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West Papua (New Guinea), exploring of Mamberamo River - 1994

West Papua (New Guinea), exploring of Mamberamo River - 1994

Jacek Pałkiewicz
2006-06-18 21:19:55

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Arriving to Irian Jaya is like reaching the end of the world. A gigantesque sea of nature, with no doubt one of the wildest and the least known regions on the earth, in which the scientist have always been interested. But the thick and unexplored jungle, large swamps, particularly unreachable mountain chains and the killing climate would always be an insurmountable obstacle. Also the news about the cannibal tribes living there has successfully stopped the penetration.

We fly West. For two hours we can admire wild rivers, waterfalls, a real orgy of the green hell. At Kasonaweja, a small village on the Mamberamo river, we go to report off to the local commandant, who comes towards us barefoot, with no shirt, but armed. A few pairs of sunglasses result to be a nice gift and will help to start a friendship.

He promises to give a local man who will take us to Bausi. We open the way through a dense sea of bush with the machets, then we cross a stream, wade through swamps and we are on a path again. Everything that surrounds us is a real kingdom of violence. Lianas and ficuses twine the big tree trunks in mortal hugs, and funguses and multitude of ants proliferate on those struck down by the time. The stifling humid air overwhelms the entire exoticism of this place, paralyzes our movements, and huge beads of sweat go down on the face and on the whole body. Our hands and uncovered forearms are full of scratches, the bush record.

The third day we reach a small village. A group of locals stares at us in silence. They are medium high, slim, have dark skin and curled hair. The only clothes they wear are strips around hips for men and raffia skirts for women. One of them is suckling a baby with one breast, and a piglet with the other. The men with wild looking faces seem quite dangerous and warlike. Even though the policeman assured us that this community had stopped hunting for human heads and that the intertribal disputes ...