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L’incredibile casa sugli alberi a 30 metri da terra degli Korowai

Da Terapixel @terapixelblog

Aerial view of a recently abandoned tree house. This was the tallest tree house we found in eight hours of surveying Korowai country by airplane and helicopter, and five weeks of hiking in the forest. From the ground we estimated it to be 50 meters tall. Its owner, Landi Gifanop, built it so tall “to see the planes, the helicopters, and the mountains, but mainly to keep sorcerers from climbing my stairs.” He abandoned it because the wind kept ruining his roof and he feared the whole house would come down. His new house is on the ground.This picture was taken as part of an expedition for GEO Magazine and National Geographic Magazine to document the way of life of the Korowai tribe. Most of the Korowai in these photos had never had prior contact with anyone outside of their language group, and have no material goods from the outside world. They live in tree houses built above the forest floor to protect themselves from outsiders. The Korowai believe that contact with outsiders will

I Korowai sono una piccola tribù che vive in una regione piuttosto remota della Nuova Guinea.
Anche se il clima è piuttosto ostile, i Korowai son riusciti ad adattarsi facilmente all’ambiente, ma ciò che è più affascinante è che sono riusciti anche a trasformare la foresta tropicale in una vera e propria ricchezza.

Fino a circa vent’anni fa nessuno li conosceva, specialmente per il fatto che essi costruiscono le loro case sugli alberi. Il motivo di questa scelta è giustificato dagli stessi Korowai con la possibilità di vedere più facilmente gli uccelli e le montagna lontane, ma in realtà si tratta di impedire agli stregoni malefici di entrare nelle loro case.

Riuscite ad immaginare di vivere oltre 30 metri da terra sugli alberi?

Il documentario della BBC, Human Planet, è riuscita ad intrufolarsi all’interno di questa tribù di Korowai: assicuratevi di prendere visione di questo interessante clip video:

Qui, invece trovate alcune impressionanti fotografie:

Domaleh, of the Sayah clan, climbs a breadfruit tree to dislodge its fruit with a long stick.This picture was taken as part of an expedition for GEO Magazine and National Geographic Magazine to document the way of life of the Korowai tribe. Most of the Korowai in these photos had never had prior contact with anyone outside of their language group, and have no material goods from the outside world. They live in tree houses built above the forest floor to protect themselves from outsiders. The Korowai believe that contact with outsiders will bring an end to their culture. Cannibalism has been part of their traditional system of criminal justice to avenge the death of their clansmen, but the practice is dying out and is outlawed by the Indonesian government. The Korowai believe that most natural deaths are caused by sorcery, and must be avenged by the death (and consumption) of the person responsible.

Sowayen climbing down a “yambim” or ironwood tree after knocking loose a nest of black ants that he uses for fish bait. The Korowai are superb climbers, and get up thick trees like this by gripping vines with their hands and splayed toes. It took him about a minute to get up this tree, and it took Neeld Messler, a rope expert, over an hour to rig this tree with ropes so the photographer could climb it safely. In the lower left corner Sayah is watching. One of their fishing methods is to put a piece of an ant nest in the water and wait for the fish to come and eat the drowning ants. The fisherman hides behind foliage on the river bank, and shoots the fish with a four-pointed arrow.This picture was taken as part of an expedition for GEO Magazine and National Geographic Magazine to document the way of life of the Korowai tribe. Most of the Korowai in these photos had never had prior contact with anyone outside of their language group, and have no material goods from the outside world.

A sago grub feast arranged for French tourists. The hosts of the feast are standing in a circle in the foreground, and exchange mock attacks with their guests before entering the feast house. (The tour group was on the edge of the clearing and not visible in this photo.) Group tourism started in the early 1990s in Korowai country, and generally consists of 3-4 groups per year of 10-15 tourists per group. The typical program is about a week of looking at various aspects of Korowai life; building a tree house, harvesting a sago tree, hunting in the forest, and culminates with a sago feast. Tourism brings roughly as much money into Korowai country as the former Dutch mission did, but is affecting the Korowai in different ways. All of the sacred parts of the festival were omitted, and the tourists brought in a lot of material goods to distribute freely. I was told by the Indonesian tour operator that most tour groups dance naked with the Korowai; the men tying their penis with a leaf, and

The inside of a Kombai tree house. The Kombai are a language group living next to the Korowai. Their material culture and way of life are extremely similar to that of the Korowai. Men and women keep to different parts of the house defined my their cooking hearths made on recessed clay-lined platforms that can be cut away in case a fire gets out of control. The rafters are decorated with shells and bones of clan feasts. This picture was taken as part of an expedition for GEO Magazine and National Geographic Magazine to document the way of life of the Korowai tribe. Most of the Korowai in these photos had never had prior contact with anyone outside of their language group, and have no material goods from the outside world. They live in tree houses built above the forest floor to protect themselves from outsiders. The Korowai believe that contact with outsiders will bring an end to their culture. Cannibalism has been part of their traditional system of criminal justice to avenge the de

casa-sugli-alberi-korowai-01-terapixel.jpg


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