Last of the Moken Sea Nomads
-
For centuries, the Moken sea nomads have traveled the islands between Thailand and Myanmar fishing and foraging for food on the sea floor. Throughout the Mergui Archipelago, Moken migrate in flotillas of Kabangs (traditional boat of the Moken people), stopping at different islands and beaches. Expert freedivers, the Moken have adapted physically to an aquatic life, developing unique characteristics that let them see better and hold their breath longer while underwater.
Today, however, under pressure from the Thai government, and unable to see a viable future after the devastation of the 2004 tsunami and rampant commercial overfishing, all of the Moken in Thailand have settled into villages. These villages are often places of frustration, where Moken, born at sea without birth certificates, are treated as stateless and struggle to find jobs or receive benefits from the government. Alcoholism and unemployment rates are high.
Recently, one of these Thai Moken traveled the Mergui Archipelago to the relatively undeveloped islands of southern Myanmar, searching for Moken still living traditionally. In his search up to the 11th parallel, he only found one remaining Moken family living on a Kabang. This family travels alone from island to island searching for areas not completely exploited by increasingly unsustainable fishing methods employed in Burma.
They are likely the last family still living a nomadic lifestyle aboard the Kabang. The rest of the Burmese Moken have settled permanently, frustrated with the increasing difficulty of finding food and pressured by a government eager to capitalize on Moken culture to increase tourism, creating what some see as a 'human zoo.'
An indigenous Moken man takes his boat out from the beach near his village in Ko Surin National Park.
DANONG, an indigenous Moken man, hunts for fish using a traditional bamboo spear near his village. Today, the Moken who live in Koh Surin National Park, one of Thailand's most remote group of islands, have it better than many of their kin and are still able to live a lifestyle largely based on tradition and the sea.
A Moken man builds a small boat (called Sampan) in his village in the Ko Surin
Moken women forage for food during low tide at a beach near their village in Ko Surin National Park. Mar 1, 2014 - Ko Surin, Thailand
-
An indigenous Moken man takes his boat out from the beach near his village in Ko Surin National Park. Oct 11, 2013 - Ko Surin, Thailand. (©Taylor Weidman/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press)
-
DANONG, an indigenous Moken man, hunts for fish using a traditional bamboo spear near his village. Today, the Moken who live in Koh Surin National Park, one of Thailand's most remote group of islands, have it better than many of their kin and are still able to live a lifestyle largely based on tradition and the sea. Oct 11, 2013 - Ko Surin, Thailand. (©Taylor Weidman/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press)
-
NGUY, an indigenous Moken man, hunts for fish using a spear near his village. Often called sea nomads or sea gypsies, the Moken are a seafaring people who for centuries lived nomadically on the Andaman Sea. Oct 11, 2013 - Ko Surin, Thailand. (© Taylor Weidman/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press)
-
A Moken man builds a small boat (called Sampan) in his village in the Ko Surin National Park. Oct 10, 2013 - Ko Surin, Thailand. (©Taylor Weidman/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press)
-
Moken women forage for food during low tide at a beach near their village in Ko Surin National Park. Mar 1, 2014 - Ko Surin, Thailand. (©Taylor Weidman/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press)
NGUY, an indigenous Moken man, takes his boat out as the tide comes in. The boat on the left (identified by it's unique prow design) is one of only a few Kabang left in the world. Traditionally, Moken would live most of the year aboard Kabang and each boat would hold a nuclear family
AKOO, an indigenous Moken man, in his home in Ko Surin National Park
Moken children forage for food during low tide. Feb 28, 2014 - Ko Surin, Thailand
-
-
Moken men carry parts from a long tail boat engine to shore before fixing a broken propellor. The foremost boat is one of only a few Kabang left in the world. Traditionally, Moken would live most of the year aboard Kabang and each boat would hold a nuclear family.
Moken women return to a waiting boat after foraging for food on the rocky shores
HOOK, a Moken man, fishes for lobster in the waters near his village in the Ko Surin
The Moken village in Ko Surin National Park,
-
Why they don't cultivate?Or grow fish?
-
Originally posted by Bio-Hawk:
Why they don't cultivate?Or grow fish?
.....the nomads ways of living set back to centuries ago. They don't have a mind set of a conventional farmer and the state also not giving them any help. All they know is get everything from the wild.
-
There are many in Phuket making a living taking tourist fishing or snorkelling or island tours near the sunset cape.
-
Originally posted by Clivebenss:
There are many in Phuket making a living taking tourist fishing or snorkelling or island tours near the sunset cape.
Perhaps these are the neutralised one. The indigenous nomads that will carry on their anchestral way of traditional living will be extinct soon. Those in Phuket are been exploited for commercial purposes. In time to come, the blood that runs through the veins of the neutralise and indigenous nomads is in a blurred line.