The Mendi

• Documentary

Episode overview

It was not until 1930 that the outside world knew that there were people living in the highlands of Papua, New Guinea. In 1950 the first contact was made with a group of 55,000 Mendi, part of a million inhabitants of the New Guinea highlands, formerly not known to exist. The Australians have since built an airstrip, a hospital, schools, a hotel and other permanent buildings there, but the Mendi have kept their culture intact. A CBC film crew directed by Nancy Archibald has recorded some of the ancient culture and lifestyle of the Mendi and the results are presented in this special one-hour documentary.