Imagine the underwater world, where people who have gills instead of lungs live in harmony with nature.

Borneo. Somewhere on the edge of the Sulu and Celebes Seas lives a tribe of ocean nomads: the Badjao. They live like fish, spending most of their life in water. Their children learn to swim before they can walk, and adults have mastered the art of free diving to perfection.

They can walk and hunt on the sea bed holding their breath for five minutes and their eyes are adapted to focus underwater. They are happy people in the beautiful underwater world.


The Bajau have been a nomadic, seafaring people for most of their history. Many Bajau still practice that same lifestyle to this day, which explains why they are still commonly called "sea gypsies."

They chart particularly the waters of the Sulu Sea, off the southwestern coast of the Philippines, and the various seas that surround the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.