Knowing the Bajo tribe in Indonesia, inspired the movie “Avatar The Way of Water” Page all

KOMPAS.com – Director Avatar: The Way of WaterJames Cameron, has revealed that the Metkayina tribe in the film was inspired Suku Bajo in Indonesia.

The Metkayina tribe in the film’s sequel Avatars he himself is an inhabitant of Pandora who rules the ocean.

They live on the sea coast of Pandora which offers beautiful views.

Delivered in a joint interview National GeographicCameron’s statement was busy after the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy uploaded it to their Instagram account on Tuesday (20/12/2022).

“There are seafarers in Indonesia who live in houses on stilts and live on rafts. We see things like that,” Cameron said, quoted by the account @kemenparekraf.ri.

So what is the image of the tribe? Bass What inspired one of these avatars?

Read also: Avatar The Water Way Inspired by Indonesia, says the director

Get to know the Bajo tribe

Quoted from Ministry of Education and Culturethe Bajo tribe is closely related to the sea and is often called the sea nomad.

Indeed, the Bajo tribe lived a nomadic life on boats.

With an ancient boat with no modern equipment as their guide, the Bajo tribe rely on the constellations to guide their way.

However, now the Bajo live on the coast or in shallow marine waters.

Their houses are equipped with poles to protect them from storm surges. Meanwhile, the walls of the Bajo tribe houses are made of wood with thatched roofs.

Suku Bajo scattered in various regions, including East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and other eastern regions.

Not only in Indonesia, the Bajo tribe is also widespread in the seas of Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

According to the story, as reported by the page indonesia.go.id, This tribe comes from the Sulu archipelago in the southern Philippines.

Living as nomads on the high seas brought the Bajo tribe into Indonesian territory. Even so, the origins of the Bajo tribe are not yet known for certain.

Besides Bajo, this sea nomad also goes by a number of other names, such as Bajau, Badjaw, Sama or Same.

Read also: The Bajo tribe in Indonesia inspires Metkayina in Avatar 2

Livelihoods

Living in the waters, the daily activities of the Bajo people are supported by water transport in the form of boats. Usually the boats will be parked in their yard.

Not only means of transport, boats are also a means of earning a living because most of the population works as fishermen.

They catch fish in traditional ways, such as fishing with hooks, nets and archery.

The catch will be sold to the community on the nearest coast or island.

In addition to fishing, some of the Bajo have also learned to grow various marine products, such as lobster, grouper or shrimp.

Read also: James Cameron calls Indonesia an inspiration for the film Avatar: The Way of Water

Interesting for scientists

Synonymous with the sea, the diving prowess of the Bajo tribe cannot be doubted.

The people of this tribe are known to be able to dive to a depth of 70 meters with a single breath.

They also don’t need any special clothing or respirators when diving. Only with wooden swimming goggles that prevent water from entering the eyes.

This experience in navigating the sea has also made many world scientists interested in researching the Bajo tribe.

One of them is a group of scientists from the University of Copenhagen and the University of California who are trying to unravel the mystery of the origins of the greatness of the Bajo tribe.

The results showed that the spleen of the Baju tribe was 50% larger than that of humans in general.

Above normal spleen size has an effect on the blood oxygen production of the Bajo tribe that is even greater.

The researchers also argued that the experience of the Bajo people is a form of genetic mutation due to natural selection. It is known that almost all Bajo people are born with these genetic differences.

Read also: Napak Tilas History of maritime success and spices of the Bajo tribe

Get updates Featured News and latest news every day from Kompas.com. Let’s join the Telegram group “Kompas.com News Update”, like click on the link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, then join. You must first install the Telegram application on your mobile phone.