The Yali tribe

The Yali people.

The Yali are the well-known tribe, living in the pretty inaccessible Jayawijaya Mountains east of the Baliem Valley.  For the outside world they were only discovered in the second half of the 20th century.  Yali men are less than 150 cm tall, which makes them probably the smallest people in Papua. But nevertheless they are incredibly strong and resilient. Magic and sorcery traditionally play a very important role in their spiritual culture.

The Yali wooden huts/houses.

 The Yali tribe live in wooden huts with roofs constructed of tree bark or palm leaves.  Some 30,000 Yali live off the land, hunting animals in the jungle and growing vegetables on the surrounding land.They usually make their fields of sweet potatoes on slopes so steep that we have troubles to even stand on them.  

 Moreover, Yali tools are stone axes, simple nets as carrying bags the one that they carried from the forehead, bows and arrows with carved arrowheads are still the major tools.

Typically, the Yali men wear many rattan hoops around their waists and hips, at the front the hoops are supported by the ’koteka’ or penis gourd.  

Meanwhile, women wear a small grass skirt covering only their fronts, and also an indispensable ’bilum’ which is a net-like bag, made of orchid fibres, hanging from their heads down their backs and covering their buttocks. 

 In a nut shell, even though the Yali were the last tribe who were 

cannibals, the people are very friendly and hospitable today.