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Title image - BAI takes you to: Carstensz Pyramid

Climb the most remote of the Seven Summits with Berg Adventures

Carstensz Pyramid Expedition Dispatches

March 6, 2014 – Excitement in the Thick Jungles of Papua

Hello, this is Brent calling on the Carstensz Expedition with another report from our day 1. We left Sugapa around 8:30am and we trekked through the jungle for eight and a half hours to get to our first camp which was about a 1,000 foot elevation gain.

The jungles here are absolutely spectacular, the fresh air that is blowing in our faces feels incredible! This place looks like something out of the movie Avatar. And here we are all just thinking about how we are about to climb this limestone monolith!

Entering the thick jungles of Papua

Entering the thick jungles of Papua

The thick forests make for challenging hiking conditions.

The thick forests make for challenging hiking conditions.

We certainly had some excitement along the way. When we came upon the bridges we had to cross we were met with the local Tribesman standing on the other side with bow and arrows and machetes. They would say “you are not allowed to pass unless you pay a fee”. And so our guides were yelling back and forth across the bridge negotiating. Eventually they had to buckle down and come to an agreement and then we were finally allowed to pass. This happened about two or three times on our way to Camp.

Crossing the bridge and preparing for more negotiations with the local tribesman to let us pass

Crossing the bridge and preparing for more negotiations with the local tribesman to let us pass

It has all been very interesting, even with the porters. We were at our dinning tent and a fight broke out between the porters and believe it or not it was the female porters! They were finally dragged off and separated by one of the men and I asked one of our guides, because it was quite alarming, what was going on. He just took another drag of his cigarette, shrugged, and said “Well one is wife number one and the other is wife number two of one of the porters and they weren’t happy with each other”! I guess it’s not always polygamous harmony in these thick jungles of Papua!

To top of our first day of excitement the dinner was incredible! We had escargot (believe it or not) and curry chicken on a bed of rice! It was one of the best meals I have had on the field in a while!