Bajau tribes live seaborne, similar to movie Avatar

Usually, some people who go on cruises feel seasick. But tribesmen living in the sea south of Indonesia are completely the opposite.

The Bajau tribes live abroad primitive self-made boats, or seaborne wooden cabins they built themselves and have lived all their lives since birth.

Tribesmen feel dizzy when they walk on the land.

Strangely, they can swim underwater for 13 minutes without suffocating.

Their lifestyle is reminiscent of the movie Avatar, but they’re not part of the cast.

Who are the Bajau?

Bajau (or Sama-Bajau) refers to several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the southwestern Philippines who usually live a seaborne lifestyle and use small wooden sailing vessels.

The Bajau people were not allowed to live on land, so they built wooden huts out at sea. Bajau have sometimes been called the “Sea Gypsies” or “Sea Nomads.”

If you hold your breath and plunge your face into a tub of water, your body automatically triggers what’s called the diving response, but the Bajau takes free diving to the extreme, staying underwater for as long as 13 minutes at depths of around 200 feet.

Scientists studying the effect of this lifestyle on their biology found their spleens were larger than those of other people in the region.

The bigger spleen makes more oxygen available in their blood for diving.

Bajau children have no opportunity to go to school, so there are no future prospects for them. They are all ferocious in catching fish and octopus, as fishing is their main source of income.

During the day, they fish and sail around the coast, looking to sell food, before returning to their huts as soon as the sun goes down.