The Yaifo people are a
remote tribe in the East Sepik Province of
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
in the
highlands
Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau.
Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to:
Places Albania
* Dukagjin Highlands
Armenia
* Armenian Highlands
Australia
*Sou ...
.
The tribe was described by British writer, broadcaster and explorer,
Benedict Allen, in his account of a 1988 expedition, ''The Proving Grounds: A Journey through the Interior of New Guinea and Australia'' (1991).
Location
The Yaifo tribe is listed by the
International fund for agricultural development (IFAD) among the tribes and clans of Simbu and East Sepik.
The tribe is visited very infrequently and are among the remotest people in Papua New Guinea. They are one of the few tribes of people on earth who do not maintain contact with the outside world.
The village of Yaipo in
East Sepik Province
East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 433,481 people (2010 census) and is 43,426 km square in size.
History
Cherubim Dambui was appointed as East Sepik's first premier b ...
is listed as speaking a dialect of the
Nete language, which lenites consonants between vowels suggesting a pronunciation of /jaiɸo/.
Contact with other cultures
The tribe was visited in 1988 by explorer
Benedict Allen. In November 2017, it was reported that Allen had gone missing while planning a second visit to the tribe, but was later rescued unharmed. In his encounter with the tribe for the first time 30 years ago, he wrote that he was greeted with, "a terrifying show of strength" and an energetic dance in which they displayed their bows and arrows.
See also
*
Uncontacted peoples
Uncontacted peoples are groups of indigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. ...
*
Sentinelese
*
Mashco Piro
The Mashco-Piro or Mascho Piro, also known as the Cujareño people and Nomole, are an indigenous tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers who inhabit the remote regions of the Amazon rainforest. They live in Manú National Park in the Madre de Dios Re ...
*
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
*
Tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
References
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Papua New Guinea articles missing geocoordinate data
Ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea
Uncontacted peoples