Intha Fishermen

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 5 Dec 2017 23:57
The Intha Fishermen of Inle Lake
 
 
 
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We began our tour this morning at eight, Lake Inle was covered in mist. Colour us excited when our first Intha fishermen appeared.
 
 
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Unique cone nets, now we have to hope to see them do their one-legged stuff.
 
 
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Just as we thought this chap was about to row – no, he bobbed down.
 
 
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We watched as a young lad set out his net until he had a knot to sort out.
 
 
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The real deal.
 
 
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Intha fishermen are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group who speak an archaic dialect of Burmese. They tend to vegetables on the floating gardens but are well known for their one-legged rowing. Ladies row in the traditional way, it’s only the men (who begin at a very early age) who pull the oar with one leg whilst the other foot stands on a tiny flat platform at the front of the boat. They fish by net but also use a unique net cone.
 
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A plunge area is selected. The fisherman pushes it down.
 
 
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His foot pushes the cone to the bottom of the shallow water, then he pushes the net down with his trident. The fish get caught in pockets which are the net folded back on the frame (seen as double thickness in the cone shot).
 
 
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Up came the net and there was one tiny fish.
 
 
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Posing with his catch. Intha means Sons of the Lake, as we headed back to Nyaung Shwe we saw so many of these ‘sons’ and enjoyed them as the sun set. What a wonderful thing to have seen in action.
 
 
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ALL IN ALL AN INCREDIBLE TECHNIQUE
                     THE MOST AMAZING SPECTACLE