Tribewanted: Vorovoro

I remember feeling very sad when I heard that the whale, swimming listlessly around Mali at Christmas time, had finally died. It must have been ill, as it’s very unusual for such a large Sperm whale to be so close to the shore. And, it seems, when the local Fijians found the body, they say there was a huge gash near his head. It’s quite possible that the amazing creature had been injured by one of the large freighters or caught in some kind of commercial fishing rig. Either way, the Fijian custom is to remove the precious teeth to be used for ceremonies, and to burn the flesh, as it is usually not fit to eat a creature which has likely died from illness.

That said, the intrepid villagers of Vorovoro were interested in the skeleton and would like to get it articulated at one of the museums in Fiji. To that end, the majestic remains are being sorted out in the village at the far end of the island. I went to check it out, and Poasa and Pupu showed it off with reverence. It’s very hard to explain how it feels to be so close to the spirit of an animal so immense, so rare as the oceans continue to warm, and so far afield from my Los Angeles life. You can still smell something oily clinging to the bones. It’s not rank, but it’s definitely visceral proof that this is not the sun-bleach remains of something long gone. I think we’ll feel the presence of the whale for time to come…