Join Viktor Wynd on his dream journey
Duration : 15 days / 14 nights
4th – 16th October 2025
Arrival :Timika
Departure : Timika
US $3950 per person
– please email [email protected]
– perhaps the most famed woodcarvers and artists of The Pacific with their work held in museums worldwide – most notably in The Michael Rockefeller Collection in New York’s Metropolitan Museum (where I first encountered it and have been obsessed ever since). The 70,000 or so Asmat are made up of at least twelve different groups with at least five different languages or dialects, traditionally a fierce headhunting, cannibalistic warrior people (they chased Captain Cook back to his ship in 1770 and probably ate Michael Rockefeller in 1961), they have a rich cultural tradition and we very much hope to see some of their ceremonies such at the Spirit Masks, the mBis Pole Ceremony and canoe warriors. The hope is to find spectacular carvings and other artifacts to buy in remote, little visited villages
We leave Agats by boat on a journey into the past, the journey will have no fixed itinerary – we will head deep into Asmat territory, very few people visit the Asmat, and even fewer venture far from Agats and the more civilized surrounding villages, life in the villages carries on in many ways as it has done for thousands of years, on arrival in each village we will go to the great longhouse – The Jew House – each family or clan with have their own fireplace in The Jew, young men may live there and all the social and political life of the (male) village happens, we will introduce ourselves to the elders and ask permission to visit their village, we may be welcomed with drumming and singing, or indeed by a flotilla of canoes, as many of the villages we plan to visit rarely receive visitors from the outside world it is difficult to know whether we will be received calmly or with great excitement and celebrations. We aim to spend two to three nights in each village allowing us to soak in the atmosphere and get to see and experience Asmat traditional life, we will hope to join them as they go fishing, crocodile hunting and sago harvesting. In the evenings we will sit quietly in the Great Jew Houses, observe and hopefully listen to stories
We hope to experience the mBis ancestor pole ceremony , Sago and Spirit Mask Ceremony and dancing in one of the villages – where great masked dancers descend on the village before being ritually chased out and the village cleansed of evil spirits
There is no tourist accommodation where we are going, tents and thin mattresses will be provided, or we will sleep in village houses on our mattresses beneath mosquito nets.
Food – we will take a good Indonesian cook with us, but the options will be understandably limited eg fried & steamed rice, fresh vegetables, canned fish/meat / noodles /fresh fruit/ tea / coffee
Porters will carry our bags so please back appropriately.
If you plan to buy carvings please bring lots of bubblewrap – there will be none there!
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Included :
– All land transportation
– Accommodations based on twin/double share
– English Speaking Guide
– Meals as per program
— Drumming and canoe racing in Asmat
– Permits and donations
– All activities mentioned on the above program
– Chartered wooden long boat to accomplish the tour
Excluded
– Travel Insurance
– Air fares, airport tax, airport porter
– Overweight on the flight
– Airport taxes and extra baggage charges
– Airports and hotels porters
– Personal Expenses such as phone calls, laundry, beverages etc.
– All expenses incurred due to the flight cancellations or due other causes beyond our control.
Current local airfare / way / person:
London – Jakarta – £600
Jakarta – Jayapura : USD 382
Jayapura – Timika – Agats – Timika : USD 250
Timika – Jakarta : USD 355
** Subject to change in the future
Tobias Schneebaum’s Where the Spirits Dwell
Savage Harvest – Carl Hoffman
Society of Others – Rupert Stasch
Michael Rockefeller – Asmat
Among The Cannibals – Paul Raffaele
First contact Mark Anstice
Communication with The Asmat is difficult, mobile phone reception and the internet largely do not exist where we are going. We hope that ceremonies and feast can be organized when we are there and included in the fee, the cost for this can be anything between free because it is already happening or because we are very welcome to $30 – $50 to $2000 – $3000 with every possible combination. Depending on the size of the group, and the group’s interests there may be voluntary contributions to offer the community.
Tips are entirely optional – but a trip such as this asks a lot of the local guides and porters who always appreciate, even if they don’t expect, a tip. Entirely optional but $50 – $100 should be plenty
Much of the traveling will be canoe, there will be some trekking in the jungle, but nothing that a moderately fit and healthy person can’t manage. From personal experience the locals and our porters will be extremely helpful
