Mentawai Islands

Introducing Mentawai Islands

Although the distance between the mainland and the Mentawai Islands is not great, nature contrived to keep this island chain isolated. Strong winds, unpredictable currents and razor-sharp corals thwarted navigation and trade with the mainland.

As a result, the Mentawai people had very little contact with the outside world and remained one of the ‘purest’ indigenous societies in Indonesia until the 19th and 20th centuries.

Siberut is the largest island in the chain and is home to the majority of the Mentawai population. It is also the most closely studied and protected island in the archipelago. About 60% of Siberut is still covered with tropical rainforest and shelters a rich biological community that has earned it a designation as a Unesco biosphere reserve. The western half of the island is protected as the Siberut National Park.

The archipelago is thought to have broken off from the rest of Sumatra about 500, 000 years ago, and the separation resulted in unique flora and fauna. Mentawai is ranked alongside Madagascar in terms of endemic primate population, with 60% of terrestrial mammals recorded as endemic. Four species of primate display a variety of primitive characteristics, making them particularly important in the study of the species’ evolution. Of particular interest is Siamang kerdil, a rare species of black-and-yellow monkey usually called simpai Mentawai by the locals.

Change has come in a hurry to Mentawai. Tourism, logging, transmigrasi (government-sponsored scheme to encourage settlers to move from overcrowded regions to sparsely populated ones) and other government-backed attempts to mainstream the culture have separated the people from the jungle and whittled the jungle into profit. It isn’t what it used to be, but it is a long way from being like everywhere else. And that keeps trekkers happily braving mud and bugs to visit the remaining traditional communities. Surfers comprise the other Mentawai-bound pilgrims, many of whom rank Mentawai right alongside Nias as a Sumatran sweet spot. Slowly but surely more and more land resorts are claiming little pieces of beach paradise for lazing under the coconut trees and savouring sunsets.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009