When we talk about something outdated, we say: the stone age. We are trying to imagine how our ancestors lived, and museums help us a lot in this, in which we can see all the attributes of “that century” - stone axes, flint scrapers and arrowheads. There are many books, pictures and films devoted to this. But not everyone knows that we have a unique opportunity to observe the people of "that time" in the present.
The spaces of the Earth today are mastered, inhabited, filled with people, in places to the point of being very cramped. And yet there are “nooks and crannies” on Earth where, without a “time machine” that has never been invented, you are surprised to find life as it was in the Stone Age, when people did not yet know either iron or bronze, when the ageless yellow metal still did not drive the human race crazy. One of these corners of relic life is located in the eastern part of the island of New Guinea, on the Bismarck archipelago and the northern part of the Solomon Islands, it is there that the state of Papua New Guinea is located.
Tribes that have preserved the original way of life of their ancestors, who cannot write and read, who do not know what electricity and a car are, who get their food by fishing and hunting. They believe that it is the gods who send them rain and try to protect themselves from contact with our modern world. It is Papua New Guinea that accommodates several dozen unique tribes on its territory.
Many scientist-missionaries tried to get into the lives of representatives of various tribes, but few returned from there alive ... practically no one! In scientific terms, the daredevils were destroyed by the cannibalism of the Papua tribes. They did not accept strangers - violation of their space led to death.
Now everything has changed. The inhabitants of many tribes gladly receive guests and watch the representatives of civilization with no less mutual interest.
There are few places on Earth with such a diversity of languages, customs and cultures. Imagine - on one part of the island live officials, businessmen, workers wearing European clothes and having an education - modern people, and on the other - mountain tribes that have not stepped over the Stone Age. They fight among themselves and do not understand the language of the tribes from the neighboring valley. And for us, their life is amazing. It is so strange that in the 21st century there are still peoples living in primitive times. But we are as wild to them as they are to us.
Here are a few of the tribes of Papua New Guinea. 
tribute tribe has long been unknown, and the high mountains of West Papua have long been considered uninhabited.
The places here are beautiful and the people are nice, one problem - strangers could not establish contact with them in any way. Everyone disappeared without a trace - both travelers and missionaries.
In 1954, the first Christian missionary parachuted down here. So the local population learned that they are not alone on this earth.
It is almost impossible to believe in it, but the stone ax here remains the main tool of labor, and the arrow and bow - the main weapon. But hunting feeds them less and less, because. the number of animals is reduced - civilization is advancing.
Dani are heavy smokers. Everyone smokes from them - from children to the elderly. The first meeting with Dani may seem aggressive - this is a ritual in the form of hostilities, with which they greet the natives. So it is better to prepare mentally for a meeting with them.
Papua is an amazing island. Here lives a hundredth of a percent of all mankind, which speaks 15% of all languages in the world! Even the Dani use four different dialects.
For some time, the Dutch missionaries did not understand why they were asked to stand upwind when they walked with members of this tribe - it turned out that the Dani did not really like the smell of a white man. The sensations were mutual - the smell that comes from the tribute is also unusual for a white person.
The tribute has a terrible tradition - they are very upset by the loss of loved ones, and when this happens, a man cuts off a piece of his ear with a bamboo knife, and women cut off the phalanges of their fingers.
It will probably be a long time before the Internet, social networks and other nonsense of civilization will reach the tribes of Papua New Guinea. Then, perhaps, here too they will talk about loneliness and selfishness, vanity and cynicism. In the meantime, the tribute has everything in common and they have much fewer problems, or they are completely different than in "our" world.
The main wealth of the Dani people is pigs. Everything here is measured in pigs. The wealth of a person here can be determined by two things - the number of wives and the number of pigs. For ceremonies and holidays, the pig is very important for tribute. If you are going to visit them and want to make friends - buy a pig and be a welcome guest!
