Kwaio

Hi everyone,

can anybody recommend to visit the Kwaio people? Are they still living traditionally?
If not, is there any other tribe you can recommend to visit (in the Solomons or also in PNG or West Papua)?

Thanks in advance.

East or West Kwaio? Some live traditionally, some don't. You'd need someone to take you to the more traditional areas of East Kwaio.

To the East Kwaio. Can you recommend us a tour guide?

If you really want to visit the traditional Kwaio, I may be able to put you in contact with someone from the area. However, there are nicer parts of Malaita to visit, including an island called Berlin, where the people still live traditionally in many ways, but have adapted a little to the modern world. In the end, you may find this sufficiently different from Europe. You could, in fact, access East Kwaio from Berlin Island, as it is a couple of hours by outboard down the coast.
If you would like a local contact with either Berlin, Kwaio or both, send me a PM. (It may take a week or so to get a reply, depending on when my Kwaio friend gets to read his email).

I have had the most unpleasant experiences in the entire South Pacific with the "traditional" East Kwaio.
They are spoilt rotten by tour groups that visit them and demand heaps of money for just being there, then more for taking pics, etc... and then only the women wear traditional dress.
Other people in Malaita were fine though, including the "modern" coastal Kwaio.

I found the kastom people in Vanuatu both far more traditional (everyone in traditional dress) and incomparably more welcoming.

In West Papua, people are also friendlier than the Kwaio, though money will still be requested, and traditional dress is getting ever rarer.

Laszlo is spot on, re one of the E. Kwaio tour groups. I don't know of any others, but I guess there probably are more than one.