Med Bateki globoko v Taman Negara, Malezija

Ljudje so bili in so še vedno bistvo mojih, naših potovanj. Vedno sem bil očaran, včasih kar začaran nad vsemi kulturami, plemeni, ki sem jih imel možnost srečati in spoznati na potovanjih. Bolj se je bilo potrebno potruditi, več avtobusov zamenjati, bolj so bili odnosi pristni in nepozabni. In priznam, vsa ta srečanja so mi dala misliti in na nek način so me tudi spremenila. Ko smo potovali po Maleziji sem kmalu naletel tudi na zapiske o ljudstvu Batek, ki še vedno živijo v pragozdovih Taman Negare. Le še nekaj tisoč jih je in za doživeti pristen stik z njimi se je bilo potrebno zelooo potruditi. Kar dva dni sem taval med lokalci in spraševal kdo bi nas lahko zapeljal stran od ustaljenih turističnih poti, vasi, ki so obiskane praktično s strani vseh turistov, ki obiščejo to območje. In teh ni malo. No, na koncu mi je uspelo a izkušnja vseeno ni bila taka, kot sem si jo predstavljal. Ob prihodu v vas, ki je bila tako ali tako na pol prazna (moški so se ravno odpravili na lov), so se vse ženske poskrile v hiše in nas le na skrivaj spremljale skozi šine med posameznimi deskami. Tudi naš najmlajši blondinec očitno ni bil dovolj močen magnet. 🙂 Ali pa so se ga še bolj bale. No sčasoma jih je nekaj le prišlo ven in po pogovoru smo izvedeli, da jo to šele drugi beli otrok, ki je obiskal vas. 🙂 Izkušnja je bila vseeno neverjetna in že samo druženje z domačini in streljanje s pihalniki je bilo nepozabno. Kako bi vse skupaj izgledalo šele, če bi tam preživeli nekaj dni. 🙂

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People were and still are the focus of our journeys. I’ve always been fascinated by the cultures, tribes, people, I have had the opportunity to meet while traveling. And its true, it was the most authentic when I/we had to put ourselfs to the limit to reach the destination. And I have to confess that all these meetings made me think about myself, our world… And in a way I definitely changed because of that.  When we traveled around Malaysia, I soon come across an article about the Batek people, who still live deep in the jungles of Taman Negara. There are only a few thousand of them left and it was really hard to visit a village, that is not there just because of the tourists. For 2 days I was walking around and looking for a guide who would take us deeper in the jungle, to experience more authentic way of life. Well, in the end I succeeded but the experience was still not what I was expecting. On arrival in the village, which was anyhow half empty (man went hunting), all the women hid in the house and secretly monitored us between wooden boards. Even our son was not enough to brake the barrier. 🙂 Well eventually they came out and after the conversation we found out, that he is the second western child, who visited the village.  🙂 The experience was still amazing and just talking with the locals and shooting with “jungle gun” was unforgettable. I cant imagine, how it would be, if we would decide to stay there for couple of days.  🙂