Our filming expedition last month to Linomoyo was quite
successful, with the guys managing to capture all their planned images before
the rainy season started. Our main objective was to film and interview remote
fishing-dependent communities, so in a group of eight we hired two dugout
canoes, and went on a long journey upriver with all our luggage and film
equipment.
We saw an impressive amount of wildlife along the way, from
many bird species and reptiles, a beautiful range of butterflies and
dragonflies, and also including a large family of the native booted macaque
(Macaca Ochreata) sitting on the riverbank (listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN; http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/12557/0).
We followed increasingly smaller streams, the last one being so low that we
were too heavy to get through normally! Our lead film maker, Suprin, had to get
out of the prow of the boat every time we hit a submerged log or a shallow
section, and managed to pull us through safely.
Two hours later we arrived in a very small and dispersed
community. The local dependence on fishing and waterways was immediately
apparent, as the only vehicles were boats; the rivers are the people’s roads.
We climbed up the bank and saw a group of women cleaning small fish, and men
mending nets under the house. This would
be our home for the night, while interviewing locals and going fishing with
them.
But first, we had to visit the local ‘tourist’ site; a
spectacular bright blue lake in the middle of the island. A half hour walk
through the bush, doing our best to avoid monster mosquitoes and getting our
feet caught in spiky rattan, resulted in the beautiful sight of a deep, bright
blue and clear lake surrounded by rainforest green and more butterflies. I
couldn’t resist, I just had to dive in! Some were concerned about the story of
a crocodile living in the middle of the lake, but it sounded a bit like a fairy
tale to me. Although two locals swam too, my friends were still terrified that
the crocodile would come out. Once I got out we saw an enormous fish swimming
in the middle, so I’m glad it didn’t get to nibble me.
In the afternoon some of the guys designed a microphone boom, village style. After a lot of trial and error, a long pole was attached to the top of a tripod, with a standard microphone dangling from the far end, attached to one of the cameras by an even longer cable. We undertook a number of interviews that afternoon and evening, including one of myself. After that we went with the local fishermen on a night fishing trip; one man in the back paddled quietly, while his partner stood in the prow, delicately balanced and holding a long speared fork.
We travelled quietly through the black streams, with the man
behind shining a torch into the water, where the fisherman might see his prey.
We continued like this towards another community, catching only one fish in the
process. On the way back we got another four fish (only one over 30cm), however
the fishermen were quite vocal about how five years ago the fish population was
much more abundant, with larger individuals more common.
The following day we returned to our base village on the
edge of the wetlands, where we were lucky enough to hear a farmer play a bamboo flute in the middle of the construction of new fields. We also did some audio recordings of him and his friend, who plays a traditional guitar. We
plan to overlay the images of the film with this local music.
This trip is all thanks to the support of Glenn Warland, our
philanthropic trooper who has donated enough funds for us to finish the
movie... which will be made much easier to complete once we get an editing
computer! We’re waiting for news on this exciting development, so stay tuned J
