 | By: Daniel Start Binding: Paperback Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd ISBN: 0006530095 ISBN-13: 9780006530091 Released: 05 May 1998 RRP: Average Rating:  |
The author was the leader of a British-Indonesian zoologist expedition into the remote highlands of the Lorentz Nature Reseve. The entire team was kidnapped by OPM guerillas fighting for West Papuan independence, & held hostage for several months until being freed by the Indonesian army - minus the two Indonesian male members of the expedition who were executed by the OPM.
This could easily have been turned into a shalllow account of hardship & horror, but instead the author has used the experience to give us probably the most interesting & insightful account of West Papua ever. Rather than just concentrating on how the hostages themselves felt during their ordeal, he is painting a thorough picture of the background to the kidnapping, & excellent descriptions of the Papuans' psyche & motivations. His observations are sharp & balanced, & instead of pointing fingers at any party, he leaves us with an understanding of the tragic circumtances that lead to the kidnap, & the hopeless situation that continues in Papua to this day.
We also get to "experience" the down-to-earth lifestyle that was a horrible ordeal to the hostages, but is in fact the everyday reality of life in the extremely isolated Papuan highlands.
Having spent months in West Papua myself, I also found the book entirely free of factual errors, hype & exaggrations that abound in other travelogues of this "exotic" place.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone planning a longer trek through the mountains of Papua.
Don't let it put you off visiting - there has been no similar incident ever since. Read it for its description of life in this singular, remote part of the World.
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