Eyes of SWILD

 
 
  The Tribes and Villages of Papua New Guinea - Sepik River to Sing Sing


Montage of Papua New Guinea images

This is a photo montage of Paul 's canoe trip up the Sepik River, central Papua New Guinea and the Sing Sing festival held in Mt. Hagen. The mud men, pictured centrally, are quite a sight! The woman on the right is very colorful with her shells and facepaint. You can also see Abraham, Paul's guide, on the Sepik River, eating the freshly peeled slug. It tasted like rubber. At least it was freshly skinned and still moving just minutes before we ate it. Very SWILD.

Cooking dinner

The best dinner I had was spear fishing from the canoe, then stuffing the fish with banana and herbs and slow roasting it over the fire.

Sepik spirit houses

The spirit houses along the Sepik River have not been visited by many travelers. The carvings are just enormous.

Pepsi and warrior

Looks like Pepsi got here before Coca Cola. A lot of the Papua New Guineans will save as much money as they can for a Pepsi.

Listening to Walkman

My Walkman was of interest to everyone - old and young alike. My digital watch, baseball hat, sunglasses, sneakers, T shirt were all highly cherished items.

Children

The kids were great. Full of smiles and laughter. And always interested in anything I had in my day pack - especially the balloons and bouncy balls I handed out.

Shaving on the Sepik

I always had an audience during my morning shaving ritual. The only water was down by the river. But with knee deep mud, I spent more time trying to get the mud off than shaving.

Local huts and mud

Most local villages are along the waterways. During the wet season, the water rises tremendously and creates a mud bog. The mud above has just started to dry out.