35 meters above the ground in the rainforest of West Papua, Indonesia, the Korowai tribe builds its homes in the treetops. No cement, no industrial tools: only bamboo, lianas, and palm leaves supported on giant fig trees.
The height is not a whim. It protects them from sudden floods, snakes, wild boars, disease-carrying mosquitoes and, according to their beliefs, from the ‘hacuas,’ evil spirits that roam at ground level. But it is also a marker of power: the higher the house, the greater the clan’s prestige. The homes of the leaders are built higher than the others.
Their first contact with the outside world did not occur until the 1970s. Today, of their approximately 3,000 members, only between 150 and 200 still live in traditional settlements with tree houses. The rest of humanity has spent centuries building upward. The Korowai were doing it before anyone else.