LIVE: Juni 2011

Jumat, 10 Juni 2011

SUKU VANO

Mysterious Mamberamo

The Mamberamo River is situated in the east-west forest of Papua. For many years this area has been almost totally closed off. Many maps mark the basin of the river Mamberamo as „Strictly prohibited territory“.

Mysterious Mabreamo Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Mamberamo crocodiles Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Mamberamo, Mamberamo, Mamberamo… it nags at my mind all the time. The closeness of the area evokes curiosity and desire for more knowledge. Why is it so? Why is Mamberamo so guarded? Is it because crocodiles are hunted there? Is it because of the dangerous aborigines? I don’t like unanswered questions.

Mamberamo River Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

In 2004 we organized an expedition into the Mamberamo territory. It succeeded. We managed to contact the right people, get acquainted, and finally obtain the unobtainable permits. We are there. We headed towards the mountains, and sailed up the river. At the end of our expedition, we find the warriors of the Mamberamo River. The success of this expedition challenges us to return! Mamberamo enriched our voyages with new possibilities. Only there did we find what we had been searching for the ten years of our expeditions in New Guinea.

We have tips concerning several promising areas in the vicinity of Mamberamo River.

Our trips to Mamberamo fall into the category of first contact expeditions. It is not actually the first contact with people living in this area, because missionaries operate here as well. However, tourists get there very rarely and we want to penetrate areas which are outside the sphere of influence of the missionaries anyway. These might be a real first contact expeditions with everything you might expect from it. Are you prepared for the challenge?

Mamberamo – West Papua – Vano Tribe – stone axe makers – Harrers´Ja-li-me

Papua – Mamberamo – Vano tribe – Stone axe maker

Mamberamo – Vano Photo©JahodaPetr.com(Papua guide)

Mamberamo – Vano Photo©Petr Kožela

Mamberamo – Vano Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Mamberamo – Vano Photo©Petr Kožela

Mamberamo – Vano tribe Photo©Petr Kožela

Vano tribe is one of the best manufacturers of stone axes not only in the Mamberamo area, but also in the whole Papua. It is said that the stone that they use, is one of the best kinds to be found on the entire New Guinea Island.
On this island lies the legendary village Ja-li-me (The spring of stone axes). Heinrich Harrer writes about this village in his book “Coming from the Stone Age”. Up to the present day Wana men wear kotekas, and women wear skirts made of grass.

Mamberamo – Vano breaking rock by fire. The stone will be used to manufacture axes.Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

The tribe still produces stone axes. It is fascinating to observe how they choose the right place in the dike of the stone, and how they use fire to quarry it. They erect primitive scaffolding, and they more or less shin up on it. Then they build a small platform below the streak, and pave it with flat stones, finally building a fire on them. The rock has to be heated for almost a whole day, until it cracks and gives away to a block consisting of several dozen kilograms of stone.
No sooner than the next day does the difficult and lengthy treatment of the future stone axes begin. The stone has to be broken first. This process begins by throwing a big stone on a block, which was previously cast loose from the rock. Then they proceed by smashing (cleaving) the stones into the approximate shape of the future axe heads. In the end, the stone is sharpened against other stones (or sometimes by them).
This is one of the very last places where you can actually see how stone axes are made. Perhaps this is the last place in the world where production of stone axes is an every day event. For how long will this custom preserve? How long will it take till the stone axes will be replaced by more powerful steel axes or perhaps chain-saws? I would like to say that it will happen in the distant future, but I would be lying…
Ja-li-me (The Spring Of Stone Axes) and Vano tribe which Heinrich Harrer writes about are still there. Vano tribe lives its traditional way of life and Vano tribesmen manufacture their stone axes in the very same way which was described by Heinrich Harrer in his book. New photos that we have made during our expeditions in the third millenium are very similar to those brought by Heinrich Harrer in 1962. We have reached the same Ja-li-me as he did some fourty years ago. However, we have managed to reach the tribe in much simpler and safer way.

