For the inhabitants of Kopar, on the banks of the Sepik River, the crocodile is considered a totem animal. Young men enter into adulthood by means of a ritual in which their backs are scratched to imitate the animal's skin. According to Sepik tradition, teenagers symbolically absorb the strength and power of the crocodile. With over 170 languages spoken, Madang is a linguistic mosaic. Coastal Austronesian languages coexist with inland Papuan languages, forming a cultural melting pot. From all these dialects, Tok Pisin, derived from pidgin colonial English, is used as lingua franca, enabling intercultural communication. The Tufi Fjords is a geological wonder offering a striking backdrop of vegetation-covered limestone cliffs plunging into the Coral Sea. Between deep coves and narrow bays, this marine sanctuary boasts underwater landscapes forged by the volcanic legacy of the Ring of Fire, offering divers gardens of coral and mysterious wrecks. Situated close to the Wallace Line, which marks the biogeographical boundary between South-East Asia and Australia, the islands of Tami are teeming with a diversity of animal and plant species unique to these two areas. These include the tree kangaroo, a species endemic to these forests. Exploring the archipelago means entering a preserved ecosystem at the heart of Papua's biodiversity. In Malaita, shellfish play a central economic role. Their value lies in their rarity and beauty. To create this currency, artisans in Langalanga and Lau Lagoon break, polish and thread shells to make the tafuliaes, necklaces, whose value varies according to length. Although the arrival of the Europeans introduced new forms of currency, shells still play a significant role, particularly in dowries. The Sepik River crocodile The voices of Madang Tufi, a coral Eden Tami, on the invisible frontier of the Wallace Line Shellfish, their true worth 77
元のページ ../index.html#77