Siberut: the Shamans of the night - Azimuth Adventure Travel Ltd

Siberut: the Shamans of the night

25th ANNIVERSARY OF AZIMUTH ADVENTURE TRAVEL LTD

“EPHEMERAL” CIRCUIT SUPERVISED BY THIERRY ROBINET

Thierry Robinet invites you to an original encounter with a very little-known and endearing people. A social system based on the resources of the forest and what it provides on a daily basis. But the country of the “Flower Men” is also a fantastic osmosis between the ancestors and the living, when in the evening, the “Shamans” call in incantations to the elders, those who have left. for ages in the...

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Departure

Day 1Towards Indonesia

Day 1Towards Indonesia

  • Meet at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport and fly to Indonesia. Qatar Airways / Paris – Jakarta / 0905-0740 (+1 day)

Day 2Welcome to West Sumatra

Day 2Welcome to West Sumatra

  • Arrival in Jakarta and connecting flight to Padang.

    Welcome at the airport and transfer to your hotel. In the afternoon, city stroll through the old districts of the city. Evening seafood meal.

Meal and accommodations

Dinner: Panggeran Beach Hotel

Accommodation: Panggeran Beach Hotel

4h
Siberut

Day 3Mentawai Islands

Day 3Mentawai Islands

  • Early morning transfer to the port of Padang, where you board a speed boat heading to the Mentawai Islands. At Muara Siberut, you are welcomed by Yohan, your local coordinator, who then takes you to a small hostel. The rest of the day (by the sea) is free while Thierry & Yohan prepare the logistics of the trip.

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Panggeran Beach Hotel

Lunch: Included

Dinner: Included

Accommodation: Homestay

Siberut

Day 4First meetings

Day 4First meetings

  • Departure by “pongpong” (small motorized canoe with a long tail) towards the village of Buttui, following the meanders of the Rogdog river. During the journey through the forest and a few villages, you will see monitor lizards or small crocodiles basking on the banks, birds and perhaps an enormous python sleeping on the branches above the river. Arrival in Buttui in the afternoon. Installation in the Uma (traditional longhouse) of Aman Ipai, the new Sikkerei recently inducted, and now Shaman. Dinner and overnight in the traditional house with the family and guests.

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Included

Lunch: Included

Dinner: Included

Accommodation: Long House

Siberut

Day 5-8Night Shamans

Day 5-8Night Shamans

  • You will spend 4 full days in the company of the people of the forest. You will follow the women begging for food in the gardens, fishing in the river, preparing local food in the Uma, etc. With the men, you will prepare arrow poison for hunting (use of strychnine, which is the sap of the strychnos tree), sacrifice a chicken and read its entrails to find out if the days to come will be positive, if the ancestors will come home, if the guests are welcome, and if the food will be in abundance.

    You will share community meals with your hosts, much improved by your team of cooks.

    The Mentawai speak to trees, plants and animals. Macinderei, another legendary Shaman, acts as a medicine man if there is a sick person. You follow the men in preparing sago, the basis of all local food: cutting the sago palm, extracting the flour, collecting sago worms, etc. Back at the Uma, Aman Ipai the Shaman, adds a tattoo to his body as a sign of protection for the days to come. The big ceremony is for the next day, and we must be dignified in front of the ancestors who will return, for a day or a night, to the Uma. Several Sikkerei arrive early in the morning at the Uma, invited for the induction ceremony of a new Shaman. They did not need to be asked to collaborate in the birth of a new master of ceremonies, through dancing, singing, the rhythm of the body and the feet which rhythmically strike the wooden floor. These Shamans have become, in the space of a few hours, the envoys of heaven and nature to whom they speak, and who bring all their knowledge for the protection of the small community.

    Food is in abundance too. Their wives speak loudly and clearly to demonstrate their status as wives of chiefs, whether they are Sararrakeit, Sakkudei or Saige Oni. Different clans but all brothers today.

    One or more pigs are sacrificed, a few chickens will suffer the same fate, and everyone will comment.

    When evening comes, like a powerful call from the forest, the Shamans will dance to the sound of gongs, communicate in a language of their own, and reach an ecstatic state through trance. Superb days in contact with these beings like no other, the “flower men”, considered the last guardians of the forest.