West Papua – The warriors of the Mamberamo river

The warriors of the Mamberamo river wear skirts with a „tail“ in the back, and cone-shaped grass hats decorated by casuar feathers. They are always armed with unusually large bows and arrows.

Mamberamo people Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

How many photographs of these tribesmen have you seen? Certainly there weren’t many of them, since these are the warriors of the forbidden river, of the Mamberamo River.

Mamberamo people Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

They hunt big crocodiles; this is the reason why they have to wear bigger and stronger bows, and more robust arrows than other Papuan people. Their different outfit should perhaps resemble a casuar, a big cursorial bird resembling the ostrich, which it actually hunts.
One can only note: strange clothes, strange people, and a strange, mysterious river named Mamberamo, on the strange New Guinea Island, in an even stranger area, Papua (Irian Jaya).

SUKU YALI

Papua Yali tribe – traditional man dress Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Papua Yali tribe – women dress Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Yali tribe is most likely the smallest of Papuan nations. I wrote “likely” because I am convinced that not all the nations living in New Guinea (including Irian Jaya), have yet been discovered.
Yalis were discovered no sooner than in 1976. They make their homes in the highlands; this is what inhabited areas of mountains are called in Papua. Inland, and especially areas near the mountains, are the least accessible territories which were thus discovered most recently.

Papua – Yali tribe – story of cannibalism

Papua Yali tribe – mountain Yali Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Papuan Yali tribe belonged to the most dreaded cannibals of the western part of the New Guinea Island (Irian Jaya). They are ranked among the pygmy group of nations (dwarf nations), and more precisely among pygmy negrits.

Papua Yali tribe – mountain Yali Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Despite the fact that mature men are scarcely taller than 150 cm, and that they have never been head-hunters, they are respected by their enemies. The fear reached such a degree that the Yalis couldn’t visit each other. As a result, in every valley the language developed in a different way. The difference was so striking that the Yali tribe members themselves claim that the valleys don’t understand each other.
The reason why, the group of cannibals called Papuan Yalis were particularly dreaded, was because they totally destroyed their enemies. They did not only eat the body, but they allegedly grinded the bones to dust, which was then thrown into the valley. They did all this to prevent the victim from ever returning. People from the neighboring villages were not only killed for revenge, sometimes just for meat…

Papua Yali – trekking in Highland

Papua mountain Yali tribe lives in very steep, but very beautiful highlands in west Papua. Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

European man & Papua Yali tribe – mountain pygmey

Papua pygmey – Mountain Yali Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Papuan mountain Yali tribe members dwell some 2500 – 2000 m above the sea level. There are two ways to reach them. First, there is a very difficult but also beautiful trek. This several day long trek starts at Wamena (18000 m). It traverses the Jayawijaya mountain range, and a mountain saddle situated at 4000 m above the sea level, not far from the summit of Mount Elit. The trek is so strenuous because the Papua mountains are very rugged and steep.
You won’t avoid trekking, even if you decide for the second alternative – a plane. To see the Yalis you flew in to see, you will have to follow them to their villages, which lie in the mountains. If you want to see also the lowland Yali tribe members, who live 1500 – 1000 m above the sea level, you’ll have to extend your trek by several days. You won’t regret though. The fantastic sceneries, which will be offered as a reward for this effort, will remain your lifelong memories. Take my word on that.

Papua mountain Yali tribe – culture

Petr Jahoda, Papua guide, with Yali women Photo©Miroslav Lapčík

The Papuan mountain Yali tribe members live in round huts build from cut planks and roofs made of pandan leaves. Women and men live separately. Women have their own houses, and men live in community houses (honai).
Men wear traditional big “rattan” skirts and kotekas. The skirts are composed of large number of separate approximately 5 mm wide strips of rattan, which are coiled around the body like a tire. These “tires” are connected on several places. The result is a kind of skirt. This skirt covers the body of Yalis from breasts down to knees. The front of this skirt is supported by a koteka, a “penis tube” made of wooden fruit of a bottle plant.

