01/10/2024
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The korowai tribe is one of the tribes living in the Papua hinterland in the Mappi region, South Papua. This tribe is a nomadic tribe and will prefer to live in an area close to water source, there are many sago trees, and not other tribal areas. They will build a treehouse as tall as 50 meters above the ground. Each treehouse is designed into two to three rooms, accommodating at least one adult man and woman, and equipped with a fire pit.
There are three reasons the Korowai tribe chose to live in a treehouse. First reason, they feel by living in a tree house then they will be safer from enemy attacks. Second, by living in a treehouse, the Korowai tribe will be easier to monitor and get yard animals, such as wild boars that roam beneath their treehouses so they can easily be targeted with arrows. Third, they consider tree houses to have their own value because it’s a culture passed down through generations so that they feel comfortable living there.
Although their houses are on trees, their lives are much more spent under them. Tree houses are only used for shelter and a place to sleep at night. In the morning, the children were brought down and taught how to process sago and hunt. Their pet dogs are also strapped down to accompany them on the hunt. The Korowai tribe lives in haste. To get carbohydrates for rice, they cultivate sago, plant herbs, also plant bananas. For nutrition, they catch fish in the river with spear and spear, also hunt animals with arrows. Towards dusk, the Korowai tribe families climbed one by one into the treehouse to rest and plan tomorrow's hunt.
The materials used to make the treehouses come from the forests and swamps around them, such as wood, rattan, roots and tree branches. All materials are made of nature, the frame is made of tiny wooden rods and the floor is coated with bark. Walls and roof using bark or sago leaf weave. To tie, all use a rope. The whole process of home construction is performed by hand. The only metal item available was the razor or axe they commonly used for hunting.
The stage of building a treehouse is selecting a large, sturdy tree as the main pillar. After finding the tree, they collected the ingredients and began to build the house pieced down by involving close family. On stage, newly built house floor, to place the pillars and house frame out of wooden rods bonded with bark fiber.
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