New Guinea Next On Intrepid Travelers’ Itinerary

By Dottie Evans

Followers of the adventure-seeking Clarks are marking their calendars to be sure of not missing the 2003–04 Intrepid Traveler Series of lectures at Newtown’s Cyrenius Booth Library at 25 Main Street.

The subject of the first lecture held October 22 was Antarctica, “A Journey To The End Of The Earth.” The second lecture titled “Stone Age Cultures in New Guinea,” will be given on Wednesday, October 29, at 7:30 pm, in the library meeting room.

Dr Milton Clark and his wife, Wendy Clark, are residents of Salem, Conn., who have traveled to 70 countries, including remote areas where most Americans have never set foot. They are known not only for their extraordinary photographs, but also for the stories they tell about the people from local native cultures with whom they have shared time and insights.

The Clarks have presented talks illustrated by their collection of slides throughout Connecticut and New England, and have drawn a wide following to their programs.

For the upcoming “Stone Age Cultures in New Guinea” scheduled next Wednesday, the Clarks will speak about their journey to Western New Guinea where they visited the island of Irian Jaya –– a place so remote that it was discovered by western civilizations only as recently as 1953.

Irian Jaya is the home of primitive tribes of the beautiful mile-high Baliem Valley. The Clarks will show slides and speak about the head hunters and tree dwellers living in its steaming, watery low lands. The program shows deliberations by the tribal chiefs as they declare death warrants for their hostile neighbors, and it also shows the ceremonial dance for the adoption of the Clarks into an Asmat tribe.

“We met with all three groups of head hunters and cannibals, the highland, lowland, and the tree people, and we never worried about our own safety,” Dr Clark said.

The Clarks were actually more concerned for the safety of the tribes themselves, since the Indonesian soldiers and police were “treating these people so terribly, actually brutally,” Dr Clark said.

Last year, the Intrepid Travelers spoke to Newtown audiences about their journeys to southeastern Asia.

On March 24, 2004, the Clarks will highlight the people and wildlife of the mountainous regions of Africa, including the gorillas of Rwanda and the pygmies of Central Africa. In their talk and through their slide presentation, they will visit the Mountains of the Moon, the source of the White Nile, and they will document their climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

On March 31, the Clarks will travel to South America, specifically Venezuela. Starting at Angel Falls, they will visit the “Lost World” of A. Conan Doyle, the summit of Roraima, and the peaks of the Sierra Nevada, finishing at the watery world of the Llanos.

The Booth Library Intrepid Travelers programs are free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.