Papua Mountain Yali children carrying pandanus from the lowland Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Yali women wear traditional small and short skirts made of grass. Their breasts are left bare, similarly as in the rest of Papuan tribes. The skirts merely cover their genitals. They consist of two parts – the front one and the rear one. A small string encircles their waists, and the rear part of the skirt is usually worn beneath their butts. A part of their dress is also a bag woven from threads made of orchid fibers. The bag, full or empty, covers the women’s back and butt. Often it ends down at their knees. The skirt consists of four layers. The first layer is given to girls, when they reach approximately four years of age. One layer is added every four years. As soon as the number of layers reaches four, it means that the girl is mature and she can marry.

Papuan lowland Yali – culture

Papua Yali tribe – lowland women dress Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Papuan lowland Yali tribe members are significantly different from highland Yali. Men don’t wear rattan skirts, only kotekas. Women don’t wear small four-layer skirts, but long skirts made of grass. It could be hence said that they are not as interesting as the mountain Yali, but the opposite is true. Lowland Yali almost live in isolation and are thus affected by outside influence only to a very small degree. It is fantastic to visit both cultures during one trek. A descent from the mountains to the lowland can be a very pleasant experience, considering that our diet changes as well. The diet of sweet potatoes might change to buamera (pandan fruit) or even sago. All in all, one should explore as many things during a trek as possible, don’t you think?

Papua Yali tribe – lowland Yali man working with sago Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

Papua Yali tribe – lowland Yali child with a banana Photo©JahodaPetr.com (Papua guide)

SUKU ASMAT

Asmat skull-Agats Photo© JahodaPetr.com

Asmat skull culture – Agats Asmat museum

Asmat – a skull serving as a pillow*Photo©archiv of Petr Jahoda*

Asmat skull-Agats Photo© JahodaPetr.com

Asmat. A word that long scared people. Asmat is a word that became a synonym for cannibals. Asmat is a tribe whose members in the time of war ate brains of their enemies mixed with sago worms from their halved skulls. A son of New York governor disappeared in the territory of the Asmat tribe. Asmat used to use human skulls instead of a pillow. Asmat, is a word which evokes more than respect…

We can finish the expedition to Korowai and Kombai tree people by visiting the Asmat tribe.

Asmat – The head-hunters – West Papua

Naked Asmat on war boats Photo©archiv of Petr Jahoda

Asmat is the most famous cannibalistic tribe on Papua. They would put human skulls under their heads instead of a pillow. They would eat brains of their animals mixed with sago worms straight from their halved skulls. They live on small islands in mangrove vegetation nearby the sea, on the south side of the western part of the New Guinea Island. The Asmat build long houses, where they live together. Every family has its own reserved fireplace. In the long house about six or even ten of the group members live.
Besides the fact that the Asmat were head-hunters, they also “hunted for names”. Every person was named after someone deceased, or after a killed enemy. A child was sometimes given a name only ten years after it was born, and after its village set out to kill a man from an enemy village nearby. They had to learn the name of the man they killed, and then bring his skull to their village. Only in this way could a person get a name.
Asmat did not only hunt for skulls, they also worshipped them. The skulls of the deceased were stripped of the brain and the eyes and nasal parts were closed up in order to prevent evil spirits to enter or exit the body. Skulls that were modified and decorated in this way, were displayed by the Asmat in a honorable place in their long homes. Fortunately, the evil reputation of Asmat has become history. The missionaries have done a lot of work in changing this. Thanks to it, we can now go to the Asmats for a “visit”.

