We next flew from the swamps of the Sepic Basin to the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The Southern Highlands was discovered by explorers in 1935, hidden mountain valleys sandwiched between towering limestone peaks.

Traditional cultures thrive here, particularly in the Tari Basin, where the Huli and Duna Wigmen are famous for their elaborately decorated wigs and body art. These warriors have a great reverence for birds, imitating them in ceremonial dances and decorating their wigs with feathers, flowers and cuscus. I have included a few pictures of Birds of Paradise taken by others, since we never got close enough to them for photography.

Huli don’t live in villages, but in scattered homesteads dispersed through immaculately and intensively cultivated valleys. The gardens are delineated by trenches and mud walls up to 3m high, broken by brightly painted gateways made of stakes. These trenches mark boundaries, control the movement of pigs and also hide troops of warriors in times of war. As usual, the women do most of the work, while the men concentrate on their finery and plotting war with each other.

No Huli warrior can come of age without a proper wig, made of his own hair.  Young men attend a school under the tutledge of a Wigmaster, who teaches them how to grow, care for, harvest and shape their own hair into a proper wig.  Tuition is paid in pigs and shells, the common currency of the tribe.  The daily ceremonies include drinking consecrated water, chanting, and wetting the hair up to 12 times per day to promote growth.  It takes 18 months to grow enough hair for an everyday wig and 36 months to grow enough for a ceremonial wig.

You will notice in the pictures the Huli men wear pig tails on their aprons to evidence their wealth.  They also wear hornbill and pig tusk necklaces.

You will see photos of Huli warriors doing a “Spirit Dance”.  They are paid by villagers to perform these ceremonies to deal with life’s problems, just as many religions around the world have ceremonies conducted by religious professionals for the purpose of alleviating suffering or facilitating good luck.

Ambua Lodge is located at 7,000 feet in the Tari Gap Area, which borders on pristine rainforest. It was our base for visits to several tribes and a visit to a local school, where I taught an 8th grade class about science, technology and mathematics. The teacher of the class asked me about my background, and, in addition to my college work mentioned my service in the Navy and the Vietnam War, all the boys in the class decided I was a "warrior" and suddenly I had respect.