In the village of Timbumeri, on the southern shore of lake Chambri,
the garamut tom-toms sound out,
announcing the initiation ceremony of the crocodile men.
From dawn, all the men of the village start work, preparing the ritual.
By the river, beside the tambaran, they build a crocodile nest.
They remove mud with buckets, to make sure the water drums
are deep enough, and enclose the area with palm leaves and banana leaves.
The uninitiated, and the women, are not allowed to see what happens inside this area.
Meanwhile, the young fashion shapes from palm tree,
representing the heads of the sacred reptiles.
They decorate them with strips of palm,
cut into the shape of crocodile tails, and with flowers and leaves.
The walls of the enclosure are closely-woven.
From outside, no one can see what is happening inside the area,
which represents the heart of the spirit of the king of crocodiles.
Inside, they make sure that the palm trunk,
which will represent the reptile’s tail, moves properly.
When the tambaran has also been hidden behind branches
of palm-tree and banana-tree, the preparations are complete.
The men of these societies in Sepik subject themselves to real torture.
With several hundred cuts,
their skin takes on the appearance of that of their reptilian gods
The incisions around the nipples represent the eyes of the crocodile.
Those on the shoulders, the torso,
the upper arm and the back symbolise other parts of the crocodile’s body.
As soon as the sun sets,
the enormous garamuts announce the start of the ceremony.
Our cameras move through the branches of the crocodile nest.
Inside, seven naked men exhibit the two water drums: feminine and masculine.
Soon, the heart of the king of the crocodiles starts to beat.
This sound imitates that of the powerful reptiles.
Outside, tens of warriors dance to the beat.
In unison, they shout encouragement to their god,
who moves his palm-tree tail in approval.
The uninitiated always watch the performance from a distance,
moved by the strange sounds they hear.
They truly believe these sounds emanate from another world.
The warrior chief beats the ground with his ceremonial tail.
From the nest, the water drums reply.
All the elements must be co-ordinated,
so the spirit of the king of crocodiles will come and possess the initiated.
They believe that in the beginning there was only water.
The crocodile then created the earth and formed an enormous crack in it.
The crocodile then fertilised it, and gave rise to all the species of the earth.
He then opened his mouth, and from his upper jaw came the sky,
and from the lower jaw the ground.
The initiate is led into the tambaran.
On this occasion, it is a man who had already been initiated,
but had lived for many years outside his community.
Now, by means of sacrifice, he publicly reaffirms that he belongs here,
and wishes to rid himself of the outside influences that have contaminated him.
Outside, the warriors continue to shout encouragement to the great spirit.
Soon, purifying blood will be spilt.
Lying on a board, and aided by an acolyte,
the initiate awaits the contact of the knife.
He will have eaten narcotic plants, which daze him and dull the pain,
though on this occasion his skin will be scarred
with only the final few cuts of confirmation.
The wounds are covered with mud and with Gwak,
a vegetable oil with powerful antiseptic properties.
The result will be scars in the form of scales.
The initiate is led to the nest of the great spirit.
He is now a crocodile man.
Tradition has been followed.
The symbiosis of man and reptile keeps alive the ancestral codes
of the great river of black waters.