Lamalera Whalers Pushing A Boat Editorial Photo

Whalers from Lamalera village bring their boat to beach after a night fishing. Villagers of Lamalera on Lembata island, East Indonesia, are the last people on Earth who regularly hunt whales with hand harpoons. They use non-motor wooden boats to chase a whale and then a whaler throws bamboo harpoons from the tip of its boat. This way of hunting is dangerous, sometimes boats sink or are pulled by whales for miles (and days) before a whale dies. Lamalera villagers only occasionally use money, most often they exchange directly goods with other villages and in this way they get other types of food in exchange of fish and whale meat. Between whale huntings, whalers hunt smaller prey (fish and dolphins) with different motor boats (in the picture).