---
type: Video
title: "I Joined a Tribe in Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬"
description: Harry travels the PNG highlands from Mount Hagen's markets to three tribes — the bird spirit tribe, a highland village that dresses him as a warrior, and the skeleton tribe.
tags: [papua-new-guinea, mount-hagen, tribes, culture, highlands]
timestamp: 2026-07-12T12:00:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mXtduJ1nuI
video_id: 0mXtduJ1nuI
upload_date: 2025-03-28
duration: 2627
---

# I Joined a Tribe in Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬

Harry travels the highlands of [Papua New Guinea](/countries/papua-new-guinea.md)
with two friends ([Kieran](/people/kieran.md) and Rob) and a local guide arranged through Young
Pioneer Tours, aiming to visit three tribes and go from outsider to honorary
member. He starts in [Mount Hagen](/places/mount-hagen.md)'s market, learns
Tok Pisin phrases, and buys 100 betel nuts as
[gifts for the tribes](/tips/bring-gifts-for-hosts.md). At a sacred
waterfall he meets the bird spirit tribe — masked guardians of a pool their
clan believes it descends from — then stays overnight in a highland village
where he's dressed in tribal attire, face-painted, and danced into the
community, interviews elders about shell money, vanished cannibalism, and
their hopes of education for their kids, and finally learns to chew betel
nut properly. The trip ends at the famous skeleton tribe, where a
neighbouring insect-hunting tribe serves roasted spider and the skeleton
dance re-enacts the mountain monster they once feared.

## Itinerary

Mount Hagen market (betel nut side quest) → bird spirit tribe's sacred
waterfall → highland village homestay (dress-up, dances, elder interviews,
betel nut tutorial) → 30-minute drive to the skeleton tribe (overnight).

## Key moments

- [00:00] The plan: three tribes, and betel nut as the essential gift — 
  chewed daily and culturally loaded.
- [01:03] PNG context: over 700 tribes and 850 languages, the world's most
  linguistically diverse country, thanks to mountain terrain and no
  long-ruling empire; Tok Pisin (a broken-English creole) bridges them.
- [02:33] Market wandering: eggs at 1 kina, live chickens around 35–40 kina
  (roughly £7/$10), pig medicine, string-bag weaving, and endless friendly
  greetings.
- [05:25] Betel nut is banned inside the market (the spitting), so it's
  sold outside; Harry buys 100 nuts at 1 kina each from a 200-kina bag and
  becomes the crowd's favourite "beetle master".
- [08:16] Getting around: from the highlands there's no direct drive to
  Port Moresby — it's a day-long minivan to Lae on the coast, then a ferry.
- [11:37] The chemistry lesson: betel nut + slaked lime (cooked from stone)
  + "mustard" plant turns red in the mouth.
- [13:25] Arriving at the bird spirit tribe with hired armed protection; a
  slippery near-fall on the waterfall climb ("my brother saved my life").
- [17:36] The masked bird spirits guard the sacred waterfall — the clan
  believes it descends from the bird spirit, which brings its fortune; the
  spirits coexist with missionary-brought Christianity.
- [20:27] A swim in the men's sacred pool — and a tribesman surfaces
  wearing Harry's lost Ray-Bans.
- [23:58] Village homestay: tribal singing, ceremonial dress worn today for
  weddings and celebrations rather than daily life, and Harry notes PNG
  tourism is about as authentic as it gets because so few tourists come.
- [26:10] Joining the tribe: no initiation needed — attire, face paint
  (originally to scare enemy tribes), dancing, and gifts do it.
- [30:11] Elder interviews: traditions are actively preserved (bride price,
  ceremonies); shell money was used until the Australian administration
  introduced currency roughly 40 years ago (from video – unverified);
  cannibalism and the killing of early missionaries are acknowledged as
  distant history; the dream is education and permanent houses for their
  children.
- [33:57] Betel nut tutorial with the village women (who chew 15–20 a day)
  — Harry produces heroic amounts of red spit and feels a mild buzz.
- [38:26] The skeleton tribe: skeleton body paint once meant to ward off
  the mountain monster, now a celebrated performance; an insect-hunting
  tribe roasts a (non-venomous) giant spider, which Harry eats.

## Extracted pages

- Place: [Mount Hagen](/places/mount-hagen.md)
- Country: [Papua New Guinea](/countries/papua-new-guinea.md)
- Tip: [Bring gifts for hosts](/tips/bring-gifts-for-hosts.md)
- Tip: [Travel with a local guide](/tips/travel-with-a-local-guide.md)
- Person: [Kieran](/people/kieran.md)