Papua – Asmat – the disappearance of the Rokefeller expedition

Asmat cannibal woodcraft motive Photo©JahodaPetr.com

Asmat villages lie in a labyrinth of rivers, small islands, and blind stream branches made up of mangrove vegetation, that extends deep into the inland of west Papua. In river deltas, changes in the water level can be related to high and low tides. It is said that these changes occur up to 100 km far from the sea.
The Asmat culture attracts scientists, and their skillfulness tempted collectors. In the beginning of the 70’s, leading an expedition while he was working for the New York Museum, Michael Rokefeller probably died in the Asmat territory.
In 1961 the twenty-three year old American son of the New York State governor disappeared in the woods in the southern region of the island, and he was never found. The rescue group sent to the Asmat territory failed to find any evidence of him. Today, we can only guess whether the expedition was assaulted, killed and eaten, or any other number of things. In the territory, which is home to the Asmat tribe, there lives a group of large sea crocodiles. It is possible that the expedition crew got lost in the mangroves or their boat keeled over, and that they were eaten by crocodiles. But it also can’t be ruled out that they didn’t become victims of the cannibalistic Asmat tribe…

Asmat – excellent woodcarvers- west Papua

Asmat wood craft in Agats*Photo©Petr JahodaPetr.com*

The members of the Asmat tribe believe that they arose out of wood. Therefore, wood is sacred for them. Even in ancient times they carved wonderful things from wood. Asmat are considered to be the best woodcarvers of the stone-age.
Their small drums, statues, engraved boats are admirable. Many originals of the woodcraft from the Asmat tribe are now shipped from Papua to Europe or America, and decorate German or American museums, galleries, or households. Asmat woodcraft became a wonderful exported good for worldwide exchange, public sales, and auctions.
Contemporary and civilized Asmat use metal tools. They are visited by salesmen, most of whom are German, who ask them to make large numbers of statues so that they can trade them in Europe or America. Thanks to that, the Asmat territory can now be considered safe, and tourists no longer have to be afraid of cannibalism.

Asmat and Korowai & Kombai tree people – West Papua

Kombai women Photo©JahodaPetr.com

Kombai tree house Photo©JahodaPetr.com

Kombai man Photo©JahodaPetr.com

The territory of the Asmat tribe lies near the Brazza River, along which the tree people, Korowai and Kombai, also live. Therefore, it is possible to link the visit to the Asmat territory with an expedition to the tree people.

The several hundred kilometers long sail against the current is also interesting. You don’t need to be afraid of crocodiles, since nowadays they hunt mainly at night, and are very timid. It is difficult to catch a glimpse of them, and in the upper part of the stream the crocodiles are small. So far we haven’t seen a living crocodile in the Asmat territory, and neither in the Korowai and Kombai territory.

SUKU KOROWAI DAN SUKU KOMBAI

The tree people, Korowai and Kombai, live in the basin of the Brazza River in the vast lowland jungles. This is situated in the foothills of the Jayawijaya mountain range, which is in the southwest part of the New Guinea Island in the Indonesian province Papua (Irian Jaya). Mosquitoes and age-old rivalry forced these tribes to build houses in the tops of trees. Some of them are placed as high as 40 m.

Korowai & Kombai – friendly cannibals?

Papua-Kombai-tree people tribe. Jaromír Giecek, profesional
cameraman and photograf. He do six chapter TV film serial about Papua
tribe life

Korowai and Kombai used to be cannibalistic tribes. We are convinced that they still practice ritually cannibalism, but considerably less frequently. Korowai and Kombi are two of the wildest tribes on Papua. Despite that, as we gradually found out during our expeditions to this area, one can get along with them reasonably well. We have been visiting the area of these tribes for more than 10 years now. We even have some of “our friends” among the tribesmen.
On the left-side photo: Jaromir Giecek, professional photograpfer and cameraman of Czech TV playing music for Kombai childern and women. Jaromir Giecek shot a six part series about Papua tribe life. (Kombai – tree people tribe)
On the right-site photo: Tree house of Korowai tribe, in Indonesian language called „rumah thingi“.

Korowai & Kombai – men dressed in bones– West Papua

Korowai are one of the few Papuan tribes who do not wear kotekas. The men of this tribe have their penises “pushed” into the scrotum, and on the skin which sticks out, they have tightly tied a green leaf. Korowai Batu use nutshells instead of leaves, and the women wear short skirts made of sago palm phloem, which is also their main food.

