My Year With The Tribe S01E02

[Music] in the rainforests of West Papua then lives a tribe that is one of the most ancient and isolated cultures on earth the Korowai were not visited by outsiders until around 40 years ago when anthropologists and missionaries returned with stories of cannibalism Stone Age tools and extraordinary houses built in the trees over the years other documentaries have been made about them but most film crews visit only what and everything will have been set up for them in advance by producer or local fixer in this series I want to try something different in order to get closer to the heart of Korowai culture I'm going to go back to the same place four times over the course of a year and this time nothing has been prepared for me I have no idea who or what I will fight on my first trip I discovered that many more Korowai than I thought have left the forest and are now living in government building villages [Music] but in a remote treehouse I meant hope and Halla who's known locally is white beard and their adopted son Albert Sabo algis told me that he'd chosen to remain in the forest to look after his uncles along with his wife a male and two kids Dodi and son there's three generations of Korowai people living in that house that is a lot of different pairs of eyes to see life in this forest through and they're the first people that I've met that are genuinely living in the forest they are living it you know they are genuinely living in this way now three months later I'm returning for my second trip but things are destined to get much more complicated than I imagined [Music] my name is Wu milord a writer and adventurer for the last decade my fascination with West Papua has seen me crisscross the province many times in that time I've learnt to speak Indonesian but the traditional coral I speak only their own language so I've asked a local translator Jerez to come with me white beads family tree house is a four-hour walk from the nearest village of warrant so I've also hired a cook and team of Porter's to help me and my film crew carry all our food and equipment we must be getting close now I think I remember this bit o hearts quickening I've been thinking about this moment pretty much every day since I left them I'm worried about the impact of so many people turning up on whitebeard's house so before I left I asked my local producer shinta to arrange for a small camp to be built half an hour's walk from whitebeard's house [Music] hey yo Boosh inter-app acaba haha wow look at this place you guys have been busy you've been alright okay you need there's no uh yeah you got big going on nice one man up a kebab bike bike bike silly ha history under dynamic medical bike Yasuda game oh bugger Scalia margos come on it's your best idea I feel terrible I wanted to try and protect white beards family by building our camp away from their tree house but this is much larger than we need and much closer to the tree house than I'd ever imagined look at that look at the half this is insane nobody other than me seems worried about all the trees that have been cut down it's like a bombs gone off and the forest is not the only thing to have changed while I've been away yeah son is wearing clothes I didn't recognize you son Hapuku Barda by Mike Mike Mike are you speaking to me Xion now to soothe it out Amana demonic akka August Amana you see to the city he's over there this any this any this is so weird is that Elvis there and don't know everyone's wearing clothes I don't recognize anyone oh right right same water bike no D no happen jet then okay cool how ghost talk about man up some water bike August water bike yeah some would tell bahasa goose yeah what is going on what's going on it's a price how much has changed how could speak sinden easier son is fluent everybody's wearing clothes white day it's gonna be in a tuxedo on top ah oh come on anymore no oh dear Bahasa Indonesia does not speak Indonesian okay great not everything's changed vocalist my second trick could scarcely have got off to a more uncomfortable start I wanted to come here to learn about a family of people living in a very traditional way but it's becoming clear that Auguste and his family and not quite what they seemed when I first met them on top of that is increasingly apparent that just my presence here with all the extra baggage that a film crew Briggs is in danger of changing my friend ghali [Laughter] where is himmat demo marina this really simple question Venice August dari mana hey - sorry time when you master you can be Ramona you so paralia or on Roger that you blew it turns out that when algas first heard that I was looking for a traditional family to film with he left his village and brought his wife and kids into the forest and moved back in with his elderly relatives he imagined that like other film crews who have come before me I was only going to be interested in the very ancient Korowai way of life what I'm beginning to see is that the modern kora white who were moving out of the forest and into the villages are just as important early the next morning I wake up to the sound of a baby crying [Music] August besa besa Jalan Lisa muscle during the night algis wife a male gave birth and now she's resting in a special birthing hut that he built for her away from the camp why not congratulations man not [Music] that's a quarter way away chantix Cali yeah chantix Cali very beautiful Jumba rapidly huh ot da de da de cine oh shoot alive Mauro so damn happy by huapi biggie not be so ml ml sendiri tampatom potent siapa see a Patong Guinea a Mel sendiri good grief I melted everything herself on the road he's nowhere to be seen delivered