Outcasts of the islands: The sea gypsies of South East Asia - Sebastian Hope

A chance meeting on the east coast of Sulawesi leads Sebastian Hope to set out in search of the elusive Sea Gypsies - tribes of semi-nomadic boat people who follow a hunter-gatherer lifestyle governed by changing currents, seasons and fishing opportunities. From time immemorial they have fished the waters between the myriad islands that stretch from the Indian Ocean to the open Pacific. 

Panglima Sarani, chief of a Bajau Laut clan, invites the author to join his family, and the two men, so widely separated by age and culture, form a unique bond. They become not just friends but also partners in the fishing enterprises by which the Bajau Laut live.

Sebastian Hope's engrossing and uplifting tales of his travels among the Sea Gypsies reveals a rich culture clinging to a precarious existence in the modern age. He recounts both the frustrations and the delights of a way of life that is by turns alien and irresistibly alluring.