The Mummy , Jiwika , Wamena
Jiwika (pronounced Yiwika) is a local administrative centre and home to the celebrated Wimontok Mabel mummy. The mummy is kept at the tiny settlement of Sumpaima, 400m north along the main road from the main Jiwika village entrance (look for the faded blue ‘Mumi’ sign). Wimontok Mabel was a powerful 18th-century chief here and his blackened corpse is the best preserved and most accessible of its kind near Wamena. You may be asked anything from 30,000Rp to 70,000Rp per person for a viewing and possibly more for photos; bargaining is possible!
Anemangi, just behind Sumpaima, and Obia (Isinapma) to the south of Jiwika, are among villages where traditional Dani pig feasts and colourful warrior dances based on ritual warfare can be staged for tourists, if requested a day or two ahead. A typical price for both for a couple of tourists (and one smallish pig) is 3,000,000Rp. A warrior dance alone is about 1,000,000Rp.
At Iluwe, 1½ hours up a steep path from Jiwika, is Air Garam, a group of saltwater wells. Villagers soak sections of banana trunk in the water, then dry and burn them and use the resulting ashes as salt. Village boys will show you the way for around 25,000Rp, but to see the process at work, try to find a woman who will accompany you from Jiwika (50,000Rp). To avoid climbing in the midday heat, start from Jiwika before 10am.
The road north from Jiwika is flanked by rocky hills with several caves. Gua Kotilola is a sizeable cavern up a short, pretty path behind a Dani compound, about 5km north of Jiwika. It contains the bones of past tribal-war victims – though they don’t show these to outsiders.
Opposite the Jiwika village entrance, Lauk INN has a few basic, tolerably clean rooms around a small garden, with their own mandis. Lunch or dinner costs 50,000Rp. If you're staying overnight at Jiwika, report to the roadside police station 500m south.
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