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TRANS BORNEO CHALLENGING 2006
TRANS BORNEO CHALLENGING
Jacek Pałkiewicz2006-10-23 12:15:53
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the wild banana. We offer him practical gifts: salt, knives, pots, tobacco and quinine. The men of this group carry themselves proudly. All carry the mandau at their belts and have muscled torsos, brown skin, black eyes and plucked eyebrows and eyelashes. The women are quite thin and surprisingly pretty. They have round faces, tiny noses and stretched earlobes adorned with heavy copper rings. They are also decorated with tattoos of various kinds. Some display crimson lips and stained teeth – signs of the invigorating and disinfecting betel.
Christian colonization did not reach these areas and their inhabitants remained animists as can be seen by the statues carved into the wood. Gentle and peaceful, they live in perfect symbiosis with the forest, which provides everything they need: food, firewood, building material and medicine. These people do not intend to accept the expropriation of their lands. They lead a primitive and poor existence but do not dream of a more stable life, a better home, electricity, schools, clothing or even TVs.
Borneo was recently in the news as the home to a true “medicinal treasure chest” following the discovery of a plant that in laboratory tests was proven helpful in the treatment of serious illnesses like cancer, AIDS and malaria. Optimistic perspectives. It’s a shame that the forest economy of exploitation has caused the irreparable destruction of habitats rich in plants that can save many human lives. Representatives of the WWF have also taken pictures of a mysterious predator that most likely represents a new mammal species. This strange animal is more or less the size of a housecat, has a dark red coat and a long bushy tail. Ecologists say that the systematic, well planned and scientifically organized exploitation of the environment has led to an imbalance in the 15-million-year-old ecology of Borneo, which the current generation inherited in an unspoiled form. The most recent discoveries should strengthen our
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See photographs from:
Indonesia Gallery
