Headhunters Village

Gentle start to the day (Laura had a pedicure, which took 3 times longer than advertised because of the work needed to repair her feet).

In the early afternoon we took a taxi to Monsopiad Cultural Village - a 'living museum' centered on the house of a famous head hunter.

Ok it was now set up very much for tourists, but if you are visiting headhunters you want to be sure they are selling souveniers to tourists rather than turning them into one.


Monsopiad was a warrior who claimed 42 skulls, still preserved in the roof of the hut. The site is now run by his seventh generation descendants.

We don't know who the skull belonged to, except for one which is accompanied by a femur to prove it came from a famously large rival warrior.






The hut roof was also home to some very sweet bats.











You can also try your hand at the slingshot and blowpipe, drink rice wine (ugh) and eat lychees straight from the tree (forcefed by Norma, our very talkative guide.










The visit ended with a performance of traditional tribal dances, which we were press-ganged into joining in with.

There were no taxis back from the village so we had to entrust ourselves to the local death-trap public transport system.






Back at the Tanung Aru Resort, you can just see our room in the building in the background.












We had a BBQ dinner on the seafront as the sun set - huge piles of prawns, steak, lobster and kebabs.

Earlish start tomorrow, intending to head to the islands you can see in this picture, provided the rain holds off.