15th June, 1991
In Pugima village, we were taken to meet the chief, Make Itlay, a muscular man who had donned a pair of shorts, though his fellow villagers wore penis gourds. We were invited to crawl through the low entrance into the male hut, which opened into two stories. The upper one, with a slatted floor for sleeping, was kept warm at night by a smouldering fire below, which also kept bugs away.
The Chief, upon hearing that Gérard was a pilot, became ebullient and presented him with a valuable stone axe blade, as a vital reminder of our trip to Pugima. Stone axes are much revered and used as gifts to a bride’s parents. They are elongated, flat stones smoothed and shaped by a special process of heat and water. Make kept shaking Gérard’s hand and embracing him. The Dani had the warmest handshakes we had ever come across. They exuded such apparent joy, despite the simplicity of their lives, that we felt duly humbled.
From Freedom of the Skies
Glimpses of the journey:
- Around the world
- Crossing the Atlantic
- Saint Louis, Senegal
- Bubaque, Guiné-Bissau
- Timbuktu, Mali
- Cottars’ Camp, Kenya
- Virungas National Park, Zaire
- Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe
- Sossusvlei, Namíbia
- Lumbo, Mozambique
- Antananarivo Madagascar
- Adis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Misfat, Omã
- Jaipur, India
- Himalaia, Nepal
- Mae Hong Son, Thailand
- Bario, Sarawak, Malaysia
- Borobodur, Java, Indonesia
- Baliem Valley, Irian Jaya
- Gimbat, Australia
- Munda, New Georgia, Solomon Islands
- Hurricane in Apia, Western Samoa
- Anaa, Tuamotu, Polynesia
- Easter Island, Chile
- Crossing the Andes, Chile-Argentina
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