Dani are excellent farmers - their harvest is an abundance of vegetables and fruits. Women wear grass skirts, while men wear katheka, an item that is worn in a causal place and is the only element of a man's clothing. To the question: “Can a man walk without a katheka?” one traveler received an answer: “No, of course, without harim you are like naked! We'll have to hide behind our hands so that women don't see! Of course, people who live close to Wamena and often go there already wear clothes. But, despite some erotic costume of local men, the morals of the tribute are strict. The licentiousness that is characteristic of people in other parts of the world does not belong there!
Dani live quite a long time and rarely get sick - both life in the open air and physical labor affect this. It is clear that this contributes to longevity. And this is with terrible unsanitary conditions, which they will so generously share with you, treating you to their outlandish dishes. But they live and do not even complain! In general, their immunity can only be envied.
And there is something incredibly touching in these people and something that we no longer have - simplicity and sincerity.
Someday, the fruits of civilization and technological progress will reach this tribe, and the tribute will change. And become like us...
The next representatives of the "Stone Age" are doe tribe. Arriving on their land, do not be surprised if you see a considerable number of abandoned huts. The fact is that the people of the deer tribe, wherever they stay, even for a few hours, build huts from branches, bamboo, leaves and ferns to protect from rain.
Not so long ago, the glory of cannibals followed the fallow deer tribe. The connection of the fallow deer with the civilized world is still practically not established. In exchange for knives, matches, and pots, they offer hospitality in a hut filled with acrid smoke.
In general, the tribal people of Papua are an amazing people, able to live in perfect harmony with nature, earning their living by hunting and farming. The men look robust and wear the same "clothes" as the Dani men. Clothes are not worn here even in the cold, in such cases the body is rubbed with pork fat.
The appearance of women will be simpler - they are dressed in skirts made of plant fibers, they wear a long net on their heads, descending to their backs like a bag in which they keep personal items, including babies or piglets. Their fingers are often horribly mutilated, the result of ritual amputation as a sign of mourning for relatives. So, finger by finger, the fallow deer tribe sacrifices part of themselves in memory of loved ones...
According to the authorities, there are no more cases of cannibalism in the Papua tribes, but some people assure that bloody battles between the tribes still flare up in the depths of the island, in the most remote and difficult places, which are a continuation of the long-term enmity. In case of victory, they simply perform the traditional ritual - eating the enemy's body.
But, despite all the “stonyness” of the deer’s life, they still had an inevitable meeting with a white man, and therefore with metal knives, plastic buckets, T-shirts, jeans, missionaries, anthropologists and tourists.
Yali tribe 35 years ago, they ate “human flesh”. Today it is the turn of civilization - it "eats" them. Missionaries, by interfering in their lives, are gradually destroying the original culture, and the Indonesian government unceremoniously seizes the territory that has belonged to the yali since antiquity. Now the Yali tribe is about 20 thousand people.
The very first acquaintance of the Yali with white people happened more than 50 years ago, but this meeting practically did not change anything in the life of the Papuans. Except for the changes, such trifles as the appearance of metal pots and pans in the life of the yali. Their appearance differs little from the appearance of other natives of New Guinea. Their height is very small (the tallest Yali is one and a half meters), and they still go naked. On women from clothes there is only a kind of mini-skirt, and men put on a kateka on their manhood - a kind of cover made from a dried pumpkin.
Yali are very hardworking, their main occupation is agriculture, they grow sweet potatoes, bananas, corn, tobacco. They eat only what they have grown themselves and what nature gives them. The only factory-made food product that is very popular in the Yali is dry vermicelli "Mivina"! What can be seen by driving through the Jungle, where wrappers from this fast food are scattered in places.
The Yali are one of the few tribes that are known for cannibalism. The aborigines have various tricks and weapons for attacking people, which is worth one black bow made of palm wood and for which there is a whole arsenal of arrows for different prey. And among these arrows on birds and other living creatures there are arrows on people. According to the Yali, the buttocks are considered the most delicious delicacy. They see nothing reprehensible in cannibalism. But according to many travelers and the island's authorities, yali no longer eat people with white skin. Since the white color for them is mourning. It seems to them that white people are servants of death.
