Kampung Komodo Village
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Mon 25 Oct 2010 00:25
|
Monday 25th October
Although not anchored at the village we were
incredibly close and it would have been rude to by-pass it. So first thing in
the morning we dinghied over to be greeted by dozens of children and a
representative for the Komodo National Park. Of course, what did he want, money!
Admission fees, camera fees, video camera fees..........anything you could think
of they wanted you to pay for. We gave what we had as we weren't expecting to
have to buy anything so didn't take much money with us but he seemed satisfied
and said he'd show us around for 30 minutes and then we'd have to leave the
national park altogether and under no circumstances were we to anchor anywhere
else.
The inhabitants of the tiny stilted fishing
village are said to be descendants of convicts exiled to the island in the
19th century by one of the sultans in Sumbawa.
As we began to walk down the jetty towards
the village, it was as if we'd been transported to a different world. The
children were so excited to see us and 'hello mister, hello mister', regardless
of whether we were male or female, was all we heard for the next 30
minutes. The village was incredibly poor and some bits were quite shocking but
the people remained as friendly as ever. I couldn't even do it justice if I
attempted to describe in words how lovely an experience this was so I'll just
let the pictures do the talking.
 Driving alongside a fishing
boat headed home from his night fishing to the village nestled on the sea-front
at the bottom of the mountains
 
 
 Secondary school - a new
building which was part funded by the Australian government as before the
children would finish education at primary school
 The women chopping the large
boulders into smaller stones for building materials
 We had purchased a couple of
dragon carvings the day before and wondered about the origins so when we
stumbled across this gentlemen in action we were pleased
 Although they may not have much
money some of the houses were well kept............Watching the days go
by
   The mosque as it was a muslim
village
  A lady wearing a 'Jackamy'
t-shirt - given as payment to her husband the previous day
 The corner shops
 Welcomed by
everyone.........eager to have their pictures taken
  The pied piper was at it
again
 Barracuda for
lunch
 Goodbye from our guide and
goodbye from the children (note the balloons hanging out of their
mouths)
Definitely one for the memory
bank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|