Travel | Pulau Sabu and Raijua
1 A local carrying firewood through the
Sabu Island mainland by roadster bicycle.
The rocky grassland is characteristic of
this area.
Life in Sabu moves at a slow pace, and one can still feel the aura
of the past in every corner of the island. To produce salt, locals use
an archaic technique of collecting sea water in oyster shells...
10 times bigger, Pulau Sabu is recognised as
the younger sibling. “Pulau Raijua is believed to
be the source of the soil that shaped Pulau Sabu,”
anthropologist Nico L. Kana wrote in his book
Dunia Orang Sawu (World of the People of Sawu).
Smaller hills and stretches of savannah dominate
the islands’ landscapes. Here the rainy season lasts
no more than three months, and the lack of higher
mountains or hills that reach 1,000m above sea
level allows the wind to blow freely, sending salty
air across the island. While traversing past the
Ledepemulu hill towards the island’s southern
region, I noticed dozens of horses racing each
other against the wind from the Indian Ocean.
Life in Pulau Sabu moves at a slow pace, and one
can still feel the aura of the past in every corner
of the island. To produce salt, locals use an archaic
technique of collecting sea water in oyster shells
and letting it sit for weeks until it evaporates
naturally. I found plenty of gigantic oyster shells
along Cemara beach left out to dry to serve
this very purpose.
5 Senses – Taste
GULA AIR
This drink is typically offered
to any visiting guests. Gula air
(sugar water) is a sweet drink
made from palm and has been
the regional drink for decades
due to the area’s lack of water
sources. The fact that it contains
isotonic liquids that serve
as replacement fluid for
the body has helped the people
of Sabu Raijua survive amidst
the region’s stinging heat.
Minuman yang disuguhkan
setiap kali menjamu tamu,
gula air adalah nira manis yang
disadap dari lontar dan telah
menjadi minuman regional
selama berabad-abad karena
daerah ini hanya memiliki
sedikit sumber air. Fakta bahwa
nira mengandung cairan isotonik
yang mampu menggantikan
keluarnya cairan tubuh akibat
aktivitas sehari-hari menolong
penduduk Sabu Raijua bertahan
meskipun suhu udara menyengat.
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Traditional villages remain well preserved and
respected, with rocks being stacked together and
arranged in a circle as a gate, as though creating a
fort around them. It is in these villages that the
communal tribes have lived for generations. In East
Sabu, I visited the Kuji Ratu traditional village,
which was relatively large with over a dozen
traditional houses. Not too far from there was
Ba Kota Ida village, where one finds tombstones
written in Dutch, remains of the king’s family.
These traditional villages are typically located on
the hills, which formerly served as a way to track
enemies from a higher vantage point. Of the
traditional villages that I had the chance to visit,
I found Namata the most enigmatic. It did not have
the gates of rock that surrounded most of the other
villages. Instead, it was the oval megaliths spread
across their yard that made it stand out from the
rest. I have never seen megalith formations this
odd, as though they were giant eggs. Locals
believe these stones hold magical powers.
Elisabeth, a Namata resident, said the oval shape
of the rocks had formed naturally. “All we did was
strengthen the foundations of these rocks to make
sure they do not roll over from their places,” she
said. During important events, members of this
village gather at this very spot and their leaders,
known as Deo Rai, sit atop one of the stones to
lead the event.
The stones on Pulau Sabu have become something
of a geological phenomenon, which has attracted
many foreign researchers to the island. Ron Harris
from Brigham Young University, for example,
spent years studying them and concluded that
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