They live according to the principle "girls - to the left, boys - to the right", i.e. women with children live separately from men. But when the boys reach the age of 4, they move to the "men's house".
What can break such an orderly way of life? The answer is simple - war. The most surprising thing is that a perfect trifle can become the cause, but if not a trifle, then definitely not a reason for starting a war. The pig, or rather its disappearance - here it is, the "global" cause of strife. And if this happens, the yali immediately take up their bows and spears, ready to attack. Everything is explained by the fact that among the Papuans a pig is worth its weight in gold, for one well-fed boar you can buy yourself a wife. Here is such an exchange.
But yali can please themselves with a fried wild boar extremely rarely, only on holidays. For example, a wedding or a ceremony of initiation, that is, the becoming of a boy was a man - this is where you can smoke a pig. And on weekdays, you have to walk around an appetizing pig and “please” yourself with a semi-edible root or New Guinean carrot.
Missionaries are increasingly "infiltrated" into the life of the tribe, trying to make their life more civilized. They bring them medicines, teach children to read and write, build small hydroelectric power plants, landing sites for helicopters, bridges on rivers... But at the same time, the territory where the Yali tribe lives is declared a national park, and therefore hunting is prohibited there, which deprives the tribe of food. There were attempts to relocate the yalis closer to civilization, tk. earthquakes are frequent here, but in the valley, the Yali people begin to get malaria.
At a time when cannibalism in New Guinea had not yet slowed down, the local authorities, in order to ensure the safety of tourists, obliged all visitors to take permission from the police and tell them their data - the approximate route of the expedition. Probably, so that at least they know in which bowler hat to look for them later ...
By the will of fate Asmat tribe settled in the wettest and marshy area with a high degree of humidity and the richest source of diseases.
They live in the region of the same name in the province of Papua in Indonesia. The number of the Asmat people is estimated at about 70,000. The Asmat are professionals in the field of wood carving, their products are highly valued among collectors.
The culture and way of life of the Asmat people are very dependent on natural resources extracted from forests, rivers and seas. Asmat live on starch extracted from sago palms, fish, game and other animal and plant species that can be found on the island. Due to frequent floods, Asmats put their dwellings on wooden beams - two or more meters above ground level. In some regions, the dwellings of the Papuans are located 25 meters from the ground.
Asmats, as well as other tribes of Papua, at one time “sinned” with cannibalism.
They still have many interesting ways to use parts of the human body - the use of the skull as a "pillow" under the head or a child's toy, the human tibia was used as a dart.
And now they will help guests build a house, every day they will supply you with fish, shrimp and boar meat in exchange for fishing line, hooks, razor blades, matches, salt, knives, axes or machetes. Some of them will take the time to help you learn their language, which at first will overwhelm you with an incredible mixture of incoherent mumbling, cooing and clucking.
Korowai - a tribe that lives in trees
The Korowai tribe is one of the most interesting and unique finds for anthropologists and other researchers. They live in the eastern region of Indonesia in the trees and speak the only language they understand. According to the census conducted this year, the natives of this tribe, there were about 3,000 people. They skillfully climb stairs to their wooden houses, located at a height of 50 or more meters from the ground. The height at which the house is located depends on the relationship with fellow tribesmen. The worse the relationship, the higher the house. For construction, trees are cut down, on which a rather specific structure is installed. This is incredible: there, at the height, along with members of one or two families, there are also dogs, pigs and other living creatures. You can climb to this house only along a very thin wooden ladder - along a bamboo stalk with cut steps.
Until the end of the 1970s, when anthropologists began to study this tribe, the Korowai did not know about the existence of other people besides their own tribe. The tribe's favorite dish is beetle larvae. To do this, sago trees are cut down 4-6 weeks before the feast and left to rot in the swamp, where they are filled with these larvae. At a suitable stage of development of the larvae, the trees are "opened" with a stone ax or a sharp spear. Beetles are eaten both raw and fried. They have a pretty good taste. In the protein-starved world of the Korowai, these beetles are one of several important sources of fat.
