Travel Channel

Olly is on the road but has been reading the forums and wanted to reply to some of the questions here:

Acclimatisation:
Well it certainly took me a little longer this time - as you will have seen as I struggled through the first 4 episodes!
Having lost 20kgs in the last trip to the Kombai, my preparations for this trip involved eating a lot of food and and drinking a lot of beer - trying to put on as much weight as I could knowing it wouldn't take long for the jungle slim- fast diet to kick in. So I suffered in the first few weeks perhaps more than I should have.

(Just for the record, I've can catorgorically say that this is without doubt exactly the wrong thing to do when preparing for a journey involving such physical hardships and endurance - experts (Mark) tells me that getting fit is a better approach).

Sleeping conditions
Sleeping never got easier. So I got more tired. The main problem was actually the altitude - it got chilly at night, so everyone woke up every hour or so to keep fires alight to give heat, and so once awake it was hard, often impossible, to return to the land of nod. Many hours of night were spent awake, laying in the dark on hard planks waiting for dawn to warm through and reawaken the spirit. Having said that though, there's nothing quite like waking up to a penis gourd inches from your face to realize that you are part of the family. So I suppose what I lost in personal space and sleep, I gained in being a part of the community and learning more about the Mek's way of life. I will be forever humbled by just how tough they are - man, woman, child. It doesn't take me too many sleepless nights to remember just how pathetic I am. Luckily we can all adapt - slowly slowly catch the monkey - but I found out that that stupid theory only works if the monkey wants to get caught...so it was that I began to take on two characters... As Stevenson wrote in Jekyll and Hyde: 'It was thus rather my exacting nature of my aspirations, than any particular degradation in my faults, that made me what I was. If I could rightly said to be either, it was only because I was radically both". Luckily for me, the camera crew had to sleep or this may have been a very different series of films.

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Hi Olly,
I am facinated by this series. I have alot of reapect for all the obscure natives who just want to have a good life, and you guys for giving us a peek into their world. Thanks for the show. I am anxious to learn more about the Mek.
Jenn

Thank you for such an educational show, you have open my eyes to another way of living other than the typical luxuries most of us take for granted. It is interesting to see how you adapt to ther culture and their daily routine.

You guys are doing a great job. I just wish I was there to witness this culture first hand. It seems that they actually have a pretty good life as primitive as it is and it is nice to see the sense of humor that they do have.....except for the koteka tradition of course.

Keep up the great work.

Olly...What accomodations are made for the film crew? Where do THEY sleep, and what do THEY eat?

Thanks for all the information! Your show is an amazing window opened for my family to enjoy, think, learn and reflect.
It is also a link to several works and great books in my library….Margaret Mead, Levi-Strauss, Malinowsky, Freud and so many more that suddenly I want to read again…
Your blog is an insightful dialogue and fun to read too (like the best travelogues).
I hope everybody could appreciate the great value in your work and be inspired to think or imagine or write or...…
I can’t wait for my baby girl to grow and return this time with her to the jungle in Guatemala or Africa or the South Pacific. That will be “educational” for her and it will open more windows in her life to appreciate every human group as it is.
May be the Travel Channel will hear your ideas (or mine) and will include a podcast or something in the ITunes-TChannel features, something that we can download?? To celebrate my daughter’s first birthday we are going to South America (Argentina) this Saturday and I hate to miss the next episode!
Once again, thank you!

olly i just want to say hi and that you are quite the man. I look up to you like im sure so many other people. Ok well getting to the point, what do you know about the Bunlap tribe?

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olly let me just start of by say how completely wonderful you are. i have all the upmost respectt for you for what you do. I just have one question to ask you. Do you like the Bunlap tribe? they are my abselute favorite. they way they wear those shlong danglers is amazing. those things come in some many different colors and fit all sizes. just want to hear your thoughts on the Bunlaps

Hi Olly. It is easy for us to make our comments because we were not there. I did respect the fact you wore the koteka during the celebration. I am really enjoying the series. Thank you.

This is the type of show that definitely makes one think, at least it has me up at some part of the night wondering what it would be like to go "exploring" by myself or a friend or husband..whatever..I think it is really important to pick the right travel companion, who could either make or break what you set out to find in the first place.

