Warriors in Baliem Valley

Ly Hoang Long

After four consecutive flights, I finally arrived in Wamena, a peaceful little town that hosts the Baliem Valley Cultural Festival. This is an event held in early August every year that photographers dream of experiencing.

Located at an altitude of 1,800m above sea level, Baliem Valley (Western New Guinea Highlands, Indonesia), is surrounded by rugged mountains, the highest point of which reaches 4,500m. This place remained a wild, rugged, uninhabited area until 1938, when American explorer Richard Archbold accidentally discovered it. This was also the first time the world learned about the headhunting tribes on the island of New Guinea such as Dani, Yali... Today, the Baliem Valley Cultural Festival is one of the key tourism activities of Jayawijaya district, located in Papua Pegunungan province (formerly part of Papua province), Indonesia. This event aims to introduce and preserve traditional values and tribal culture. The show usually lasts for 3 days with the participation of thousands of indigenous actors, coming from 40 villages in the region, some groups even have to spend 5 days walking just to perform a 15-minute act.

No fancy clothes, no flashy makeup, all wear the same simple traditional costume. Women wear skirts made of straw or bark, bare-chested, while men are bare-chested and wear only a dried gourd to cover their sensitive parts (koteka). Both men and women wear jewelry made of shells, bones, seeds and colorful feathers. Warriors often pierce their noses with wild boar tusks, believing that this will give them absolute power.

While the performance of the agricultural tribes recreated the life of gathering, raising livestock, and cultivating in a joyful atmosphere, the appearance of the warrior tribes brought a strong and dramatic impression. At the end of the gentle dirt road, ebony spears up to 5m long suddenly rose into sight, getting higher and higher, like a mobile spike board with howls calling for comrades echoing in the mountains and forests, the Dani warriors, all black, lowered their bodies and moved in a zigzag pattern with long spears and bows and arrows in their hands, suddenly appeared.

Owning the most fertile land in the valley, the Dani people have to fight constantly to protect their territory, the war between tribes has lasted for decades with only primitive weapons such as axes, spears and bows and arrows... Therefore, most of the scenes recreate the history of war. The fight for territory, or sometimes just from personal conflicts, can also become a bloody war. But in the end, they all sit down to negotiate and live in peace . A humane ending for each scene - the wish for peace is not just anyone's!

After the animation performance, folk games are also highly anticipated, where warriors compete in archery, spear throwing, and moving target shooting...

The afternoon sun gradually faded, the groups gathered their spears and spears to return home. The Jayawijaya district government had prepared vehicles to take them home during the three-day festival. The warriors hastily put on their shirts, smiling and chewing betel, suddenly becoming gentle and friendly, different from the cold, warlike appearance in their performances. The closer they got to the city, the more the mountain and forest atmosphere faded, except for the echoes of the Pikon mouth harp still echoing somewhere.

The 2025 Baliem Valley Cultural Festival is scheduled to take place from August 7 to 9, with 26 groups, each consisting of 30 to 50 warriors, participating.

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