They greet guests attentively, but wary. They can treat you with their delicacy - a dish of sago starch. They also eat bananas and pineapples. Pork is a luxury for them, they probably eat it once a year. But it is not so easy to communicate with representatives of this tribe - they didn’t like something, they immediately ran upstairs and closed.
One of the most mysterious peoples of the earth - tribe harvesters. Until recently, they practiced cannibalism. Many missionaries have tried to understand what makes tribes eat their own kind?
In order to understand another culture, one must become a part of it. This is what many scientists-travelers did. No roads, no concrete, no buildings, no telegraph poles - just miles of jungle. These people live deep in the forest and are hunters and gatherers. The journey to them could have taken several weeks if not for the network of airfields built by the missionaries. In Wangamale, built in the 70s, about a hundred representatives of the Kombai tribe live. They wear European clothes, the children go to school, and on Sundays everyone gathers for Mass. After the missionaries came to them, the Kombai did not immediately accept them and were very hostile. But after the missionaries gave them clothes, dishes, tobacco, their attitude changed. It is much easier for people who live in villages than for those who live in the jungle. Seeing a man in clothes, they hide and shoot at him. These people still eat each other to this day.
Don't be surprised if they ask you to undress when they meet. Perhaps in order to make sure that you are ready to speak Their language, following Their traditions. Kombai walk naked, covering only the groin area with leaves. For an outsider, invading one of the clans can cost them their lives. If you approach one of the huts alone, then you can be shot. There are no utensils that we use. Imagine what it's like to live without pans and utensils in which to boil water and even without drinking utensils - there are only leaves and stones.
Smoking is their favorite pastime and it is surprising that these people do not have problems with their lungs, at least they calmly move around the mountains and slopes without experiencing shortness of breath.
In this society, duties are clearly divided into male and female. When the men cut down the tree, the women take the core out of it. Their life seems easy. When they want to eat, they go hunting, and the rest of the time they rest.
It is hard to imagine that these calm and good-natured people can be cannibals. Different world cultures explain cannibalism in different ways. Reasons range from simple hunger to honoring the dead. In some tribes, cannibalism is considered a form of execution - only criminals are eaten. It is believed that if a person is evil, he must be eaten. The Kombai believe that the soul resides in the belly and brain. That is why these parts of the body need to be eaten. “If a bad person kills someone from my family, I will kill him. If he is from another village, I will eat him. If he is from our village, I will give him to be eaten by all my neighbors.” Like this. This morality is still followed today.
The jungle is covered with a carpet of their thorns, but the kombai do not care. They don't wear shoes, which makes their feet stiff and insensitive.
Traveling around Papua can be a good school of life. Having been close to the danger and difficult conditions of life, you evaluate your life in a new way and find it extremely important what you previously treated with inexcusable carelessness.
Tue, 15/04/2014 - 14:56
In all countries of the world, the concept of masculinity has its own meaning, and the inhabitants of different countries themselves determine when a boy can be considered a man. In modern society, to become a man you need to enter puberty, start a family, gain status in society, but in various tribes, in order to be considered a real man, you often need to go through terrible rites of initiation, including pain and humiliation. And only after that the boy can rightfully bear the proud title of a man.
Canada - drug test
The Algonquin tribe considers childhood only an obstacle to becoming a real man. For this reason, they conduct initiation rites aimed at completely erasing the childhood memory of the boys.
Young members of the tribe from 14 to 21 days sit in special cages, and they can not eat anything except a very powerful hallucinogen - visokkan. It not only leads to memory loss, but also causes other side effects - loss of speech, rapid heartbeat, severe hallucinations, aggression, inability to move, weakness, and even death.
After two or three weeks, the young initiates are released from their cages and questioned. If they completely forgot their childhood, then they went through the ritual and are now considered real men. If they still have at least some memories, then the cruel ritual will have to go through again.
