|
The Badui area covers more than 5,100 hectares of land
and is separated into two parts, outer Badui and inner Badui with the closest
inner Badui village of Cibeo 12 kilometers away from Ciboleger village. Both
accept visitors cordially, but the outer area has more contact with outsiders
and is thus more open to travelers.
The path to the Badui village starts in Ciboleger, a
gateway to the Badui because of its proximity to Kadu Ketug, an outer Badui
kampong. Ciboleger is a couple of hours’ drive away from the Rangkas Bitung
turnpike exit.
On the way from Ciboleger to Kadu Ketug, stores
selling souvenirs like songket (woven cloth), traditional bags made of tree
bark, and grocery shops surround a steep but smooth path that leads to a big
stone monument marked with a map of the Badui area. A nearby sign lists dos
and don’ts for travelers and welcomes those entering Kadu Ketug, a relatively
modern outer Badui kampong with 35 houses and shops that sell daily goods like
coffee and cigarettes.
Some of their rules prohibit modern inventions like
guitars, video cameras and sound recorders. One rule prohibits the use of soap
and toothpaste in rivers.
All traces of modernity disappear past the big stone
monument and all the brick houses and neon lights turn into small rattan
walled huts and oil-filled lanterns.
Not too far from the monument is the house of Badui
village chief Jaro Dainah. He is the liaison between the outside world and the
Badui people. All travelers who want to enter the Badui villages must pay
homage to him.
“All travelers must also pay homage to each kampong
chief,” said Jaro Dainah.
Seventeen people have signed his guestbook this month
and many
of them have spent a night or two in his hut.
“We get a lot of visitors during the middle of the
year, after or before that we just get occasional hikers and students,” he
said.
His hut, like many other Badui huts, is a rumah
panggung, a house built on wooden stilts placed on rocks or dug into the
ground. Layers of thick bamboo shoots make up the floor that, according to
Badui customs, must remain above the ground, while tiers of sugar palm leaves
tied to the top of the wooden stilts act as the roof.
Further behind his house is a mountain trail leading
into more Badui kampongs that can take a whole day to traverse. The Badui
people live on a mountain in small homes surrounded by forests and small rice
fields and they live independently from the outside world, although they
occasionally venture out to other cities like Bandung and Jakarta to sell
their handicrafts, brown sugar and honey. Even so, the Badui reject motorized
vehicles as well as footwear and always move around barefoot while in the
kampong.
Despite the challenging way of life, the Badui exude
a tough but calm demeanor as portrayed by Jaro Saidi, chief of the Kadu Keteur
kampong, who is also the leader of all kampong chiefs. The farmer — who claims
to be 100 years old — looks like he is still in his 80s and is still going
strong, something that he may have acquired from living the Badui lifestyle. |
