by mygrations | Sep 25, 2018
Those beautiful people, the cheerful colors, the great headdresses. More than 800 languages and as many different tribes, each with their own culture. The reason I have dreamed of going to Papua New Guinea for years.After staying with the Huli Wigmen for a week, it is now time to see some of those more than 800 tribes. And we do that during the Mount Hagen show; a show where tribes show their splendor in a sing-sing. By applying the most beautiful make-up, wearing the most fantastic headdresses and performing the most challenging dances. This seemed like a good idea instead of a fight, and I can’t disagree.
Because our car broke down for a while, we arrived a little later but just in time to see everyone getting ready for the big sing-sing. After the layout it was time to go to the field where it is all about to happen. And sometimes I can’t find words to describe what that was like, luckily I always know where to find my camera.
Below is a photo report of this fantastic day:
Lees hier meer over mijn avonturen in Papoea Nieuw Guinea
Foto’s mogen niet zonder toestemming gebruikt worden.
by mygrations | Sep 10, 2018
Rightly so! It’s a dangerous country. If I have to believe the locals, thieves are everywhere. Especially in Port Moresby, Mount Hagen and the other major cities. Shutting windows and doors does not apply here in the event of a fire or flood, but in the case of a car stop. Especially in Mount Hagen, because the pickpockets will come to sniff in. (more…)
by mygrations | Sep 7, 2018
A mud bath. In the Netherlands it costs money and in Papua New Guinea it is insurmountable. The trek to the middle of the jungle in the Hela province (Pilongo village) starts with an unplanned mud bath. (more…)
by mygrations | Sep 3, 2018
Thousands of crocodiles live in the Sepik River. We don’t see one. But that’s because they are scared, and that’s not surprising. They are hunted a lot.Many crocodile farms can be found along the Sepik. They remind me of mega stables in Europe. The booths are too small and animal welfare cannot be found there. Japanese and Chinese love these Sepik crocodiles. The hides are used to make shoes, coats and bags. The meat is consumed by the inhabitants of the village and tastes like chicken. Even though crocodiles eat fish here, not chicken.
More is not always better. An oversized crocodile cannot be sold. In that case, the crocodile is eaten by the villagers, beautiful chains are made of the teeth and the skin serves as decoration for the toilet, for example.
Thousands, “no millions” according to our guide Lesley, are there in the river, but after not having seen one on the river for 4 whole days, I start to doubt these numbers.
Kamanibit
Eat fish and sago
In Kamanibit, the village where we spend the night, we receive a necklace with a crocodile tooth as a souvenir. I think it’s cool but I wear it with mixed feelings. Yes, I am a carnivore but I am not in favor of mega stables and also not of animals as decoration. But I can’t refuse the crocodile tooth, it’s a gift. And fair is fair but it is no different than a nice piece of meat on your plate, right?
Crocodiles are hunted and fish are caught. We see dozens of women and children in boats that frequently bring in fish. Our skipper Pieter knows how to tell hundreds a day. The fish vary in size but they all actually taste the same. That will be because of the cooking arts; the fish is cooked on the fire and you remove the meat by hand. More often with than without bones. I wonder if this river will ever be emptied. After all, we are doing a good job overfishing the oceans so why should the Sepik lag behind? At the moment because they do everything here by hand, no trawl nets and bycatch, just like the fish, is cooked on the fire and eaten.
Fish and sago are the daily fare here. Sago comes from the sago palm, it is mixed with water before being cooked on fire. Then it is kept in a sago tray for a month before it can be eaten. It looks like a kind of rubber pancake and doesn’t actually taste like anything. Here they eat it daily, because they don’t have anything else (except fish and some fruit). Sometimes caterpillars are put in, for the protein and the flavor.
Mixing sago with water
Crocodile farm
Our last day on the water goes to Chambri lake. We have lunch at the village of Ibom. Our dry bread and peanut butter lunch is complemented with Pawpaw; a local fruit, orange on the inside, greenish on the outside. You take the seeds out with your hands and then you eat it like a melon. It also tastes a bit like it, more like Papaya by the way. But according to Lesley it is really different. I doubt it.
The village where we have lunch also has a small crocodile farm. That means: three very (read: way too) small cubicles where a lot of crocodiles are pressed together. They let them grow bigger here and then these skins are also sold to Japanese and / or Chinese. I think it looks horrible.
Besides breeding a few crocodiles, they also make pots here. With these pots they can cook inside instead of outside on a fire. They look nice but we decide not to buy one. Our gas burner in The Hague is still fine, besides it’s way too big to take with us.
Everything gets transported via water, including firewood.
The crocodile hunter
And then we move on. The village where we spend the night is called Palembei. We sleep with a real crocodile hunter. He also offers this as a tourist activity. You then go out with him at night to hunt crocodiles. Sometimes they bring in 8 in one night. If one is killed, they eat it. He locks up the living crocodiles.
According to him they are stupid animals. To catch 1 you throw a spear in its back, the crocodile wraps around it and you can grab it with your hands and throw it in a cage. I listen with interest but I also find it sad. If it was done to satisfy the hunger of the locals, okay. But to catch crocodiles because they want to walk with a nice bag in Japan, that is not possible with me. We therefore decline this tourist activity in a friendly manner.
We leave early the next day. At 6 o’clock, so it is still dark. Best chance of seeing crocodiles. And sure enough, one after another has emerged. Everywhere we see eyes light up when we shine on them. I don’t see them very well, but I’m glad to see that there are still a lot of them swimming around. Free, for however long.
by mygrations | Sep 1, 2018
Burning your eyes hurts. My eyes are my everything and my greatest fear is not death, not even deep water, but blindness. Being blind really seems like the worst of all. (more…)
