Papua New Guinea

by Erik Olsen on

It’s one of the
most exotic places on earth. Some day there are still head-hunting tribes there, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this
was true. I mean, collecting heads, that’s fun. But to be honest, I’ve always wanted to travel to Papua New Guinea and I keep my eyes open for any
stories about the place that seem intriguing. And so we have this nice little piece on PNG from the Independent.

Turns out, says Jessica Morris,
that travel companies are beginning to organize tours to PNG, and she explains why this makes sense and why PNG is
really the new frontier for adventure travel. She heads there and finds "banks thick with mangroves" where
villages are built on stilts to built to withstand floodwaters (a not uncommon mode of architecture in this part of the
world). She encounters fisherfolk in their canoes catching dinner and where home-dried tobacco leaves are used as a sort
of primitive Off to deter mosquitoes. Does this sound like fun to you? Well, at the very least it’s adventuresome. Maybe
give the idea a try if you’re up for something on the exotic side.

Going Tribal

by Dave (Blogsmith Old) on

Going Tribal

is a series on Discovery that was originally produced by the BBC and aired in the UK as “Tribal”. Each episode follows former British Royal Marine Bruce Parry as he spends approximately one month becoming immersed in the culture, language and rituals of a native community. This Telegraph article gives a detailed account of what Parry experienced, as well as additional background about the intrepid expeditioner and what led him to this role as friend of the tribal families.

There were six episodes in the BBC series and if Discovery follows suit, then tomorrow night’s programs (10 pm EST) may be the last one, taking Parry to Venezuela, where he’ll train as a shaman with the Sanema tribe. Prior episodes have had Parry horseback with the Darhads in Mongolia, visit cannibals in West Paupa, practice donga with the Suri in Ethiopia, eat “rat cake” in the Himalayas and hunt in the rainforests of Gabon.

To those who might criticize Parry for even wanting to bother these remote tribes, he explained, “We tried to be very culturally sensitive with everyone. We thought about it all very carefully. My personal aim was to show each community as normal human societies with the same loves and hopes that we have.”