Skin for drums

Native tribes with animist traditions are not rare in Indonesia. And the further from the civilization you go, the stranger rituals you see. Sometimes, however, it is not advisable to go too far. Once, we even received a warning against one cannibalistic tribe from a local teacher Benedict. The people in the village of Wologai apparently use human skin to make drums. They either kidnap people from other villages or reach their own ranks. But only as the last option. Other resources say that their drum was stolen two years ago so the tribe is waiting for a new victim. We don’t expect to have a chance to meet such a tribe, and quickly forget the story.

Until we find ourselves in the area where the locals didn’t have much imagination when inventing village names. Beside Wololele, there is Wolokoli, across the street lies Wolosoko, and Wolojita is up the hill. Then you try in vain to recall the name of the skin-loving tribe you want to avoid, and start to see human-coated drums in your head. White drums from white tourist, black ones from black.