Mead and Me on the Karawari River, PNG

Life on the Karawari River is much like it was centuries ago, a real step back in time. In a 1932 letter from the area Margret Mead wrote: “The natives are superficially agreeable, but…they go in for cannibalism, head –hunting, infanticide, incest, avoidence, and joking relationships, and biting lice in half with their teeth.”
I found smiling people very curious and proud. Children followed us around and enjoyed interaction. The tasks for living on the river takes hard work mostly by the women. Just a few miles from a village would be another one with different languages and customs. I have never ventured so far from the modern world.