Ethiopia - jumping over bulls and cows
Each generation of the Karo tribe goes through an initiation ritual - men must jump over a row of bulls in what their mother gave birth to. Literally.
Sounds like something simple and fun? Not really. The solemn ceremony has a truly terrible subtext: if a man is biologically already fully grown, then among the Karo he is considered a boy until the ceremony is over. And being a boy in the Karo tribe means two things: firstly, you can't get married, and secondly, boys have to kill their children.
Karo babies born to non-ritualized fathers are considered illegitimate, and according to Karo law, illegitimate children have no right to live. The tradition of killing illegitimate babies is called mingi - mothers themselves stuff the mouths of their children with earth and leave them to die in the desert. And only if the husband jumped over the bulls naked, his children can live.
Philippines - traditional circumcision
In the Philippines, circumcision is an important event. Statistics from 2011 showed that about 93% of Filipino men are circumcised. Interestingly, boys are not given it in infancy, but at about 12 years old, and Filipino teenagers can only be considered male if they are already circumcised.
And if this did not happen, society considers them cowards and weaklings. And in order to save themselves from constant ridicule and bullying, Filipino boys themselves ask their parents to cut them off.
In the Philippines, there are two types of circumcision: modern medical and traditional. In the traditional method, anesthesia is not used - instead, the boys chew guava leaves, as it is believed that this reduces the pain of the operation. Instead of a knife, a piece of wood called a subokan is used for this painful procedure. After circumcision of the foreskin, the penis is wrapped with a white cloth.
Kenya and Northern Tanzania - group hunting for a lion
Maasai boys must go hunting lions with clubs and shields. In the past, they had to hunt alone, but since there are few lions left, the tradition has been changed, and now maturing Maasai hunt in groups.
Lion hunting is very dangerous. It is because of this danger that she is considered a worthy ritual of initiation into men. When Maasai boys hunt lions, they demonstrate the quality that, according to the Maasai, only real men possess - courage. It is interesting to note that they prey on injured or weak lions. Lionesses are not touched, as they are considered the givers of life.
Papua New Guinea - scarification (scarring or scarification)
The Kaningara tribe of Papua New Guinea practice a very unusual ritual that aims to strengthen the spiritual connection between the members of the tribe and their surroundings. One of the ritual ceremonies is held in the "House of the Spirit". Teenagers live in seclusion in the House of the Spirit for two months. After this period of isolation, they prepare for an initiation ceremony that recognizes their transition to adulthood. In the course of the ritual, the person is given skin incisions with bamboo shards. The resulting notches resemble the skin of a crocodile. The people of this tribe believe that crocodiles are the creators of people. The marks on the body symbolize the teeth marks of a crocodile that ate a boy and left a grown man.
Brazil - pain and poison
The matis ritual for gaining masculinity consists of four extremely painful stages. At the first stage, poison is injected into the eyes of young initiates: the matis believe that this improves their boys' eyesight. In the second and third stages, the boys are subjected to severe physical pain - repeatedly beaten and whipped.
In the last stage, the boys ingest a poison called kampo, which is extracted from tree frogs. Campo is not a hallucinogen, although it can cause strange mental reactions. But the physiological effects of it abound - vomiting, dizziness and uncontrolled bowel movements. The Matis tribe firmly believes that campo increases the stamina and strength of boys, turning them into real men and hunters.
Papua New Guinea - blood purification
The Matausa tribe of Papua New Guinea consider women's blood to be unclean. Matausa are convinced that their boys, in order to become real men, must be cleansed of the filth of their mothers.
The elder begins the ritual of purifying the blood by inserting reed tubes into the throats of young initiates - then they vomit blood. The elders then insert tubes into their nostrils to expel bad blood and mucus from the body. Periodically, the tubes are taken out to be cleaned, and the initiates at this time have time to take a breath of air. Finally, the elders make several cuts in the young people's tongues with an arrow-like instrument. After a painful ceremony, young people become real men in the eyes of the community.