I am really enjoying the series, but wondering just how much is made in to good tv for tv's sake? I think it is admirable to abandon the average way of life which you grew up with and take on a whole new culture (at least temporarily) set of traditions, ways, etc.

So I think that you guys (Olly and Mark) are really impressive! Any more shows in the future? Also, do you have any suggestions for novice explorers (is that the right word, ha, I don't know)?

I like the show, but would like to know why they wear the Kotekas. Is there a purpose?
Spiritual? Medical? How do they pee?
Is auto-eroticism frowned upon?
not joking, just wanted to know.

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I want to know what happened to the young girl - forensia... The one they thought was a witch...

It would be tragic, if those people killed that girl. Her mom wouldn't even know happened to her.

Olly,

I am in the process of developing a program for kids in the local pueblos to film their own experiences within their culture. Working in the film industry I am working with the local crew base to donate their time to teach and help these kids film their own stories. Would you have any suggestions or thoughts. I would like to give the kids some guidelines to help them capture their culture and story. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you
Gwyn

Olly,

I want to thank both you and Mark for a fascinating look at the Mek. I can imagine that although you both must miss them, you probably are very happy to be back home. Do you intend to go back and see if Christianity has developed further? It seems kind of a shame to loose the essence and traditions of a people. Do you think in time the Mek will become more Westernized due to this? What a sheme.

Olly,
In Mek society were men ever accused of being Witches or Swangee(sorry if misspelled) .
If so did you or Mark ever worry that one of you might be accused of being a Swangee or a witch.

Great show! I wondered what the Mek were smoking. Could there be a connection between the smoking or anything else ingested that had them seeing suangee coming up through the floors?
Also, was quite surprised so many got on that bridge at one time, considering you were worried about it`s holding weight! Thought you`d go across one at a time!

Olly....Will there be a book to follow?

Was there ever a fear that sickness or bad events such as the house fires would be blamed on the presence of the two visitors, Olly and Mark, and that the superstitious tribe might harm them?

Hi

Thank you for for such a great show. I was wondering two things. 1) Will there be a new season and; 2) Even though you and Mark see this as a job, documenting the life of these people, I assume you do form an emotional bond with them and vice versa. How easy is it to walk away from that.

Thanks and keep up the great work. Take care and be safe.

Who was the camera man and who was the interpreter? And were they as involved in Mek life as Olly and Mark?

I was rivited from start to finish. So often people look at others unfamiliar to them as strange and different with sub-human habits. This show introduced us to a very different culture and showed us how truly human, in the best way, they were. This show educated me in a way that no other experience in my life has. Thank you for that!

I was particularly struck by the scene where Olly was taken to the cave of the ancestors. When the man told him that they believed they had come from animals, it struck me that they had a sense of the truth of the matter (when you consider evolution.) And when he blocked his eyes for fear of seeing the cave where they believed their people had transformed - well, I can't describe my feelings.

All in all, extremely well done, fascinating, and emotionally moving.

Olly/Mark, I thoroughly enjoyed the show with the Mek, thanks a bunch for the times. I look forward to seeing more of your exploits.

Thanks,

I just got done with u guys saying farewell to the meks. I thought it was sad and awesome at the same time. I wish you guys would have took the orphan boy with u. love u guys and nice gords lol. I cried like i was saying goodbye. Have yall seen them since u left?

I've been watching this series for the past couple of months, and I cried with them at the end of tonight's finale.

I just hope that these people DON'T become Christianized. I say, leave them alone to follow their centuries old traditions.

It's so amazing that they are able to live in such natural surroundings. Their skills are empecciable.

I am happy that Mark and Olly brought this wonderful information to us....but I noticed that some tribes are already wearing clothes, have Christian churches, is smoking cigarettes, etc. What a shame.

Keep us updated, but leave them to their own traditions.

I would love to visit them for about a week.
Thanks.

Olly, was there ever a thought about bringing anyone from the MEK back with you for them to see the life outside the tribe? I think it would be interesting to see their reaction to life as we know it. However, it would be better as a book rather than filmed, for me anyway.