Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Talking to Pupu Epeli is always going to be fascinating. And when the subject is chickens, you know that the consequences are bound to be interesting. Since the cyclone there have been chickens wandering around the island and being a general annoyance: namely keeping antisocial hours which simply don’t fit well with the community feel of the island! Which self respecting islander would start scratching around right outside the bedroom door at 5am?? But efforts by the tribal team have been made to recapture the birds and put them in the new chicken coup that was built behind the village. So far, around 40 of the 50 birds have been banged to rights and no longer govern the hours of sleep on the island.

Sitting in the sun drinking coconut milk straight for the fruit, I saw the chickens sitting a good couple of metres up in the trees round to the side of the kitchen. I’d not seen any sign that these birds would have a chance of making it off the ground, but Pupu said that they were getting ready to roost for the night out of harms way. He told me that they’re easiest to catch at night because they’d be sleeping. He explained that by cutting an onion so that it fans out, splitting the top of a stick into three and then placing the onion into the stick is where to begin when staking out a chicken. When it’s fast asleep, place it under their nose and they’ll pass out and drop out of the tree. Simple as anything! Incidentally, he also told me how to steal a pig…make big gooey dumplings, put them in the pen and then while their mouth is full snatch them and they won’t be able to make a sound! I always knew he had a shady past!

ATTEMPT 1: THURSDAY 14TH. Approx. 21:35 hours.
With the grog session in full swing, we snuck out in the hopes of snaring a number of chickens (perhaps a bit hopeful!), and potentially a great Sunday dinner…

We sourced an onion from the kitchen, and found what we thought would be a big enough stick. We set out on the hunt for chickens, but soon realized our stick was not going to be suitable for the job. We then found a much longer stick, after realizing the chickens were roosting about 6 meters high in the trees.

At that point Mateo stumbled across our failing attempts. We recruited his help in trying to catch our first chicken.

We found two chickens roosting next to each other, and with one person holding the stick with the onion on the end, one shining a torch at the chickens, and the other standing by with sulu, ready for the catch. The chickens were having none of it, slightly flustered, they few down from the trees, and ran into the bushes. Due to too much cake, too much grog, or maybe a combination of both, we were unable to keep up with the chase, and the chickens managed to escape with their freedom…

Slightly dejected we made our way back to the grog session, and kept our attempts on the low-down, convinced we would soon catch our very first chicken…

ATTEMPT 2: FRIDAY 15TH. Approx. 22:00 hours.
Grog session again in full swing we took the opportunity to sneak out for our second attempt. Stick and onion already prepared, we began the hunt. We quickly located the chickens in the same area of woodland in the uppermost branches of the trees. Yet again the birds were onto us and the onion appeared to have no effect. After standing with our arms in the air for 15 minutes we started to lose concentration and the stick accidentally poked one of the chickens. Everything happened very fast, the chicken lost its balance, flapped around and before we knew it was standing on the top of our pole.

Shocked and surprised we grabbed the sulu, and chicken still in place we began lowering it to the ground. Suddenly it dawned on us we had no idea what to do when we actually got close enough to catch it. But that didn’t deter us! In the commotion that followed and with both parties flustered and slightly frightened the chicken managed to escape. This was repeated a further three times with the chickens out running us every time.

We then regrouped back in the bure and had a few bilo’s of grog to try and mull over where we were going wrong. It soon became apparent that we needed to recruit as two people aren’t enough for the job. We managed to recruit possible future chief and vegetarian Jim to help us on our quest.

ATTEMPT 3: FRIDAY 15th. Approx. 23:15 hours.
We (again) sneaked out of the grog session, after finally deciding to inform the tribe that we would be bringing them back a chicken.

We regrouped in the kitchen where we established our individual roles, sulu, torch and stick.

We soon located our feathery friends, who no doubt were now onto us. We moved into position, choosing a white chicken, as they are easier to see. We slowly moved the stick up towards the bird, this time without the onion. One sharp poke and the bird was standing on the end of the pole. The sulu was held by two people directly underneath, and the bird was carefully lowered. On the count of 3 and a shake of the stick and a rustle of feathers, the bird was soon captured within the sulu.

Unable to believe we executed our plan with such aplomb, we stood in shock for a few moments, before parading the bird back to the Bure.

We then relocated the chicken into the Chicken Coup, ready for our Sunday lunch!

Now we’ve mastered the chickens we plan on catching the other 9 and look forward to having a full nights sleep on a very full stomach. Next on our list – increase the number of pigs on the island…

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Watch the first chicken catching attempt on Vorovoro…