On top: Part 2

Yakushima, Japan, March 2016.

crossing the river

Somewhere on the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu, October 2015.

Flying swan, sort of

FitzRoy--Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, Patagonia, Argentina., February 2015.

Trekker's dream

FitzRoy--Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, Patagonia, Argentina., February 2015.

Trekking realities

Bus drivers notice, El Chaltén (FitzRoy--Parque Nacional Los Glaciares), Patagonia, Argentina., February 2015.

Trekking in Torres del Paine

Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile, February 2012.

Tibet --->

 Yubeng, Yunnan, November 2014.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, October 2014.

Viewing platform

Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, November 2014.

Leaving the indigenous Mentawai

Butui, Siberut Island, January 2009.

Performing for the Mentawai

Hard to believe?

Thierry and Jörn performing 'The Crow and The Fox' by Jean de La Fontaine, in a version adapted to the universe of the Mentawai: A shaman is walking in the forest, holding his lunch of baked sago in his hand. A monkey comes, grabs the sago and climbs to the top of a tree to eat it. But he shaman is clever. He--Mentawai shamans always smoke--starts flattering the monkey, so much so that the monkey drops the precious sago like the crow drops the cheese in de La Fontaine's fable. The shaman has his lunch again.

Check out the chiseled teeth of one of the laughing ladies.

Butui, Siberut, West-Sumatra, January 2009.

Root bridge

Two giant tree roots being used

to bridge a river in West-Java.

January 2010.

Crossing the waters: Reaching the Asmat tribe of Papua

The Asmat are a coastal people occupying a low-lying swampy region in southwestern Papua. Their homeland covers approximately 29,000 km² (similar to Belgium), on which live about 65,000 people, in villages with populations of up to 2,000.

The Asmat and their natural environment are intertwined, as the culture and way of life are heavily dependent on the rich natural resources found in their forests, rivers, and seas.

The forests are rich in game, mangroves and other trees make for an endless source of wood. The abundant sago palm is the staple food of the Asmat, who process its starch.

Rivers are the life line of the Asmat region, being the only transportation infrastructure. Since the tides can be felt up to 100 km from the sea shore, people have a strong connection to the movements of the water and boats play a very important role. They exist in plenty of sizes, from small, plain fishing boats to huge, intricately decorated war and ceremonial canoes, all of the dugout type.

The absence of stone and the abundance of trees make wood the primary building material. Extended families occupy large houses on stilts, built of bamboo, sago bark, and sago frond thatching. Men sleep apart from their wives in the men's longhouse (yew). Ceremonial activities that take place inside the men's house are prohibited to women.

Wood and woodcarving play a central role in Asmat daily life and mythology. Any child learns early on how to fell a tree, carve wooden utensils, and build a house or a simple canoe. The Asmat believe that they originate from wooden figures carved by their creator God, Fumeripitsj. After carving a man and a woman, Fumeripitsj was not satisfied with his lifeless work and carved a drum. Once the drum started to be beaten, the wooden figures awakened to life and multiplied. Master woodcarvers are among the most respected people in villages, as they are though to be descendants of the creator god.

This intimate link between people and trees is reflected in headhunting. People are like trees. Legs are roots, the body is the trunk, arms are branches and the head is fruit. Therefore, fruit-eating animals are symbols of headhunting. Like these animals eat fruit to live, the Asmat have to take heads to go on living. Hence, war canoes are often decorated with cockatoos, fruit bats, hornbills, or the praying mantis for an obvious reason. Death by natural cause is unknown, so death is to be avenged. When a death occurs, family and friends of the deceased roll in the mud of the riverbanks to hide their scent from the ghost of the deceased. Ceremonies ensure that the ghost passes to the land of the dead, referred to as ‘the other side’. The skull of a person's mother is often used as a pillow.

April 2009.

On and below the edge

Volcano impressions from the Tangkuban Perahu (meaning the overturned boat), Bandung, West-Java, March 2009.

Mentawai impressions: trekking

Leaving Butui, one of the better accessible settlements of the Mentawai on Siberut Island. The Mentawai people never wear shoes but we—the people who cannot walk—need such aids, and many more. A handrail along the slippery tree trunk, for instance, to facilitate access to the house and to leave it, especially at night when somebody had to follow the call of nature.

Tree trunks are very often laid on muddy trails, where the mud can get quite deep. Good balancing skills are required on them, especially on round, slippery bamboo. One plus: falling in the mud does not hurt!

Rivers cannot be followed all the time, and hills in between can be quite steep. They can be better walked uphill than downhill, for us with sticks as walking and balancing aids. Left lane for overtaking!!

Trees had been felled by the local people to grow bananas, and are now part of the trail.

Three of the 21 Mentawai porters we had hired to carry the food for eight days as well as luggage.

Mud walk. Here the 'normal' forest mud, greyish and odorless, but very sticky and difficult to walk with shoes.

Lunch break during a seven-hour trek. Food is always being shared, but most important is that everybody gets a portion of tobacco.

Cigarettes are fuel for the Mentawai people.

Mud walk, here in a sago area. This mud is less dense, has a reddish-brown colour and smells of fermented sago. As with the Inuit who have many different words for snow we try to figure out how many words the Mentawai have for mud. The generic word 'lati' has been one of the first Mentawai words we have learnt.

Beauty contest after a sago mud walk.

We sometimes face the dilemna between balancing on a tree trunk and going through the mud. As shown above, mud can get quite deep. Two persons were necessary to free our fellow traveler from the mud trap, and they had to be very careful not to slip and get stuck themselves.

The river between Atabai and Butui had swollen due to heavy rains and some passages could not be negociated without getting totally wet. Backpacks had to be passed over heads, and a 'bridge' made of round, slippery bamboo to be put across for the sikerei, who felt safer at balancing on it than at swimming.

Siberut Island, January 2009.