Kombai Tribe
Living With The Kombai Tribe is a TV show where Olly Steeds and Mark Anstice take on an expedition inside the rainforest. In this series they aim to find the Kombai tribe and stay with them. This tribe was first found around 25 years ago, and the special thing about them is that they still have the technology of the Stone Age. They immersed themselves into the life of this ancient tribe and they tried to live just like the Kombai do it. They staid with the Kombai for three months, fearing attacks from warriors, trying to eat big maggots, using grass skirts and living in a tree house. They managed to experience and tell their audience what their lows and highs were during the series, what problems they encountered and they showed how the Kombai tribe really lives.
The DVD comes in color, with Dolby Surround sound, a widescreen format (1.78 to 1), for NTSC TV’s. The language used in the series is English. The package contains two DVD’s, which are released under the Discovery Channel name, in 2008. The total runtime for all the seven episodes of the series is 248 minutes.
I first saw the series while it was airing at the Travel Channel. I looked for it on DVD and after a couple of months of looking for it I finally saw it on Amazon for sale. What I love about it is that you learn how some people survive in the 21st century in the wild, without any access to modern technologies, to TV, without knives made of metal, or anything else that the modern human takes for granted. Both the presenters (Olly and Mark) show only respect for the Kombai people, even when they swim through the river, after they went through a ritual sacrifice.
Besides the tv series with the Kombai tribe, this couple of presenters also have a number of other similar series on the Travel channel, like the one about the Machigenga Tribe. From my own experience the Kombai tribe show is just as fun and easy to watch as a regular TV series like Prison Break or Lost. The plus for this series is that you actually learn something about the history of these tribes and how they live. Their way of life makes for a great story and you get an insight inside the life of a tribe that still lives in the Stone Age. Olly and Mark will attempt to do everything themselves and in plenty of cases the women of the Kombai tribe will have fun watching them try to hunt or to build huts. It’s fun and more interesting than it might sound to you.
Watching the show will make you like both Olly and Mark, and you will be sad at the end of the TV series, when it’s all over.
In the first episode of the DVD, Olly Steeds and Mark Anstice start their adventure in the rainforest, looking for the tribe of the Kombai. In the second episode of the show, they try to do the same as the Kombai and live on that land by using ancient methods. In the third episode, they try to create a waleena, which is a treehouse, traditional for the Kombai people. In the fourth episode, they get a better understanding of the Kombai system of justice, while in the fifth they give back to the Kombai tribe. In the sixth episode you witness a Kombai festival and in the last episode you see the best moments of the series.