Benedict Allen: Becoming a Crocodile Man P3

Chapter 5 Wak Dumba

So Papua New Guinea, there I was on my second expedition.

So I'd survived the Amazon.

I'd come out of that forest, probably, looking back now, it must be true to say, I want to understand why I'd survived, as I said earlier.

And I think it could only be this reason that I went through the ceremony.

I thought, I won't go back to the Amazon.

I went to New Guinea to immerse myself in the forest and understand how the forest worked from indigenous people's point of view.

And that Looking back now, I think it must be some psychological thing.

I need to be at peace again in that forest that had tried to kill me, effectively.

And here were the perfect people to teach me in that they were very resilient.

They had a sort of crocodile cult, anthropologists would say.

These people were called the Nyara, or the Middle Sepik.

And the Nyara, they had a ceremony to toughen their young men up.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most cultural diverse places on earth.

On this single island there are over 800 different languages spoken.

Over 800.

That's more linguistic diversity in one place than you'll find across an entire continent.

And with those languages come distinct cultures, traditions and distinct ways of seeing the world.

The tribes of Papua New Guinea have lived this way for thousands of years.

They've developed independently, no contact with the outside world, no colonial influence, no western systems.

They built their own societies, their own spiritual beliefs and their own rituals that connected them to the land and to each other.

The Sepik River is the lifeblood of the tribes in the eastern part of the country.

It winds through dense jungle for over 600 miles and along its banks live dozens of distinct tribal communities.

The river provides food, transportation and water.

But it's more than practical.