and then cut her own umbilical cord that is hardcore by any measure port on Park Aiyappa in East Asia any shot you yeah tell me Sudha ambi tidak bisa Serie B said yoga Wow August isn't even going to hold his newborn daughter [Music] the arrival of the baby seems to bring mixed feelings for the family Paris explains that some coral I have a fear of blood they believe the sickness [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm going to the door apparently a male will sleep with a newborn in the birthing up for the next few days [Music] like many coral-y women she has tattoos on her face to protect against witches the marks were made by using acid from a torch battery because they believe that batteries have magical properties the next time I hear someone back home complaining because they can't have thought the latest pushchair they've got to go with some lesser model I'm gonna think about email giving birth on our own in the middle of the forest and then this right here I mean this is the irony right you think that they've lost their culture because they're wearing clothes or walking around with some fancy umbrella there's a woman over there who's given birth on her own in the forest cut her own umbilical cord is now looking at five days under there in the rain in the middle of the rainy season this is the Korowai this is this is this is this is how it is oh man oh no no no no no no no no Bob Bob oh yeah ba BOM BA Bom Bom Bom [Music] now that I know that how ggest only visits hope and halep occasionally it's clear I've underestimated these two old men living alone in the forest almost entirely separate from the modern world [Music] yes buggers it's a little skink isn't it your bow even do I not believe in tomorrow a much narrower to me throw a hole gonna need to know that all about Delilah Oh baby evil made us hold on oh hello excited I had a bad young monk in it celebrity to levy bike got it got it yeah come on yeah Scott yeah this unbelievable I'm getting an education here various any guru SIA meanwhile I look about I know you gonna partner up I'll go and get my own machine hope and halep have lived through experiences that I can't even imagine they grew up in a world where tribal warfare and cannibalism were real threats but it's easy to forget that for almost all of human existence this is how we all live but their way is dying out and it's impossible to know how much longer they can last in the forest and when they're gone all their first-hand knowledge of the natural world will go with them you memory home whether in the forest or the village the Korowai all live off sago a flower may from the fibrous core of a giant rainforest palm it's one of the few carps it doesn't rot in a damp jungle man of straw hmm it's a little bit spicy it's quite crunchy it pops in the mouth [Music] hanging out with hope and Halep is incredibly seductive and it's easy to forget that their adopted son August with his shorts and t-shirts it's just as much Cora white his experience of moving out of the forest and into the government built villages is the experience of almost all Korowai now as they push to become part of the modern world clearly life here is far more complicated and fascinating that I'd first realized and I'd like to spend time with August at his home to a knack dear-dear tingle Dee Hooton at L think I'll be Campbell canapa Campo [Music] kula demora kita bisa leha any I was be a sahaja yoga state to be subpool on an Iowa City K August to the mouth Jang Amara August I'm so naive so naive that I thought I could just come here with the cameras and capture something truthful about Korowai like what an absolute fool now I'm here and I'm in this situation I realized that basically everything that I brought with me has utterly swallowed and permanently altered the way that they behave of course it has algis and I are in a stalemate try to engage in conversation doesn't want a talk try to say that I'm just as interested in his life back in the village and he sort of shrugs his shoulders it's like in his mind he has a fixed set of things that he does people like me to try and break the stalemate I've asked my translator Paris to find out what's going on so called our money or the bug is it the biggest mistake I made is coming back there is no page two to the script there is no more to see people don't come back people like me don't come back here asking for more and that's why we're stuck [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] I even go down oh this is so silly okay Bob boots I know published yeah Tita papa yeah chai tea tomahto [Applause] desire it is okay to bite heat up pop up yeah bad worse Carly it's been almost impossible to persuade Albus that is life in the village is interesting to me because it's not as obviously exotic as hope and Hallows but now we have more of an understanding between us he has finally agreed that when I come back on my next trip I can stay with him and his family in whare but for now I want to get to know hope and a lot better and to do that I need to shake off this circus that I've created in the forest so no film crew no Porter's no cooks just me and Paris to translate are you sorry me being here changes the way things are but I'll tell you something for nothing all of this stuff here having 30 plus people through camps food all about toys it's just a massive distraction I reckon I'm going to get a much better understanding of what it's like to be a traditional four wives I'm just so that's it everybody must go that's it and okay I might not find some great truth I'm not certainly gonna become some coral-y warrior that's not gonna happen but I reckon I'll get a much