The boats this time were the aforementioned "banana boats," which are basically, well, motor boats. This picture was taken later in the trip, but it could have been any time we were on the boats on the river (which was frequently):
The most prominent geographical feature in this photograph is what is known as Undu, the mountain that takes on a semi-sacred status in Zia culture. By controlling this little rise, they were able see all the tribal activity in the valley; and in doing so establish a strong foothold for themselves as a tribe. Tribal warfare has long since calmed down, but Undu still holds a special place for the Zia. It is also at the bottom of this mountain that the village of Saigara is located.
This is just a shot to give you an idea of what PNG looks like from a river boat- as soon as the river ends, a wall of jungle rises up on either side.
After about an hour or two on the banana boat, we reached our first destination, Saigara.
I can't upload videos here due to my slow internet, which is a pity, because our reception at the village of Saigara was definitely one of those things that makes a lasting impression. A man all caked in black (pic below) comes shrieking down the trail, hurls an uprooted palm tree at our group leader, and then plants a sharpened stick in the ground in front of another group member before tearing off again. One of the PNG vets explained that this is customary (at least in this tribe, the Zia), as a form of welcome. Given the opportunity to kill you, they didn't so you should feel safe. Apparently they've dumbed it down a bit for the benefit of us outsiders since the good old days- the same person explained that he once felt a real war club brush the top of his short hair cut during a similar ritual, and a very real, non-sharpened stick-looking spear was planted between the feet of one terrified onlooker. Oh, how times change.
Further on up the trail was the rest of the welcome party, drumming and singing the Zia welcome song. It was...awesome.
Sorry about the focus quality on this one, but I thought the content was interesting enough to still warrant sharing.
Our first glimpse of the village...
...more welcome party.
...entering the village:
Here is a good look at the Saigara village proper. The village mostly consisted of huts clustered around a wide-open grassy space a few hundred yards back from the river. The whole scene was walled in by dense jungle, with Undu looming over the whole scene.
Even though this year we were only bringing a few boxes of donations for the Saigara school (which is still a lot in PNG), NICO has a history with Saigara, as it was the site of a new school's construction last year. The schoolchildren of the village were all assembled and sang a song in Tok Pisin about Saigara for us, before adorning us with necklaces made of seeds and shells. Very cute.
After the dramatic welcome, we finally got to our guesthouse in Saigara, pictured below.
The guesthouse was hemmed in on all sides by heavy jungle foliage. As a matter of fact, the rest of my experience in PNG was largely defined by a shrinking field of view- anywhere that there was not human habitation or river, there was hilly, impenetrable rainforest. This was great, as far as I was concerned, because it meant there was a plethora of glorious new plants to photograph and cherish. Here are some pics:
I haven't the foggiest about this first one, other than I thought it was interesting and decided to snap a pic. If anyone happens to know the name, please fill me in.
This flower looks rather like a domestic variety from North America whose name escapes me, but it was pretty so I took a picture.
Quite possibly my favorite plants in the world, tree ferns, grew thick and tall all around the guest house. I may just like them because they featured prominently in the dinosaur books I read as a child, but something about their elegance and ancient lineage holds my interest.
It's not a plant, but while we're on inanimate things, I liked the look of this mushroom:
The heat and humidity being relentless, we all decided to head down to the river to have a dip. On the way down, this guys stopped me and asked me to take his picture (a common occurrence), so here it is. He was working on building the village's new church building, which was only to be unveiled at completion. In the meantime, construction took place behind a tall barrier.
Here are just some fun pictures of playing in the river. The mud was soft, gooey, and cool.
We spent a relaxing night playing games and talking, then set out the next morning for Pema. Here's our rag-tag band heading down the trail towards the river.
Taken from the boat- here are some of the teenagers of the village seeing us off.
Next: Up the river to Pema!
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