July 25th Dani Mock War and other activities

Chief Yali  in the watch tower

So Wednesday started with us heading over to the Internet cafe papua.com to speak to the owner,who is mentioned in the guidebook as being a source of travel information. Francis, as we think he is named, advised us that if we wanted to see to see a mock tribal war to go see chief " Yali" in Sumpaima near Jiwika, as he had the best field for the fighting.  Yali's is next to the first mummy place we went to, so we headed out that direction arriving at 10:30. We were advised that a tour group was already there so we could not join them, but to come back at 2pm and talk to chief Yali. We proceeded down the same road looking for birds and just enjoying the day without the guide. We came back a bit early at 1:00 PM and met chief Yali, who was all "dressed" in the tribal war fare attire. He allowed us to join the couple of tourists whose guide had  organized the activity. The chief advised the price of the equivalent of $70 for the two of us with unlimited pictures, so we were pleased, as Mac had been telling us the price was double that amount. Jimmy our driver told us afterwards that he had learned from the other driver that the other couple had only paid the equivalent of $50.  David was the big shopper so everybody was happy.

Shells on breast plate valuable

We enjoyed the "mock war", which followed the ritual movements that we had read about in our books. The "attire" with the pig grease, soot, boar's tusks through the septum, spears and bows and arrows are sight to see. Following the mock war, we were invited into the village where the men and women then approached us singing and dancing and invited us further into their Dani compound.  The women then sang and danced for us and while Yali the chief demonstrated making a fire for us using the traditional method of friction with a wood pole, a rattan piece and straw/tinder. 

Preparing to show how fire was made

After this, they set out their handicrafts for sale.  It was interesting to see all the penis gourds and we had earlier seen a part of a demonstration on how they were made. Their were even selling some of the used coir rope skirts that the married women wore made by the men.  We had not seen those for sale before.





The fire starts with wood and rattan piece

David enjoying war games

We returned back to town and stopped at papua.com to ask about a good bird watching place for the next day. We were advised that 100% chance to see the yellow bird of paradise at Lake Habbema. Habbema is where Archbold (American Natural History Museum) landed his amphibian aircraft back in 1938 and discovered the valley and all kinds of new species of flora, fauna and ornithology. Unfortunately Francis also advised that the police would not at present allow tourists to go there, so that was a shame.  He did seem to know about birding though, so in the end, we decided to take a road we had not been on to Pyramid, along the eastern side of the valley. Francis explained to Jimmy where we wanted to go, and a small additional fee was asked for the additional distance.

That night, as we called Beth to the thank them for the other evening, she invited us to come out to a local restaurant, R. M. Fakhira, that made excellent grilled chicken. They were heading out the door just as I called.  The chicken was excellent and came with a rice cooked in coconut so it has a delicious flavor. Leslie even had a fresh melon juice and ate the cabbage leaves and greens like Kevin and Beth. When Kevin said the samba wasn't  spicy enough, she put some on her rice and the was grabbing for her juice drink. That MK eats things very spicy! We enjoyed sharing more stories and our photos of the Dani tribal activities. Neither Beth nor Kevin had seen some of these activities and, like us, recognized that while touristic, it was the original format. Beth said she and some of the other mothers were planning to go with the children to the Baliem Festival which is coming up in the next week.  We encouraged her to do that even though it is a pain to wait in line for the gas rations of 5 gallons a week. They have to start now to get their gas to travel there and back! The cost of the gas is not that high, $2 gallon, but the rationing is because it all has to be flown in, so it is highly subsidized. You could buy additional gas that is being sold along the road side in bottles, but you would not know how pure it is and of course the price is much higher.

Greeting Dance with women and children