Experience living with a cannibal tribe

Living with the Korowai tribe, Paul discovers many mysteries behind the barbaric cannibalism.

The Korowai are one of the few tribes in the world that still practice cannibalism in Indonesia.In 2006, Australian journalist Paul Raffaele made an expedition to this tribe andwas the first Westerner to cross the jungle to get here. Paul had many interesting discoveries and unforgettable experiences.

Korowai tribe men with homemade bows and arrows.

Cannibalism Challenge

Paul's guide was Komelius, who had lived with the Korowai for many years. According to Komelius, the tribe had to put him through a test to decide whether or not to let him stay. One night, they gave Komelius a bag of meat and told him it was human flesh. If he ate it, he could stay with them. If he didn't, Komelius would have to leave. Komelius ate the meat and was allowed to stay with the tribe.

Their plan was to visit the Letin tribe, who had never been seen outside the jungle before. Even Komelius had not ventured that far for fear of being slaughtered. They traveled along the Ndeiram Kabur River in a canoe made from tree trunks. The natives, dressed in loincloths, attacked the strangers with bows and arrows. The explorer and his guide had to jump into the river to escape.

Paul (left) is welcomed into the Letin clan.

Fortunately, Komelius could speak Korowai, and he spoke to the natives on the other side of the river. They replied that they had defiled the sacred river and would have to pay a fine. One of the warriors rowed past them, still holding his bow and arrows, and collected a fine of about $30. After that, they were allowed to continue on their way.

The Mystery Behind Cannibalism

For the Korowai tribe, if a person falls from a tree or dies in battle, it is a clear death. But they do not understand bacteria and germs (which are abundant in the rainforest). So death from disease is a mystery to them. They believe that it is caused by a khakhua, a witch doctor. The khakhua takes over the body of a man (never a woman) and starts to eat the body from the inside. Therefore, after a person dies, they must eat the corpse to destroy the khakhua that exists in the body.

One of the first two men Paul met in the tribe was Kili-Kili. When asked what human flesh tasted like, the tribe said it was like guinea pig or ostrich. The Korowai eat every part of the human body except hair, fingernails and genitals. Children under 13 are not allowed to eat human flesh because it is believed to be dangerous for children to eat khakhua.

The Korowai do not see cannibalism as barbaric, because they believe they are not eating humans but rather destroying the evil khakhua. "We don't eat humans, we eat khakhua," one of the tribesmen told Paul when asked why they eat their own kind.

According to VNE