Talang Mamak

The Talang Mamak live in the forested country of the upper Indragiri basin and the Thirty Hills of eastern Sumatra. Their communities cultivate fields in rotation and draw upon the forest for fruit, rattan, resins and honey, as well as hunting and fishing. Customary leaders oversee relationships within the community and the use of its land. Among their traditions are stories of origins in the Minangkabau country and of a journey downriver to the lands where their descendants settled.