Kombais are the most beautiful tribe people of the west Papua of which we know. The men wear a beak from big bird instead of a koteka on their penises. Their menacing look is intensified by long necklaces made of dog teeth, and they rarely lay their bows and arrows aside. The heads of the arrows are often made of bones. “We use these bone-headed arrows only for people” Kombais would say to us. The women walk half naked, only in short skirts made of sago. There, it seems time stopped only a short while after the dinosaurs died out. I don’t know of a more beautiful tribe …

Korowai & Kombai – Main tribal chief – West Papua

New Guinea, more specifically west Papua, has many surprises in store. The Kombai tribe is, gently put, a problematic tribe. Despite that, we have experienced from them the greatest expressions of friendship whatsoever. Several times, we met the main tribal chief of all Kombais. This rarely happens during expeditions.
First, he “greeted us” by pointing his bow at us, it took about an hour-long negotiation till we were allowed to enter the village. Today we even have his assurance of safety on the whole Kombai territory. That’s something unexpected from the chief of such a troublemaking tribe.
The Kombai tribal chief is a muscular man with a harsh face. Two strips of dog teeth with about 200 total teeth run across his chest. His nose is decorated by horns of a big beetle, and by boar tusks, which are grinded into a thin plate. The top of his head is ornamented with an intricate decoration made of bamboo fibers finely coiled around his hair. His penis is covered by a koteka made of a beak of five or seven years old zoboroh, which is fixed in place by a strip knitted from ropes that were in turn woven from orchid fibers. The thong around his waist has been decorated with small teeth – dog grinding teeth.

Our first meeting was conducted with an air of distrust and thus warlike mood. After three or four visits we eventually became friends. Last year the tribal chief gave us his personal assurance of safety on the territory of the Kombai tribe, this is hard to believe considering they are one of the Papua’s wildest tribes. That time we were in his village for the seventh time. Obtaining Kombai friendship is not an easy task.

Korowai & Kombai – West Papua lowland Trekking

Trekking through the forest is difficult and „wet“ – Miss Eva filming her friend with tree people – Kombai teritory – Papua Photo©JahodaPetr.com

Trekking on the territory of Kombai and Korowai tree people is a very different kind of trekking than you might be used to, to say the least. This area of lowland rain forest is in a close proximity of mountains, and not far from the sea. This drives the amount of yearly precipitation to the max. In 2003 and 2005, we experienced there several “dry” expeditions, but during other years it rained more than enough.

For example, in 2005 it was extremely wet. In that year we undertook three expeditions which passed over the Kombai territory and it was raining during all three. Most importantly the level of water in the rivers increased. We ended up wading through long parts of the flooded jungle, sometimes more than even knee-deep in the water. Many of the bridges were underwater, and time from time someone fell in. At that moment our waterproof GEMMA backpacks proved very helpful. These backpacks are designed as racks for waterman sacks.

After this “wet” part, comes trekking in a “dry” forest. We take narrow footpaths which are often disrupted by sago peat bogs. On this type of terrain it is not uncommon that we sink into the mud ankle-deep or sometimes even up to our calves. Clearings offer another challenge – we have to balance on the logs of cut-down trees.
Generally it can be said that trekking in the Korowai and Kombai territory is some of the more difficult kind, but it can be coped with by anyone, who is used to physical activity. We chose such a pace that everyone can keep up, and as a rule we don’t walk for more than 4–6 hours. Therefore, it is possible to reach the target destination safely, and cautiously, even while covering such strenuous terrain. This trekking should not be underestimated, but you needn’t be too afraid of it. After all, we experienced the two “dry” years…

Korowai & Kombai + Asmat – West Papua

Our expedition to the Korowai and Kombai tribes of the west Papua can be extended to the well known Asmat tribe. In this case, we either start at Asmats or end there. Just after Danis, the Asmat tribe is the most well-known tribe on Papua. It was rendered famous by their woodcarving skills and the tragic disappearance of Rokefeller jr., who was a son of the New York state’s governor. You can learn more about the Asmat tribe on our dedicated page about the Asmat tribe.

SELAMAT DATANG