CULTURE – The land of Papua is not only inhabited by the Dani tribe, the Asmat tribe, but there are many other tribes totaling around 260 tribes on this island. One of the indigenous tribes that inhabit the land of Papua is the Bauzi tribe and can also be called Baudi, Bauri or Bauji, but from the United States mission and language institute called the Source Institute of Linguistics (SIL), the name of the Bauzi tribe was included in the list of the 14 most isolated tribes and even the Papua Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) included the Bauzi tribe in the list of 20 isolated tribes which have been identified. The other side, The vast wilderness, mountains, valleys, swamps, and large rivers that wind around the Mamberamo area mean that this tribe has almost no direct contact with modern civilization.
According to history, the Bauzi tribe originated from northern Waropen and then spread south to Lake Bira, Noiadi, and southeastern Neao, two areas located in the Van Rees Mamberamo hills. The Bauzi tribe spreads around because they have the ability to move by boat along the river or on foot.
The Bauzi tribe has a population of only a few thousand people, according to data released from SIL in 1991, around 1,500 people spread across the North and Central parts of the Mamberamo region. Although it is certain that this has increased every year, there is no official data regarding their development.
The Bauzi tribe is isolated and untouched by modern life, some of the men of this tribe still wear a loincloth, which is a piece of dried leaf or tree bark which is then tied with a rope to the tip of the genitals and also places decorations in the form of bones in the nostrils and for the women wearing a piece of leaf or bark tied with a rope around the waist to cover their private parts, at traditional events and welcoming guests, men wear head ornaments made of cassowary feathers and anoint their bodies with sago water.
This tribe lives by gathering, hunting, and is semi-nomadic or nomadic, therefore they make a number of tools such as arrows, spears, machetes, daggers, etc. for hunting and the forest animals they hunt are pigs, cassowaries, mussels. couscous, and birds, which are cooked by grilling or grilling stones.
The Bauzi tribe is also famous as hunters of crocodiles and snakes. For them, crocodile and snake meat is the best food in the world and it tastes delicious, soft and tasty, this crocodile and snake meat is usually cooked by grilling it on a fireplace, eaten with sago, bananas. grilled, or breadfruit. When hunting crocodiles, men from the Bauzi tribe will knit and weave a rope made from melinjo tree fiber. This rope is made with knots like a lasso. Once the rope is ready, they take a boat to the part of the Mamberamo River which is thought to be a crocodile nest. The crocodile hunt takes place during the day. Just as the sun was overhead and when he arrived around the crocodile habitat, a Bauzi tribe man got out of the boat and swam while carrying several ropes.
The Bauzi tribe uses sago as their staple food and grows tubers and rarely eats vegetables, so many children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, the Bauzi tribe often experience symptoms of malnutrition and anemia, even though they have limited knowledge about natural treatment methods. using forest plants (ethno-medicine).
In small villages they build hut houses with bark walls and roofs with palm leaves (sago leaves) or tree bark, which are made into stilt houses. Because they are classified as an isolated tribe, it is not surprising that most of the Bauzi tribe cannot speak Indonesian, including not being able to read and write and count, and the Bauzi tribe uses their local language to communicate orally.