Strangely the only tribe does not live on the ground

Known as one of the only tribes on earth that does not live on the ground, the Korowai tribe is located in Southeast Papua, Indonesia. The interesting feature of this tribe is that the houses were built towering above the tree tops, about 6-12 meters from the ground, the highest is 35 meters.

Living on hunting and gathering

The Korowai tribe lived completely isolated from the outside world, first discovered by Dutch missionaries in the 1970s. According to the Indonesian census, the tribe has nearly 3,000 members born. scattered throughout the forests of Papua.

This tribe does not have a normal language, they communicate with each other in their own language and often are just screams, howls, smoke signals, trail marks and the ability to read footprints . In total nearly 3,000 people, only a few Korowai can read and write.

Deep in the jungle, the Korowai tribe is a miniature society with traditional family relationships, mainly relying on hunter-gatherers to survive, build houses with trees, fish caught in rivers, hunt animals in the forest . Men of the Korowai tribe are almost naked.

Korowai women gather in the forest.

On the nose of the man is often decorated with objects made from bat teeth. They only use a string of rattan wrapped around the abdomen, chest and many other parts of the body with a lot of tattoos. Korowai women topless, wearing short skirts made from dry leaves.

Korowai people live together, in clusters, usually 3 - 4 men and their wives and children. Each Korowai family has about 8 members and each family has its own home. Korowai men take 2-3 wives, however, they are not allowed to have sex in the house but to go out and go to the forest to have sex.

Every Korowai family has its own land for cultivating some kinds of vegetables and fruits, the rest are mainly gathering in the forest and hunting wild boars, deer . Sago palm powder and bananas are food Most essential and loved. Sago palm is cut down by Korowai man, palm powder will be taken by the woman to cook into a cake or a dish during meals for the whole family, the remaining palm tree will be rotted to feed the developing larvae .

After 4 to 6 weeks, the palm tree will be added and the Korowai will take these larvae as food. This is a favorite dish of Korowai people, who can eat them both alive and cooked. The larvae have a fat taste and an attractive aroma, which is a significant source of fat for Korowai people.

Dogs and pigs are the two animals most closely associated with Korowai. Pigs are used only on special occasions such as festivals or important rituals of tribes and dogs raised by Korowai and to look after and be used in hunting.

Build houses on trees

The houses of the Korowai tribe are very special, built on trees, not on the ground. Korowai people believe that building houses on trees is to help them avoid mosquitoes, because in the rainforest there is nothing more than mosquitoes.

In addition, it helps people of this tribe avoid evil beasts, dangers from enemies and evil spirits. Houses are also built at different heights depending on their position in the tribe and how they live in harmony with the other members of the tribe.

Korowai tree house.

The houses are made of wood, bamboo and other materials . and look away from them like a giant bird's nest that can hold more than a dozen people. A house can be built on a single tree, but normally for the house to be more certain, this tribe will use a cluster of trees to support and supplement if one of the trees is dead or broken. to dump.

In order to build a tree house, Korowai people choose a large, strong old tree to make a solid pillar for the house. The branches above the tops will be removed, then they make the floor from the branches themselves and add palm leaves to cover. The floor is the most important part, so it takes more than a dozen people to work together to build it.

Walls and roofs are simpler, often built into frames of bamboo . and connected together by rattan wire or palm thread. Next, to strengthen the Korowai, the Korowai built more pillars in the corners of the house. Finally, they choose big round trees, using axes to make the ladder and place it close to the main trunk to climb the house.

Each ladder attaches a small shake to warn each climb to avoid tripping, or the ladder is broken. At night, they will pull this ladder up so no one can reach their house.

The structure of Korowai people's house usually has a large room, not divided, enough room for 5-12 people to live. Not only family members but also Korowai pets are brought up to live as family members. Normally, a house will have a life span of about 5 years.

After completing your home, the new home will be blessed by applying animal fat at the main door and ladder. Because the houses are built far away from each other, Korowai people often think of ways to protect their families: In a 20m radius around the house, they cut all tall trees, grass and let them wither themselves. As such, they had an unnecessary space to observe and detect abnormal signs.

Of course, the most dangerous thing for houses built with flammable trees is fire , so the Korowai-designed cooking area is located beneath the house, on the ground and with distance from the house. home, avoid fire cases that are out of their control. Their stoves are usually made of clay, with a large basket on top to hold dry wood, or to dry other items.

Sago palm powder and larvae are Korowai's favorite dishes.

Away from the outside world

Korowai people have no idea of ​​the outside world and often stay away from strangers. With their territory, they protect very strictly, even the neighboring tribes who want to go must get permission first.

Until an anthropologist conducted a study of the tribe, these Korowai people knew of the existence of others outside their world, before they did not know that there were other people besides them. others live.

Since the 1990s, when it was discovered, many people began searching and exploiting frankincense in Korowai's living area. In 1997, 1kg of frankincense valued up to 400 USD when sold to traders and when sold into the Middle East and European markets, it cost up to 1,000 USD.

However, the exploitation of frankincense left disastrous consequences, prostitution began to appear in the forest by civilians and caused the AIDS epidemic to spread throughout the forests of Papua. It was not until 1999 that the exploitation of this frankincense ended.

Today, this tribe has known the existence of a civilized world, however, they still avoid, do not care about other peoples and do not want to be exposed. They want to live like their ancestors - in their own world, where things are easy to understand, simple and too familiar. Even when the disease robs loved ones, they do not panic, claiming that the brother who left is called by the gods.