The Baliem Valley and its surroundings is home to the Dani people. I spent about a week trekking through the rough terrain going up and down steep and slippery hills and crossing rivers either by foot or by suspended bridges visiting some of the small villages where the older member of the tribe still live in their traditional ways.

It wasn’t easy to find the people, but with the help of a local guide we were able to track some of them out.

Below is a collection of portraits from some of the people we found along the way:

One of the old traditions from the Dani Tribe (which is not in practice any more thankfully) is that when a family member dies the husband, father, mother or wife has to cut part of their finger off.

Some of the older people that I met had a few fingers cut, and I even saw a woman who had all 5 fingers cut!!