Into the Jungle – Mentawai ’22

In January ’22 we took our 5 year old daughter deep into the jungle of Siberut to meet our friend, Mentawai Shaman Aman Lepon and his family. This is what happened…

So Close…

In early 2015 I first set foot in West Sumatra. I had been solo travelling around South East Asia for a few months and had decided to come here for one reason; to visit the tribes of Mentawai.

Life has a way of changing plans, and seven years later I am still here, only now with a husband and child, I am far from solo.

Until last week, I still hadn’t made it to the island of Siberut to visit the Mentawai people. In early 2016 I fell pregnant with our daughter, Olivia, and since then there just never seemed to be a good time to head into the jungle.

Last week, we decided that the time had come.

Me and Bayu met Mentawai Shaman Aman Laulau, Aman Lepon and Aman Godai, as well as some of their family at a Mentawai culture festival on the neighbouring island of Sipora in 2016. Bayu quickly struck up a friendship with Aman Lepon, and has since taken multiple travellers to stay with him at his home in the jungle of Siberut.

Early Reservations

I had reservations about taking our little girl so far into the unknown. In total, we travelled for about 16 hours to reach the settlement where we were staying, first overnight on the ferry to reach Siberut, and then on a canoe, carved from a single tree trunk and powered by a small motor, along the river through the jungle for about 5 hours.

What I knew of the Mentawai people before arriving was that they lived a life dependent on the forest and love cigarettes and sugar. Of course, I knew more than that – you can’t be married to a tour guide for so long and not learn about the places and people they visit, but as a mum the cigarettes and lollipops were my focus. I wasn’t filled with confidence. I worried that it would be a wholly unsuitable environment for a small child at worst, and at best a bit stressful.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Liv enjoyed every second of our trip. She was a little unsure on the ferry, especially after dark, but once we arrived on Siberut and were met by a smiling Aman Lepon, she was completely happy. We had prepared her by showing her some photos of Mentawai people so that she wouldn’t be too surprised by their dress – born and raised in Padang where fashion is very modest, loin cloths had a definite potential to shock, and we wanted her to be ready. Fortunately, at the port Aman Lepon wore shorts and a t-shirt out of respect for the locals in the small town there, and so Liv was eased into the change.

Aman Lepon has such a kind and caring nature that he is able to make you feel at ease in an instant. From the moment he met us on the ferry, to the moment we said farewell at the port, I felt safe. As a Shaman, his role is one of protector, and he seemed to take that role particularly seriously when charged with a child. In turn, Liv seemed to feel an instant connection with him and early on in our trip she was already calling him ‘Bajak’ or ‘dad’ in the Mentawai language.

Into the Jungle

The trip up the river in the canoe went without a fault – I expected Liv to be bored and complain, or worse. I took the precaution of downloading an audiobook – a collection of Enid Blyton stories – onto my phone, and she spent a lot of the journey upstream happily listening, while also taking time to do some nature spotting, as well as drawing on the sides of the canoe with her finger using the river water. It was a long and hot journey, so being well covered, sun-creamed and hydrated is a must.

When we arrived at our destination, we were met by a group of smiling women from Aman Lepon’s family, including his mother who immediately gave me a big hug, and began to paw over Liv affectionately. This tiny, bird-like woman was nothing short of fabulous. Her head, adorned with fragrant flowers, reached a little below my shoulder (I’m 5’3), she was covered in the traditional tattoos worn by the wives of shaman and had a lit cigarette hanging limply from her lower lip at all times.

I was immediately struck by the language. Having lived in Indonesia for such a long time, I am used to occasionally hearing dialects that I don’t quite understand, but which can usually be decoded fairly quickly. The Mentawai language was completely foreign to my ears, and the only word I recognised for the first few minutes was ‘Bayu’. Bayu, to my surprise, began chatting away to everyone affectionately in their own language.

I found out quickly that most people, particularly children and younger adults can speak some Indonesian, which really helped our communication. Liv was able to ask questions and found it easier to make friends, however, I should add that not all of the children could understand Indonesian and this definitely didn’t hinder their friendship.

If you can, I would strongly suggest learning a little Bahasa Indonesian if you plan a trip to visit Mentawai. It is a very easy language to learn, and I think that I was able to gain a lot more from the experience because of it.

A Celebration

During our stay we experienced a lot of the daily life, as well as seeing how the poison that they use in hunting is made, we went on walks through the surrounding jungle, washed (and played) in the river, tried sago worms and then…

…on our third day, the household got busy preparing for something that we had jokingly discussed when we first met Aman Lepon in 2016 and I was about 4 months pregnant; a naming ceremony for Liv.

Aman Lepon had spent the last couple of days trying to decide on the best name in the Mentawai language for Liv, and was now ready. He chanted for a few moments before announcing that our daughter would be known in the tribe as ‘Alei’ or ‘friend’.

The afternoon was spent with the butchering of a small boar, as well as a chicken. Aman Lepon and his father and brother studied the entrails and rituals were performed. Then the meat was cooked and divided up between the different families. We were given some chicken, which we ate with rice rather than the sago that was shared by the others.

In the evening, Aman Lepon, his father Aman Laulau and brother Aman Godai performed some of their traditional dances for us; Liv was mesmerised. I told her that in the dances the shaman usually represent birds, and she excitedly announced ‘yes mummy! I can see them!’

During the last dance, Liv was invited to join the shaman and she leapt at the chance. She copied their movements with a look of pure joy on her face. She wasn’t at all phased by the fact that there were many new faces present in the Uma that night and just enjoyed her moment, completely.

The fourth day was spent playing in the river, asking lots of questions and generally relaxing while we slowly prepared for our departure early the next morning.

Sleeping was something that had worried me, particularly travelling with a five-year-old; Liv, like many young children, can be quite a fussy sleeper. We slept on the floor, under a mosquito net, in the communal living area of the Uma, while Aman Lepon’s wife and children slept in the kitchen. The large floorboards are not nailed down, and so whenever anybody walks across the floor everything bounces around and bangs loudly. There are a pair of geese that currently sleep under the house (the male took against me quite quickly and did his best to sneak up on me and block my entrance to the house on multiple occasions, but that’s another story..), and there are a number of dogs in residence who seemed to like sleeping in the gap between our mosquito net and the wall.

Every night when Liv announced she wanted to sleep, we lay together under the mosquito net as I told her a story. Then, surrounded by the sounds of dogs dreaming, geese honking, floorboards banging and people talking, she would close her eyes and be immediately sound asleep.

The End of the Adventure

The journey home was bittersweet. It was a great feeling that we had managed to take our little girl into the jungle, and had not only survived, but had an incredible time. However, it was sad saying goodbye. Liv was particularly upset, announcing that she wanted to live there forever with all of her new friends and never wear shoes again..!

We came back to Padang via speedboat, which took about 3 hours. As we were coming close to Padang, a rainbow appeared in the sky which was a fitting end to the most perfect trip I could have ever hoped for.

Liv was, and is, incredibly proud of her Mentawai name, as well as the necklace, bracelet and anklet which were gifted to her during our visit. She learned so much about not just Mentawai culture, but also about mutual respect and different ways of life. She was enthusiastic to try their food, even and especially the sago worms, she listened attentively to their singing and asked questions about anything that she didn’t understand (which were all answered with kindness and enthusiasm). I hope that, going forward she is able to take these life lessons and continue to live as a loving, caring and very adventurous little spirit.

Until Next Time.

She has made Bayu promise to take her back again the next time he visits…