Korowai

#islands of western new guinea

KOROWAI, TANAH PAPUA

The Korowai Tribe of Papua is among the most unique tribe most visited so far in Tanah Papua. They are living on the trees which they built on the tree trunks. A tree house will be remain to be used for about 3 years, or till the tree is eastern by the termites. Once the tree house is eaten, they will search for the new tree to live on. A Korowai tree house is made of wood and tree bark, plus some bamboo and sago leaves for the roof. The house can be about 10 m, or 15 m or higher from the ground level.

villages in Korowai usually consist of 2 or 3 houses only. As they are semi-nomadic peoples, we might be unable to find a village on the same site few years after our visit.

Although they are semi-nomadic peoples, but they also do gardening. Banana is among the famous plant for them, and occasionally, they also plant some pineapple. Food gathering is the daily activity for the Korowai people. Men are carrying arc and bow to hunt birds, wild boar, and other faunas; sometimes they do fishing and collecting the sago worm. While the women are working on the sago processing, taking the starch of the sago and take it home. Main food staple is the sago with some supplement such as fish or sago worm. But if the found no supplement, there will be sago only which is roasted on the fire.

DAY 01 : ARRIVAL JAKARTA – HOTEL

Arrival at Jakarta airport by an afternoon flight. Stay at hotel near the airport building. At app 19.30, you check out from the hotel, and then fly to Jayapura.

DAY 02 : ARRIVAL AT JAYAPURA – DEKAI

Arrival by morning flight at Jayapura. Then, fly by noon flight to Dekai, a small size town in the hinterland of Papua. It takes us about 40 minutes flight. Dekai is a new developed village to a small size town, after the recent self-autonomy policy in Papua. Roads, government offices, etc are started to build. Arrival in Dekai, then check in to the small hotel in Dekai.. Dekai is the home of the Manimo tribe, a tribe which is quite modern now.

DAY 03 : DEKAI – LOCKBON – MABUL (B,L,D)

Transfer by motorcycle to the small traditional harbor on Lockpon village, about 1 hour of rough ride along the unpaved road. From Lockpon, we will sail down to the south to Braza River, one of the largest river flowing to the south joining other river to Asmat area. All the way you will see the dense forest, peaceful surrounding, sometimes encounter the other passing by boats. On the way we may stop at the small villages which are belong to Citak Mitak tribe. This tribe built their houses on the riverside make of wood shape, with grass roof. In the past 1980’s the tribe were still naked, however, the opening of the access to their village has changed their way of clothing. Now they wear short pants, but mostly wearing no shirt. There are 2 or 3 small villages. Most of them still work as food gather, such as fishing and hunting animals. We will sail down to the south to a midsize village called Mabul. 8 – 9 hours required from this boat ride.

DAY 04 : MABUL – SENDIK (B,L,D)

Breakfast at the local house, then together with our local Papua porter, walk to the village of Sendik a small village with 2 tree houses (at the moment, may change in the future). We will be walking along the muddy and partly wet tail from Mabul to Sendik for about 5 hours walk. The trail today is the main access for the local Korowai to the outside world. The trail is covered by the thick canopy of the rainforest, which the locals use as the place to hunt and make semi nomadic farming.

DAY 05: LOCAL ACTIVITY AT SENDIK (B,L,D)

We spend the day at Sendik Village, a good moment to comprehend the locals daily habits. We may see how they work in their garden, how they cook their food, take care of their children, etc. they are still semi nomadic, sometimes they go deep into the jungle to search for food. They collect young sprout, fruits from the jungle, and hunting animals too. When they go for hunting, they will take their family along. The Korowai tribe food staple are mostly sago which is supplemented with the “jungle vegetable, or insects, or else. Thy wrap those food in the leaves, and cook them on the fire. You may also try their food which is taken from the jungle.

DAY 06: SENDIK – MABUL (B,L,D)

We do the same trek, the same way back from Sendik to Mabu. Arrival in Mabul in the afternoon.

DAY 07: MABU – LOKBON – DEKAI (B,L)

Walk to the riverbank, and then sail up to Lockbon, a 9 hours boat ride. We will be sailing upriver through the great Siret and Braza river. In dry season, we may need longer time, as we have to be carefully of the fallen log into the river, and sometimes, we have to assist the boatmen to move the boat when the water level is low. Arrival in Lockbon, then proceed by simple car to hotel in Dekai.

DAY 08: DEKAI – JAYAPURA – DEPARTURE (B)

Back to the civilization, by flight back to Jayapura. Then, proceed to your next destination.

END OF YOUR TRIP

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