The island of New Guinea
It is the second largest island in the world, after Greenland - and one of the most mysterious in the Pacific.
Tropical rainforests, in which dazzling birds of paradise and palm-sized butterflies flutter around, like the world's largest, the Queen Alexandra bird.
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Crossed by mountains up to 4800 meters high and meandering rivers, the world's largest mangrove swamps are located in the lowlands.
But clear cutting has long since begun in order to exploit natural gas, oil and gold.
New Guinea has not yet been completely mapped, despite satellites and drones.
This is due to the low-hanging monsoon clouds over the densely forested inland area - this can only be reached, if at all, by small aircraft that land on airstrips cut into the jungle.
Source: WORLD infographic
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The political situation on the divided island with 14 million inhabitants remains unstable.
The east has been the independent state of Papua New Guinea since 1975 with the capital Port Moresby;
the associated island of Bougainville voted for independence in 2019 with a 98 percent majority.
The western part of New Guinea, which is particularly rich in natural resources and has the largest gold and copper mine in the world, was annexed by Indonesia in 1963: West Papua with the capital Jayapura.
Many locals were displaced, now settled Indonesians make up the majority.
Dancing in traditional costume
You could call it the Papua Carnival: In the highlands of Goroka, but also in Mount Hagen in the west, the two largest Sing-Sing (singing festivals) take place every year.
Up to 150 ethnic groups then celebrate in front of an audience, painted and costumed, show the most magnificent dances, decorated with feather headdresses made from bird of paradise and buzzard wings, but also with spears and wild boar tooth chains.
Everyone is singing, dancing and posting selfies, a happening for participants and visitors.
Source: picture alliance / imageBROKER
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Most of the locals wear western clothes on a daily basis.
The precious traditional costume is only worn at festivals and as a political statement - or when tourists bringing in foreign currency are nearby.
Christians were powerless against the spirits
Every village on the middle course of the Sepik River and its branches has a wooden church built on stilts with crucifixes - and a haunted house,
called
Tambaran
, full of carved masks, drums, flutes and sculptures made of oiled rosewood.
Even if missionaries brought the Christian faith, the spirits did not drive them out.
In Karawari, for example, the Chambri, also called crocodile men, settle because they worship the reptile.
Today they live from tourism - carve souvenirs or take visitors for walks in dugout canoes who land on cruise ships (such as the “Sepik Spirit”) or motor canoes.
Source: Infographic Die Welt
Diving to coral reefs
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Crystal clear water with visibility of up to 50 meters - and that at a pleasant 25 degrees water temperature: New Guinea has spectacular diving spots.
The reef walls often protrude steeply near the coast, almost a jump into the deep sea from the jetty.
For example at Port Moresby, in Milne Bay, in Tufi and Madang.
According to WWF, the coral reefs on the Vogelkop Peninsula, which belongs to Indonesia, are even more species-rich than the Australian Great Barrier Reef, but have so far hardly been protected and endangered by dynamite fishing.
Source: picture alliance / Prisma
Shell money worth 17 million euros
In terms of value, 17 million euros are in circulation or privately stashed as shell money in New Britain.
Actually it should be called snail money, because the currency of the Tolai people consists of sea snails, strung on strings.
About 350 snail shells correspond to four kina, about one euro, depending on the exchange rate.
There are exchange offices - and taxes can also be paid with snails.
Zoologists discover bizarre animals
Here researchers can still feel like Alexander von Humboldt: On expeditions in the virgin forests of New Guinea, zoologists discover animal species that are still unknown today - such as the Pinocchio frog, which can wiggle its nose (Litoria pinocchio).
But also supposedly extinct ones - like the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus mayri).
Source: Infographic Die Welt
The quote
"Different fields have different grasshoppers"
Proverb in New Guinea.
It means: accept differences.
800 to 1000 indigenous peoples with different languages live on the island.
The anthropologist Marilyn Strathern has established that they communicate in Guinea-Pidgin, a simple lingua franca, but mainly through gifts to maintain social relationships.
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This article was first published in August 2020.
Quirky, record-breaking, typical: you can find more parts of our regional geography series here.
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We will be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.
Source: WELT AM SONNTAG