The Baliem Valley

Baliem Valley and the Dani tribe waited a long time to be discovered. Papuan highland belongs to one the most recently explored New Guinea areas. The tall mountains in west Papua (Irian Jaya) were generally considered as uninhabited. No sooner than 1398 did the pilot Richard Archbold notice that there was something special about the deep, and large valley situated among the four-thousand meter tall mountains. In the valley there were clearly recognizable fields, similar to those he knew from Europe. The Baliem valley and Dani tribe were  read more

Do not forget to check out the date of the Baliem Valley Festvial 2010 in Jayawijaya Regency !

The Tree House People

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 and Kombai used to be cannibalistic tribes. We are convinced that they still practice ritually cannibalism, but considerably less frequently. Korowai and Kombai are two of the 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 17 years now. read more...

The Yaly lives on  the hills and flat terrain. The temperature of this area is 20 C—30 C in the day time and  at night 10 C—15 C . The total population of this area about 15.000 people. Compared with the Dani people that the Yali people  are more  primitive and traditionally.  They are also less influenced by outside world. The largest villages around are Angguruk and Kosarek. Air transportation to Angguruk or Kosarek is served by Chartered plane of missionary. read more....