A Slice of Spice - Travels to the Indonesian Islands (Paperback)

In 1973 Marika Hanbury-Tenison followed up her expedition to Brazil, described in For Better, For Worse, with an even more hazardous journey to the islands of Indonesia. She and her husband Robin visited the Kubu tribes of Sumatra and the more remote people of the island of Siberut. They flew to Kalimantan (Borneo) to visit the Dayak peoples of the interior, the Celebes islands, the Moluccas and West Irian. In the course of her travels, she visited the 'navel of the world, ' she took tea with former cannibals and journeyed into a magic land where no machines are allowed and no white man had ever before set foot. She travelled by plane, by jeep, by canoe, by pony and often on foot. She survived a virtual shipwreck, attacks by leeches, contracted a tropical disease, encountered a wild boar and a cassowary. All the songs, dances, spells and music, the food of the native communities, and the richness of a vanishing way of life, are recreated in her highly entertaining descriptions.