The Bajo’s Vanishing Language of Nature

The reputation of the Bajo tribesmen as masters of the sea may soon vanish. Global change has made the weather increasingly unpredictable. Their special gift in reading nature’s signs may no longer be relevant, given the sorry state of our environment, which has ruined the language of seasons, the direction of stars and the course of the winds. Yet, when they go off to sea in search of their livelihood, these are the only compass they can rely on. And the once-rich harvest of the oceans slowly have declined, pushing the Bajo more inland, to live in settlements along coastal areas. How many more generations of the Bajo can sustain their mastery of such marine knowledge? A special report from South Sulawesi in this week’s Tempo English Edition.