Cleansing the blood of the mathaus is such an important and secret rite of passage that not all members go through it - you still have to prove that you are worthy. Men who have not passed the ritual are not considered adults and cannot enjoy the corresponding privileges - for example, they do not have the right to marry. In addition, they are considered weak members of the tribe, unable to fulfill their masculine duties.
Australia - penis cutting
To become real men, the boys of the Unambal tribe must know hellish physical pain. The elders of the tribe make incisions on the skin of their buttocks, chest, arms and shoulders, and so that the wounds do not heal, sand is poured into them. After that, scars should remain on the body.
Also, upon reaching a certain age, all the youths of the tribe undergo an incredibly painful operation, which is known in medicine as a urethrotomy. To make a real man out of a youngster, he is circumcised, and then the urethra of the penis is cut and this procedure is regularly repeated throughout his life, as a result of which the penis becomes "forked".
After the ritual, the newly-born mature men leave the tribe for a while and live separately, but upon their return they are expected to be honored and respected by their fellow tribesmen - the rite completes their formation as full members of society.
I must say, the men of the tribe were lucky that they were not born, for example, on the island of Ponape, which is part of the Caroline Archipelago - the men there not only cut the tip of the penis, but also deprive them of one testicle.
Papua New Guinea - fellatio and cum swallowing
The Sambia tribe believe that boys should swallow semen - only then can they become men. Sambia boys from seven to ten years old have to please experienced warriors for years and swallow ... um ... the result every time.
According to the belief of the tribe, the male seed is the source of life and the essence of masculinity. In addition, among the Sambia, it is believed that a boy is able to become a father only if he has previously swallowed the sperm of an adult.
However, we are not talking about homosexuality here - men who have gone through the ritual are not considered gay. When the boys are 15 years old, they stop doing this and become seed givers themselves.
After a man marries, he is forbidden to continue to participate in the ceremony. The Sambia believe that women's genitals make men's reproductive organs dirty and their sperm become "impure" so that it is no longer suitable for children who are just about to become adults.
high-altitude diving
The Republic of Vanuatu, as the encyclopedia tells us, is a state located on the islands of the New Hebrides (Espiritu Santo, Ambrim, Efate and others; there are about 80 islands in total), in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean; and covers an area of only 12.2 thousand square meters. km.
Here, among the natives of some tribes, the custom has been preserved to celebrate the birth of the harvest and seeing off teenagers into adulthood in a special way in which young men get a real chance to prove their courage to everyone and demonstrate courage.
This custom is honored on the island of Pentecost. The inhabitants of the tribes set up a tower in the clearing, built from improvised means (bush branches and reeds), its height is 30 meters. And from this tower, the young men, tied to a special beam with a grass rope to their shins, jump down head first towards the ground. During the jump, the human body reaches a speed of 72 km / h. A jump is considered correct when the jumper almost touches the ground with his head. And, unlike bungee jumping, the tied rope here does not stretch and does not absorb. Any incorrect calculation of the length of the rope entails a fatal outcome.
Bullet ant test
The Sateremawe, an Amazonian tribe of Indians, use a simple gauntlet to initiate teenage boys. And yet such a rite is considered very dangerous for health and quite painful.
The mitten that a young man must pull on his hand is filled with bullet ants, whose poison is 20 times stronger than the sting of an ordinary wasp. I think you can now imagine the pain that a teenager experiences when he goes through this rite of passage.
For this purpose, adult members of the tribe collect bullet ants from the jungle for several weeks, which are then stored in a certain solution, where they hibernate, retaining their poison. On a certain day, the men of the tribe gather around a common fire, and the boys pull on a mitten with ants on their hands. Then they go to the fire where they dance. Many boys lose consciousness during the ceremony, and their bodies shake in convulsions. The pain from an ant sting lasts at least 24 hours. But the most curious thing is that teenagers in ecstasy put on a mitten several times, trying to prove their courage and fearlessness to their fellow tribesmen.
