When Arie Basuki attended the races in Sumbawa, Arie Basuki was surprised to find that local race buffalo owners spoil their bovine pets more than they do their own children. As he soon discovered, this is all in the interests of protecting their prize beasts, lest they become spellbound at the hands of rival shamans with evil intentions

Buffalo racing, known in Sumbawa as beraban kebo, is one of Sumbawa's most widespread and popular sports. Similar to the renowned buffalo races of West Bali, known there as makepung, the Sumbawan beraban kebo not only sets buffalo against buffalo. Local people's involvement in the sport is not only as spectators, but also as jokis (jockeys), who steer their speedy beasts in pairs via wooden yokes rather than mount them like race horses.

Unlike the Balinese makepung, however, Sumbawa's beraban kebo does not take place on dry land but in waterlogged rice paddies, which forces the buffaloes to wade through mud thirty centimeters in depth. And in as far as it is entertainment for the masses, beraban kebo are always merry, noisy affairs, laden with cultural significance as pertains to the traditional mores and values of the orang Samawa - people of Sumbawa.

Moreover, beraban kebo do not take place at random. In Sumbawa, there is a special season for buffalo racing, and that is in the lead up to the rice planting season, between January and April. In the interests of the local tourism industry, however, there is one place on the island where beraban kebo are held twice weekly throughout the year, and that is in the village of Pamulung.

It is not uncommon for a race event in Pamulung to take place over several days. This is because the Pamulung races attract an average of four hundred pairs of race buffaloes, along with their accompanying jockeys. Of those four hundred, no more than three pairs of buffaloes emerge as winners, and the number of races required to select the champions can run for up to three days. A winning pair usually takes no longer than nine seconds to traverse one hundred meters of sodden terrain.

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