better understanding if it is just me and them without all of this behind me now man absorber Jalan by bike [ __ ] I see ya Telemachus a man tea yeah aunty psyche in Bali yeah alright guys I'll see you later yeah I see you in a week it's really happening isn't it yeah oh this is a good idea Gavin oh yeah you don't need this anymore do I fellows be sir I'm Bellini take care bro I do my best okay take care guys bye geez that's it they've gone wow that's it keep this in beauty come on then de Paris tamanna key to a de Paris key to as a pack halep hope d black and what will we do now - dang that is crazy this place is today's Keita Raja D who tan we're the kings of the forest Christ I've been in the forest on my own many many times before but that's always good on expeditions where I've been moving through an environment I've never actually just down tools and stayed somewhere hopefully this is gonna be fun hopefully the governed America tomorrow hope had a pallid you got me to another one at a time meeting Modoc war hope come who dream do charlie Bintang oh yeah I know I know I know well it cannot describe the dryness of this dude it's like eating the Sahara Sagan's idaho john mccain fugu Peter had a who John Mack and Aggie you jump a saw if it's just raining all day you can't doubt rivers are full of water forest is sudden all the insects all the lizards were the big mammals the birds everything was doing what we're doing which is hunkering down and waiting for it to pass how depressing for the next 10 days it will be just the four of us alone in the jungle and though I assumed it was going to be tough I didn't think life in the forest was going to be quite so monotonous it's been 8 hours straight now may you football my football but at least I've learned the word for rain we're off finally it's not a huge amount of time left in the day so wet everything soaked just started making our way up this little river keeping up with her is pretty tough Lucky's wearing red otherwise I'd be lost the river we're here to check the fishing lines that hope left out the day before I do it can't oh yeah getting bogus Carly we don't just have to eat sago tonight mostly fortunately I love you sighs yeah Matthew that's killed it by birth this is like opening a parcel on Christmas morning it's so exciting oh yeah [Music] ecology the other sagas I'm buddy buddy I've also uh I wouldn't have Ilana I can't amore it's now 4:30 any morning says it all really doesn't there's nothing you could do stuck inside waiting for it to stop [Applause] move on when you go down over Lebanon [Laughter] yeah but so that's all there to bet oh yeah outside to change my psychological approach to say go I love it what my babies me maybe I just don't understand maybe maybe I just don't get it I come from a place where you're constantly productive and to kind of sit around and do nothing is frowned upon so I think there's part of me this it's constantly kind of Norrington and do something about what it is [Music] [Music] I'd actually like to have that field to say go now I miss it horrible it's dawning on me the hope and halav live their whole lives in the present in a world where the forces of nature is so great there's a little point in worrying about tomorrow all that counts is what happens right now [Music] with no written language the Korowai only experienced the past as memories and stories which can easily fade or be forgotten even the treehouses themselves only last a few years before the jungle reclaims them Zipp time itself stands still and for me adjusting to this ancient way of life is Nayan impossible side effects golly dang gun who Jenny me right although they do that'll okay Romeo I know I know I don't it'll be people alone will fall even a little unfeeling for the whole not actually a hat so Joe Patterson are gonna going around today [Music] starting to feel really boosted excuse me like I want to just sit down and Oh salute Amana Pizza chopper de l'Opera the post-college about Barbarita Paquita TDM open an interpreter harina sattamini lavish satin mingle satin english' to hurry assuming you sashihara tada tada Martin while land you find gentle bizarro with the river so fast and high the chances of catching anything at all a remote and fishing today feels like a waste of precious attitude [Music] hey hell up t-they're - man coming by bike this is about as bad as it gets is unseasonally bad even for the rainy season [Applause] here's another copy for you yeah [Applause] [Applause] the Molina Molina [Applause] same good [Applause] about half an hour of light left [Applause] you can add a problem [Applause] I was here oh hey hope outside you know the guy that can't hunt is actually provided all of the food and there's also some sago grubs here as well to actually eating delicious back hard that's that's pretty grim oh there kita tidak mackaninee Dyson Ann Cameron balloon Paquita sighs aw thanks Carly cutter McCarthy van yeah yeah well I was wrong wrong wrong water I'm on him [Music] there's no doubt that these two heartily relied on each other out here if one fails they both fail [Music] nicely alive I know now beyond any shadow of a doubt if I really was caught a white man living out here I'd be among the first into that village I wish I could say that I'd be one of the ones that stayed out here to sort out the beer end my bones were left in the tree house to be consumed by the rest of the forest by now I wouldn't be I know as part of August generation the I believe because it's just too hard to stay [Music] this is my third trip to coral-y territory and the more time I've spent here the more obvious here become that the Korowai are a tribe in