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Included

Breakfast: Included

Lunch: Included

Dinner: Included

Accommodation: Long House

Siberut

Day 9In the middle of the jungle

Day 9In the middle of the jungle

  • Long day of walking between traditional fields of cultivation, sago palm trees and jungle towards Majongaik, traditional hunting place of Aman Ipai. Setting up the camp, made of wood and a palm roof to protect against possible nighttime rain. This day is a sharing of traditional life with the people of the forest. You will pick young fern shoots for dinner, go with the Sikkerei to look for medicinal plants for the healing of possible Uma patients, knowledge passed down from generation to generation.


    6h hike

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Included

Lunch: Included

Dinner: Included

Accommodation: Shelter (built by the flower men)

Siberut

Day 10Wild boar hunting

Day 10Wild boar hunting

  • Day in the forest with your hosts, bow and spear hunting to flush out a wild boar or a monkey endemic to the island of Siberut. The route may be longer or shorter and patience will be required. Others will trap fish and shellfish in the river near the camp. A very informative day.


    4h hike

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Included

Lunch: Included

Dinner: Included

Accommodation: Shelter (built by the flower men)

Siberut

Day 11To the east coast

Day 11To the east coast

  • Hike through the jungle to reach the small village of Toribuk on the east coast of Siberut. The walking paths on the island are not always well signposted, especially if you pass through the heart of an area of sago palm trees. Mud and brackish water up to mid-calf (it is recommended to wear gaiters).


    5h hike

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Included

Lunch: Included

Dinner: Included

Accommodation: Homestay

Siberut

Day 12Towards paradise

Day 12Towards paradise

  • On foot, you reach the hamlet of Salappak, where you board a “pongpong” heading south. After a stop at Muara Sibeirut (to pick up fishing equipment… and cold beer), continue to Masilok island by motorized canoe. Installation in a very nice little lodge, which lies under the coconut trees and in front of a beach with desperately white sand and a turquoise sea. On the beach several kilometers long, you are alone in the world. Seafood barbecue in the evening: very good grilled fish, squid, prawns, etc.

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Included

Lunch: Included

Dinner: Included

Accommodation: Lodges

Siberut

Day 13Rest in paradise

Day 13Rest in paradise

  • Rest day. Possibility of fishing, snorkeling with mask and snorkel (to be brought personally if necessary), walking through the mangrove or simply swimming. A day for “Robinsons”.

    In the evening, a big fire and prepared for dinner your fish caught during the day.

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Included

Lunch: Included

Dinner: Included

Accommodation: Lodges

Day 14Return to Padang

Day 14Return to Padang

  • Return to Muara Sibeirut at the end of the morning and board a speed ferry, which will take you back to Padang. On arrival, transfer to the Panggeran Beach Hotel, close to the city center.

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Included

Lunch: Included

Accommodation: Panggeran Beach Hotel

Bukittinggi

Day 15Minang Country

Day 15Minang Country

  • Day visit to Minang country around its capital, Bukittinggi. Numerous stops along the way: Singkarak volcanic lake, Pagaruyung royal house, Batusangkar cattle market where the buffalo is king, terraced rice fields under the still very active Marapi volcano (2,911m), etc. Country of the “victorious buffalo”, Minangkabau country is subject to matriarchal rule. The wife owns the land, the livestock, the house. Even though the Minangkabau are Muslim, the tradition has continued for generations. Check-in at the end of the day at the Grand Rocky hotel, ideally located in the city center.

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Panggeran Beach Hotel

Lunch: Included

Accommodation: Grand Rocky Hotel

Day 16See you soon in Sumatra

Day 16See you soon in Sumatra

  • Morning visit to Bukittinggi: its bustling market, its superb traditional Minang house which serves as a museum, the Syanok canyon and its Benteng fort, a relic of the former Dutch settler. Late morning transfer to Padang airport for your return flight to France, via Jakarta.

    Citilink / Padang – Jakarta / 1410-1550 Qatar Airways / Jakarta – Paris / 1830-0725 (+ 1 day)

Meal and accommodations

Breakfast: Grand Rocky Hotel

Lunch: Included

Departure

Day 17Arrived in France

Day 17Arrived in France

  • Arrival in Paris early in the morning

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