The tale of another expedition.

 Dear Blog Readers- I do not wish to belabor the point of how dangerous and unpredictable circumstances are in Papua New Guinea. However, lest anyone question the reality of same he should read the account of the expedition that went in right after we left. This expedition was led by my Guide from the Elbrus climb in Russia, and used the same three local Guides our expedition used in New Guinea. 
-Dave

Carstensz Pyramid Trip Ends Abruptly
Monday 13th August 2012    

Yesterday morning (Sunday 12th August) in Illaga the Adventure Consultants Carstensz Pyramid Expedition was on schedule. We were taking our planned day out in Illaga to gain the necessary district police and tribal permissions. The local Dani Tribesman enjoyed entertaining us with an archery competition, fantastic to watch. The chief of the local Dani Tribe had insisted our equipment and belongings get searched; we willingly complied and we found that this was done in a careful non-aggressive manner.

By the very fact we had flown from Bali to Timika meant we already had our Indonesian Travel Visa and special visa for traveling in Western Papua. In addition to these Visas issued by the Indonesian Government, it is necessary to gain permission from the different local tribes. Everything appeared to be in order. Our agent Steven, a veteran of some 60 trips to Carstensz, had followed the complex local procedures to ensure the local tribes were 'on-board' with our expedition. Permissions had successfully been gained, payments made and the doors were all open for our expedition to proceed. Our universe was in order, so we thought.

After a relaxing chatty group lunch the situation dramatically changed. An unknown Dani militia leader suddenly arrived with a posse of armed warriors and aggressively started making demands. We were ordered outside into the blazing equatorial sun, surrounded by armed tribesman, while they commenced a search of the basic buildings we were staying in. There was a lot of very aggressive language and gesturing between our staff and the militia mobsters. Intimidation tactics included burning the local grass beside us. Eventually we were ushered inside and assembled in one room.

Negotiations with the rebel tribesmen then began and without going into the full detail of it, we were detained for about four hours, our passports confiscated and a blockade was placed on our being able to continue to Carstensz. They demanded an extraordinary sum of money, 1 billion Rupiah for our being present on "their" land. Eventually we negotiated a settlement of USD3500 and the proviso that we would leave.

All this was very nerve wracking and well beyond the realms of normal tribal negotiations and pay-offs. Nobody was hurt but some group members were quite shaken up. The question we are all asking is just who were these characters? What we know is that they are a highly militant militia group, composed of warriors from the Dani tribe, who are fighting for the independence of Western Papua from Indonesia. Intermingling with this they have their own centuries old tribal and family conflicts that overlap regionally. Throw into this mix disputes over recent government elections and other variables! They are from a distant region and for some reason were in the location of Illaga at this time. Steven had never encountered them before. The Dani are known to be a volatile aggressive group. Our expedition had specifically avoided starting from Sugapa as they are in the midst of local elections at present in that district. To have continued after this intense and intimidating encounter would have been to a take a great risk. Steven, our agent, made the decision that it was unsafe to continue.

This morning we returned to Timika. Everybody is gutted to have been forced to end the trip so unexpectedly and tomorrow we begin our return journey.

We will give you another update from Bali.

Best

Mike Roberts and Lydia Bradey