On The Wilder Shores Of Life: Living With Primitive Tribes

On the Wilder Shores of Life is a fascinating account, from a bygone age, by the famous anthropologist Professor Christopher Hallpike, of living with primitive tribes 50 years ago in a remote corner of Emperor Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia, and in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, while it was still an Australian colony.The Konso Of EthiopiaBored with Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford, he was far more interested in blood-sacrifice, magic, cannibalism, feuding and warfare, evil spirits and witch-doctors. And influenced by the great 20th Century explorer Wilfred Thesiger, in 1965 he went to Ethiopia to spend two gruelling years living with the fascinating Konso tribe, whose tiny territory is now famous as a World Heritage Site.The Tauade Of Papua New GuineaAfter an eventful interlude in Nova Scotia, Canada he then went to Papua New Guinea to live with the Tauade tribe, one of the most extravagantly violent people in the world, and cannibals within living memory, for another two challenging years.Adventure and AnthropologyOn the Wilder Shores of Life is a rollicking adventure and anthropological masterpiece in one, and enhanced by Hallpike’s excellent selection of photographs.The book is recommended for everyone from serious academics and those interested in primitive societies, to those wanting to read about adventure and danger in impossibly remote parts of the world. But readers are warned that the book is not a “safe space” for the mentally fragile, who are advised to avoid it at all costs.