West Papua – The Last Frontier

Jayapura

Jayapura is West Papua’s largest city, and its capital, but it’s still relatively small. Built by the Dutch in the 19th century and named Hollandia, it was occupied by the Japanese in the Second World War. It has a bit of a ‘frontier’ feel with a majority Indonesian, rather than Papuan, population, with successive waves of immigrants having arrived here after independence and a total population of around 100,000.

The exact programme will depend on tidal levels and local conditions in the swampy terrain that we travel through, but we will trek to a Korowai village (approx. 4 hours) to immerse ourselves in their culture. This is a unique opportunity but you should be aware that it is unlikely to be a ‘polished’ experience – conditions here are not always predictable and you should come with an open mind and plenty of patience. Overnight camping. (BLD)

Korowai people

Tucked away in the south of the island of New Guinea, the Korowai are a small ethnic group numbering around three thousand. First contact with Europeans was made in 1974, meaning that it’s well within living memory for older Korowai, and they remain very traditional. The Korowai are best known for their practice of building impressive treehouses, positioned high up in the canopy and highlighted in the BBC programme ‘Human Planet’. Treehouses were in the past built principally as a defensive measure – raiding is not uncommon in Papua and it is reported that some Korowai who have not had contact with the modern world still practice ritual cannibalism, although as with all reports of this nature this is very difficult to verify.

Witchcraft plays a major role in the complex belief system of the Korowai. While Christian missionaries have been living in the area since the late 1970s, the Korowai are known to be highly resistant to conversion and most still subscribe to traditional beliefs involving spirits and the role of ancestors.

The Korowai maintain a subsistence lifestyle, with men going off to hunt in the surrounding forest using bows and arrows. They live in small, clan based groups which usually consist of around three to five tree houses, some of which can be up to forty metres above the ground – although more typically, around ten metres.

The Dani

The Dani people are an indigenous tribe that inhabit a large and deep valley called the Baliem, situated between four-thousand-metre-high mountains in West Papua (Irian Jaya). They were discovered in 1938 by pilot Richard Archbold and until this time, the area was considered to be uninhabited. The Dani build round or oval huts and enclose their villages with fences. They are farmers and their fields are distinctly bordered, which is what helped Archbold to spot them. He saw recognisable fields in the valley – similar to those he knew from Europe – when flying above, discovering The Dani by chance.

The Dani are an extremely decorative tribe. The men are characterised by boar tusks in their noses, long and thin Koketas – also known as penis sheaths or penis gourds – and headdresses made of the feathers from the birds of paradise. The women wear short skirts woven from orchid fibres, decorated with straw, and woven bags called ‘noken’ across their backs.

The tribe is also known for having followed a very odd custom. When important men died in the village or were killed by an opposing tribe, each of his female relatives would have their fingers cut off. The fingers – usually the outer two on the left hand – were tied off with string around half an hour before the cremation ceremony and cut off with an ax during the ceremony. The women were slapped hard in the upper arm with the aim of killing the sensation and the wound was then staunched with leaves. The fingers were dried for a few days, burned and then buried in a special place.

The Dani occupied one of the most fertile regions of Papua and as a result they often had to fight for their territory, with frequent wars also breaking out amongst themselves. They used to be the most feared headhunting tribe on the island, but they didn’t eat their enemies, unlike the majority of other Papuan tribes.