July 13, 2010

Korowai - Life in Trees

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.

The Korowai tribe which counts about 3000 people is one of the weirdest tribes in the world. Their culture still remains isolated from the modern civilization. As most of tribes, they have many weird customs and some of them consider cannibalism, too.