The Kombai - Images by Grenville Charles

Here is a link for those of you who are interested in making a trip to West Papua to a very good local guide. Get in touch with him if you are interested, he has a very good knowledge of the highlands and speaks good English. http://trek-papua.com/.

"They Only Eat Witches, Don't They" is now available here. Take a look, you can preview the book on-line. Hope you like it.

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Ellanden River Journey

In March of this year I took a trip in a dugout canoe up the Ellanden River in West Papua. I photographed from the canoe as we moved up the river.

The Ellanden runs from the Papuan highlands to the lowlands in the south and eventually in to the Arafura sea. I had started in Agats and was going up the river a distance of over 100 miles from where I would begin a treck in to the jungle to photograph the remote Kombai tribe.

Here is a selection of photographs taken from the dugout.

Ellanden River Journey - Images by Grenville Charles

Tribes of West Papua

This is a long term project of mine to document some of the many tribes of West Papua. I have been four times now, the first time was in 2004 and most recently in March of 2009. There is nowhere like it and I love it. I have photographed the Dani, the Mek, The Komorro, Korowai, Kombai and Asmat tribes to date and will be uploading more images from the trips. I will split the gallery in to individual tribal galleries when I have uploaded the majority of the work.
It may be of interest that Survival International will be publishing a book this year commemorating 40 years of helping tribal people, they will be using several of my images in the book, it is to be called "We are One". Two of my photos are also used in their diaries available from http://www.survival-international.org/
I also have a book publisher in Holland interested in publishing the work.


Tribes of West Papua, Indonesia - Images by Grenville Charles

Asmat Tribe Trip

I have not long since returned from another trip (my fourth) to West Papua. I was there this time to photograph the Asmat tribe on the Southern coast and around the area of Agats, notorious for being the spot that Michael Rockerfeller went missing, presumed eaten, or possibly drowned. 

My own trip, although not nearly as bad as Mr Rockerfellers was not as succesful as I had hoped. The area is extremely difficult to get to and once there even harder to get around, especially on a budget, and I'm always on a budget. I arrived in Tamika and after two failed attempts to get to Agats by speed boat, the first attempt failed because the speed boat driver was drunk, the second attempt was slightly more succesful in that we actualy got out to sea but then had to turn back due to the weather. Then the speed boat driver did a bunk with some of my equipment and his fee for taking me to Agats, which I'd foolishly given him in advance. By this time I had spent four days in Timika, trying to get out. I wanted to make the most of my time there so I visited the prostitutes of Ten Kilo... 

Ten Kilo - Images by Grenville Charles

to photograph them. 

Ten Kilo resembles what I would imagine a wild west frontier town to have been like. It is basically a village of prostitutes, they were moved from the actual town of Timika because the workers from the Freeport copper and gold mine, the largest in the world, were spending too much time in the brothels and not returning to work. 

While photographing at Ten Kilo I received the news that a cargo boat captain had agreed to my hitching a ride to Agats  for a very modest sum. I returned to Tamika to collect my gear and then boarded the cargo boat, I found a spot between some crates, that turned out to contain some very smelly pigs, and tried to get some sleep. I was finally on my way albeit very slowly, the journey took two full days but it was good to finally arrive in Agats, I think the pigs thought so too.