Just a few decades ago, natives from Korowai tribe They didn’t even know that there were other people on earth besides them. They say that they killed and ate foreigners who dared to come into their territory, not caring too much about making contact with the civilized world. Perhaps this to the savages living in the trees, quite comfortable and without uninvited guests.
Traditions of the Papuans living in papua new guinea, may be bewildering to most readers, because they live by completely different rules than we do. Houses are built on banyan trees at a height of 10 to 50 m, they believe that in this way they can protect themselves from evil spirits (and at the same time from wild animals and neighboring tribes). Inside each dwelling, at least two hearths are equipped - separately for men and for women with children. True, polygamy flourishes among the Korowai, so there may be several hearths in the house.
They feed on cow flour from the trunks of a sago tree, sometimes men hunt game, a favorite local delicacy is insect larvae, the only source of protein. Hunters wield bows and spears with stone or bone tips, since the Bronze Age never arrived in this tribe, the Papuans do not know about the existence of metal. The farm uses knives made from sharpened animal bones.
It is noteworthy that the average life expectancy of Korowai is only 30 years, while men live less than women. They die, as they say, forever young and forever drunk. Local Aborigines have a strange tradition - to smoke all their free time. Moreover, children can become addicted to an addiction from the age of 5-6, women also do not disdain to smoke.
Korowai do not wear clothes, they put on only fancy jewelry, women can occasionally flaunt a loincloth, men - a case for a causal place (at the same time, in the collection of a real macho there are two such cases - everyday and ceremonial, for going out).
Aghori hermits from Varanasi - friendly cannibal carnivores .
Welcome to one of the most untouched corners of the earth. Papua New Guinea. This is a state of impenetrable tropical forests, home to 38 species of birds of paradise. There are not a few cars and bicycles here, not even work horses or mules. There are no restaurants, bars, shops, electricity or roads. In these places, a newborn girl can be called a shovel, and a boy - an ax.
About 2,000 tribes live in these places, including these freaks - Mud people from the Waghi valley.
To find this unusual tribe, we will go to the center of the island of New Guinea at an altitude of 1677 meters, where the large fertile Wahgi valley is located. Here, by the way, is the fifth largest city of Papua New Guinea with a population of 46,250 people - Mount Hagen. It is also the so-called "border of civilization", because the territories of mountain tribes go further.
The members of our tribe of Mud People from the Waghi Valley look very colorful. Their bodies are painted and smeared with clay, and frightening masks are on their heads. Enemies will definitely think 10 times before advancing further. 
Look how awesome! 
Handsome. 
There is a language problem in Papua New Guinea - more than 800 different languages are spoken here, and very often members of the same tribe do not understand what neighbors who are just a few kilometers away are saying. 
The state of Papua New Guinea is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, north of Australia and not far from the equator. 
The island of New Guinea and most of the other islands of the country have a mountainous terrain where the hill tribes live. The height of a significant part of the territory is more than 1000 m above sea level, and some peaks of New Guinea reach 4500 m, that is, the belt of eternal snow. Many of the mountain ranges are chains of volcanoes. Papua New Guinea has 18 active volcanoes. Most of them are located in the north of the country. Strong, sometimes catastrophic earthquakes are also associated with volcanic activity. 
With plants here, as expected, it is rich - more than 20 thousand plant species grow. Dense rainforests, formed by hundreds of tree species, rise up the slopes of the mountains. 
As the world's largest and largest tropical island, New Guinea covers less than 0.5% of the land surface but maintains a high percentage of global biodiversity. Approximately 4,642 vertebrate species inhabit the island of New Guinea and its adjacent waters, representing about 8% of the world's recognized vertebrate species. 
The fauna of the country is represented by reptiles, insects and especially numerous birds. There are many snakes in the forests and on the coast, including poisonous ones. Crocodiles and turtles are found near the sea coasts and in large rivers. 
And the mud people from Papua New Guinea say it's time for us to go home. 
