Semau Island is just off the the coast of Kupang. It’s about 1 hours motorised Perahu ride to the tourist area. Life remains slow and simple on the island. It is an excellent place to visit and relax.

The island has a stark and dry beauty. Only around the spring at Oeasa are there any rain forest trees. Lontar palms dominate the skyline giving some shade to the dusty ground and the jagged limestone rocks of roads and fences.

Semau’s inhabitants maintain a traditional lifestyle that is part of the Lontar economy. The island is able to support a few cattle, pigs and goats. The palm sugar industry thrives on Semau. Lontar palm products are economic staples: tuak, gula and sopi. In the mornings and afternoons the men can be seen high up in their lontar trees collecting the sap. Some men boast of being able to leap from palm to palm rather than climbing up and down.

Semau has very beautiful reefs. There are many forms of coral and exquisite tropical fish. The sites are awe inspiring and refreshing. Japanese pearl farmers have set up in the eastern bay near the hotels. Oysters and shells can be found on the beach along with a great assortment of tidal marine life that live in warm tropical waters.

Unfortunately the reefs are being plundered.  Local fishermen illegally use explosives to catch fish as it is sometimes more effective than a net. Coral is killed by the explosions. Crayfish are becoming hard to find, as demand for them has increased. They are about a quarter of the price of crayfish in Australia. Tropical fish and coral are collected and sold for the tropical fish industry.

Tourism thrives in one of the eastern bays of Semau. There are several hotels that are extensions of those in Kupang. These are all located on the beach front near Oeasa, a beautiful spring covered by large shade trees. Locals obtain their water from the spring, and wash and bathe in the pool. Tourists  can also take a dip. On Sundays crowds of Kupang day trippers come to enjoy a picnic and a change of scenery.

Semau was once famous for its sorcery. Nowadays the population are mainly Protestant Christians. Churches dot the villages. A Muslim Bugis village exists on the Southern end of the island. These people originally came from Sulawesi.

Relics of the past remain on Semau. The Dutch built a light house to guide ships into Kupang Bay. It stands on a hill to the north of the island. The original buildings are still in use.

Questions / activities

1. Locate Semau Island on a map. 2. What are three industries on Semau? 3. How does dynamiting fish affect the environment?4. Make salt using seawater and your own ‘clam shell’. 5. Why is Semau popular with tourists?

Extra Activities, Comprehension, Discussion and Research Questions

1. To get a taste of rural life, buy a few chickens, raise them, and then ask someone in to show you how to kill, pluck and gut them. Cook them for dinner!

2. List all the different foods not imported from Kupang that a Semau villager may eat.

3. Clam shells can not be brought into Australia from Semau because they are a protected species. Look them up on the net and discover why.

4. The lontar palms on Semau support what thriving industry?

5. What is a perahu? Draw one.

6. Prepare arguments for and against the dynamiting of fish by local villagers. Have a class debate.

7. Suggest village lifestyle changes brought about by the building of hotels on Semau.

8. Suggest reasons why Semau villagers changed from being sorcerers to Protestant Christians.