Southern Highlands Photo Gallery by lcurran at pbase.com

Southern Highlands

The area I visited on the main island of New Guinea were the Mendi and Tari Districts in the west of the province.
The largest group in these areas is the Huli people.
The Huli are an indigenous people that live in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. They number over 65,000 and have been living in the area for at least 600 years. They speak Huli, Tok Pisin (pidgin), and English. The Huli are grouped in clans (hamigini) and subclans (hamigini emene). Clans have residential rights within a specific territory and membership is based on hereditary descent. Up until recently they have been a very warlike people waging war on each other.
Subclans are smaller groups within the larger clan and are the basic unit of Huli society. Subclans operate autonomously and may make war or peace, or pay indemnities without consulting the larger clan. Membership to a subclan is restricted to those who are directly related to the subclan founder or another member of the subclan. Huli may belong to several subclans at a time depending on their kinship and ancestry.
The Huli have a wide concept of family. Half-brothers, half-sisters, and cousins are all considered brothers and sisters.
They live by hunting, gathering plants and growing crops. The Huli are exceptional farmers and have accepted many introduced crops, initially sweet potatoes, but more recently, corn, potatoes, cabbage etc. The Huli are also very interested in private business, and have established businesses throughout Papua New Guinea. Men and women still live separately; unmarried men historically lived in large group houses, although this is exceptionally rare nowadays and they usually live with their father and brothers. When wearing traditional dress, the men decorate their bodies with colored clay and wear elaborate headdresses for ceremonies.
Huli society is polygynist. Men may take multiple wives but women may only have one husband at a time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVT45VqII0I
Pardon me for the poor quality sound

Jungle Airstrip	Welcoming Committee
Britten Norman Islander		Take Off
Cloud Forest in the Morning	Bird of Paradise - Stephanie's Astrapia		Morning Mist
	Bird of Paradise - Brown Sicklebill	Bird of Paradise	Bird of Paradise - King of Saxony
King of Saxony			Bird of Paradise - Ribbontail Astrapia
Bird of Paradise - Ribbontail Astrapia			Ribbontail Astrapia with Female Mate

Huli Tribesman		Selling Sweet Potato
Village Entrance	Off to Market
Betel Juice		Kids Are Kids Everywhere	Protection
Bilum	Bilum		Village Entrance
Preparation for Sing-Sing	Part of the Preparation		Manda Wig Decorated with Feathers
Jew's Harp		Ceremonial Arrows	Cowry Shells
Kina Shell			Enjoying a Smoke
		Black Wig	Dyeing Their Skin
	Tuning Up the Drums	Bioganda Sing Sing
Headdress	Practicing Jumping in Place		Decorations
Sing-Sing		Kundu Drum
Huli Tribesman	Ceremonial Wig	Making Fire	Where There's Smoke
Fire!	Cassowary Hair
			Grave
	Entrance to Village Facing Outward	Bachelor House	Grandma and Granddaughter
Granddaughter	Grandmother's House	Interior
	Coffee Beans	Ubiquitous Umbrella
Transportation	Entrance to market place
	Yam Vendors
	Just Hangin' Around		Tobacco Leaves Vendors

			Headgear

School Boys
Cilantro Crop	Ambua Lodge	Ambua Lodge	Ambua Lodge
Lodgings	Lodgings	Morning Mists	Papai Village - Spirit Doctors
Village Medicine Man - Healing Ritual	Assistant	Sorcerer
Healing Ritual		Healing Ritual
	Healing Ritual	Boy Seemingly Healed	Cowry Shells with Boar's Tusk
		Bamboo Thicket	Mud Wall
	Poinsettia	Poria Akuciba Wig Making School/Village Headman	Wig and Headdress
Preparation	Wig School		Ablutions and Moisturizing
	Showing Real Hair	Real Hair Wig	Red Ceremonial Wig
Dye for Wig
	Final Product		Money on the Hoof
		Huli Man in Casual Everyday Dress
		Parma Village Headman	Parma Village Headman
Bride and Groom and Maid of Honour	Bride and Maid of Honour (Facing Forward)	Best Man	Groom
Bride	Maid of Honour
			Roadside Grave
Yamari Widow Village			Widow with Helpers
	Tari Market	Dart Boards
		Tari Commons
Armoured Vehicle	Tari Airport	The Day's Entertainment	Air Niugini
Airport Crowds	Tari from the Air	First View of Port Moresby

comment |

GP Merfeld		09-Mar-2009 21:56
Terrific collection of cultural portraits. Outstanding work!

Happypoppeye		09-Mar-2009 20:46
Yeah, can't believe I'm the second to comment. Great gallery. Therre are some fantastic shots in here. I gotta get to PNG... Did you use the one lens (24-105) for the whole trip? Just curious. Nice work. John

Andrew Bott		19-Feb-2009 04:16
Nice documentary work. Can't believe that I'm the first to comment.

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