transition most people have now left the forest and are pushing to enter the cash economy and the modern world so I'm back in mobile on my way to the village of water where I hope to spend some proper time with algis and his family but first I need to pick up Paris my translator baby is gone oh my golly yeah yeah it's very sad news which Peres and his wife seemed to be taking in such a matter-of-fact way I remember algis telling me that babies don't actually become people until they start to interact with you they start to smile show character and because you can't really consider them people when they pass away you don't really grieve in the same way [Music] it's funny either note as long as this year continues you know now I'm starting to really get into it and it isn't just eating grubs and tree houses and stuff like that you start to realize actually that there is there's some real complexities to this culture that are very very very different and it takes spending time here to really see them [Music] Walla has always had a reputation for being hostile to outsiders and hard as it was living with hope and halep to get the sense that things may be even harder in a village without 'lest [Music] hello kita kembali yo phagocytes and Hank Vargas Barnabas Mike Vargas Carly Vargas August cinta alright mate so Alice isn't here anymore really have you heard so alone is algis not here but almost all of the village isn't here not just this village but in a village up stream the village downstream and everyone is heading to a massive sago festival which starts tomorrow a day's walk into the forest it's something I've only ever read about I've never seen it ever and if it's authentic and it's for real it's gonna be possibly one of the greatest things I've ever seen so I'm gonna try and get there to a village in between hopefully make it there [Music] this massive sago grubs feast it's a coming together of hundreds of coral white you know these people that traditionally live all the way across this forest this is the one thing that gets them all together it's a really really important date and the coral way calendar and to have arrived in wara the day before it happens man it feels almost too good to be true yeah here we go this looks more like the main road there that's a village man up man up man up there's nobody here at all it is a ghost village that's a good sign I think actually I think that that means that this sago grubs feast actually could be for real Masum City okay man up trouble [Music] while its tenth times I've made it to this village all right but pretty much as soon as I arrived people start to get a little bit nervous and it was decided that it'd be better if Paris and a couple of others went ahead and put our case to the organizer to see if I can get in and film I've given him some cigarettes to hopefully sweeten the deal but there's still no guarantee down the window on a ship in storm in the city in the middle of a storm absolutely crazy out there I just hope that we're not judged on the fact that I send a group of people to negotiate access to this beast and then this happens that is yeah you gotta Anjana yeah right yeah bike yeah really yeah yeah yeah and your anxiety the Papa love enjoyment sorry yeah okay oh that's great news well don't make man up throw it's a two-hour Trek deeper into the forest to reach the festival site oh yeah this is a forest of sago palms they're everywhere as sago palms dropped everywhere here and the smell I can just smell that affected sago which means that these have been harvested for this festival and that we are getting pretty close Sydney yeah oh I can see it clearing I think we might already be there look at this it actually it really is just a clearing in the middle of the jungle man it's like a mirage yang Yang see a no might not throw up oh now Missy Appa no no no you die so I need you does Wow you guys took camera telling Mikasa yeah I'm looking now I can see probably a hundred meters just long line of huts and then a a really big in the back August could be here somewhere man oh man oh this looks like the biggest heart of them all the main stage possibly well my no I'm an octorok oh wow baccarat bar - this is the biggest Korra white oven I have ever seen we've literally just walked into a jungle clearing and this industry is going on I really thought that I was never ever gonna get to see this and this is just the beginning there's still hundreds of people on their way here Harris tells me that preparations for the feast began three months ago with the cutting down of dozens of trees that had been used to farm the sago grubs now they're fat they're baked into giant sago flour pieces cooked on hot stones and ready to be served to the clans as they arrive from the surrounding villages to get here to see something absolutely genuinely unique and traditional which has been run by two fellas in football shirts and shades absolutely brilliant next time when I return to the jungle [Music] the Korowai clans descend on the ground first feathers football types of works amazing but back in the village the party [Music] my year with the tribe continues next Sunday night at 9 over on I play you can catch up with the forest a series revealing the hidden world of Galloway forest available now next is BBC free on BBC 2 and it's time for some original comedy as we cut up some jokes and cut up with the family done no [Applause] you

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Views: 134,445

Rating: 4.6840825 out of 5

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Id: G21dIVqlVzw

Length: 58min 45sec (3525 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 25 2018