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THE BALIEM VALLEY
Discovered by a wealthy American explorer during his botanical and zoological expeditions of the New Guinea highlands in 1938. You can still see the debris of his campsite today on a 3000 m lake plateau. Its discoverer first reported that this milehigh valley appeared to be inhabited by a lost civilization. When the clouds cleared, the expedition members beheld a vast, beautifully tended garden of checkerboard squares with neat stone fences, clean cut networks of canals, and meticulously terraced mountain slopes. (Read of this discovery in the March 1941 issue of National Geographic). Baliem received world publicity in 1945 when a sightseeing plane out of wartime Hollandia crashed and its survivors had to be rescued in a daring glider operation. An American nurse in this group called the valley a Shangri La. The first to go in and settle were missionaries by amphibian landing on the Baliem River in 1954. The Grand Valley of the Baliem River is 72 km long by 16-32 km wide. It is inhabited by tribes of neolithic ex-warrior farmers, the Dani people, who number over 100,000. The Baliem River runs like a snake through the valley, supplying water for the Danis' intricate irrigation systems. Danis don't store or plant seeds but plant instead vegetative parts such as sprouts, tubers, rootstocks, and slips. Sweet potatoes, ginger, yams, cucumbers, banana stalks, and tobacco are also grown. Droughts and pests are infrequent. There are no dangerous animals and disease is rare. The valley has magnificent scenery and great tourist potential.
getting about: Using Wamena as a base you could spend a solid month just taking walks. Don't check in at Wamena's kantor polisi if you're going on a long trek, they won't let you go if you tell them beforehand. Many parts of the valley are very muddy so have someone carry your luggage, or else fall in mud ditches. If you employ porters for walks in the valley don't pay more than Rp200 a day to each man. You don't have to give them food (unless it's a long walk) because the villagers you stay with will feed them. It's getting more difficult and expensive to find Dani guides; they're holding out for more bread. They could be especially difficult to acquire for the longer distances because they're afraid that they'll be killed by hostile tribes. Pick your villages. In general most where Protestant missionaries went in, native crafts have been obliterated long ago in great fetish-burning confessionals. In Catholic villages they've been retained and even encouraged. For any information about the interior see Broder Karel at the Catholic Mission = in Wamena; he's been in Irian Jaya for 26 years. A trail bike here would be ideal. A Zuzuki Fan Fan on Java costs Rp175,000 but you must pay another Rp175,000 to have it transported to Irian Jaya. For long-distance charters, the Catholic mission in Wamena has 2 planes available. All the mission stations have their own airfields and each has 2-3 flights a month bringing supplies down from Jayapura. So if you just stick around you can catch a flight back to Jayapura cheaper than Merpati.