Take The Path Less Ordinary

When we first saw Bah Andak, 38, dived into the cold river, we thought he was having a bath. Seconds later, the Orang Asli native emerged with a fish in his hand and it dawned upon us that we have just witnessed man’s earliest hunting art form.

Recently, out of boredom during Raya holidays, we mountain-biked Keraday river’s upstream and stumbled on a small village cluster populated by roughly 15-20 Orang Asli families. We were prepared for moment like this and the dozens of apples we brought along in our backpacks helped us defrost the kids. It wasn’t long before more curious adults and elders joined in for some casual conversation. Then a fishing party invited us to tag along.

When we saw not a single net, hook or gadget was included in the game - we quickly said yes. In the back of our minds, we knew something rare was about to happen.

Apparently, hand-fishing is the village forte. Downstream, everyone was busy wallowing in chest-deep water looking for Tengas Batang (Neolissochilus hexagonolepis, Copper Mahseer), a hardy native fish that thrives in pristine uprivers. Tengas is only found in rapids and catching them under the full blast of whitewater is a death-defying stunt itself. Nevertheless, these natives are very strong swimmers.

As Orang Asli activists, we have seen a lot of archaic skills meted by Orang Asli but hand-fishing completely floored us.

In weeks to come, we will consider helping and training the natives to spearhead their own ecotourism program. The villagers are all for it. It would be great to see them awe visitors (they certainly did a good job with us) and at the same time earn side income with the skills they already have. With fingers crossed, we hope they will be ready to to host visitors by Dec 2008.

(Editor: This article was featured in New Straits Times newspaper here)