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Throwim Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums and Penis Gourds
Flannery travels to the unexplored regions of New Guinea in search of species that science has yet to discover or classify. He finds many -- from a community of giant cave bats that were supposedly extinct to the elusive black-and-white tree-kangaroo -- and along the way has a wealth of unforgettable adventures. Flannery scales cliffs, descends into caverns, and cheats death, both from disease and at the hands of the local cannibals, who wish to take revenge on his "clan" of wildlife scientists. He eventually befriends the tribespeople, who become companions in his quest and whose contributions to his research prove invaluable. In New Guinea pidgin, throwim way leg means to take the first step of a long journey. The journey in this book is a wild ride full of natural wonders and Flannery's trademark wit, a tour de force of travelogue, anthropology, and natural history.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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823 people want to read
About the author
Tim Flannery
119Ìýbooks385ÌýfollowersTim Flannery is one of Australia's leading thinkers and writers.
An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books. His books include the landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in 2006 won the NSW Premiers Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.
He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science and in 2002 delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.
He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society's representative in Australasia. He serves on the board of WWF International (London and Gland) and on the sustainability advisory councils of Siemens (Munich) and Tata Power (Mumbai).
In 2007 he co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who came together to confront climate change.
Tim Flannery is currently Professor of Science at Maquarie University, Sydney.
An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books. His books include the landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in 2006 won the NSW Premiers Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.
He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science and in 2002 delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.
He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society's representative in Australasia. He serves on the board of WWF International (London and Gland) and on the sustainability advisory councils of Siemens (Munich) and Tata Power (Mumbai).
In 2007 he co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who came together to confront climate change.
Tim Flannery is currently Professor of Science at Maquarie University, Sydney.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
February 4, 2017
3.5 stars
Throwim Way Leg is the fifth book by Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, global warming activist and author, Tim Flannery. It describes his many expeditions into Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya in quest of various wildlife species. As well as detailing what is involved in tracking down, sighting and examining his quarry, Flannery comments on the huge challenge faced by those involved with environmental conservation in an undeveloped country such as this.
While the myriad of species which get a mention may fascinate (or may make the eyes glaze over), Flannery’s tales of his encounters with the locals are interesting, frequently curious and quite often hilarious. Nor is he averse to relating anecdotes that paint him in a less-than-favourable light: the laugh is often on Tim! Accounts of (mis)adventures with pythons and possums, rats and bats, giardia and entamoeba, malaria and altitude sickness, tree kangaroos and a tropical glacier, an angry villager and a tapeworm snacker, all provide diversion and entertainment.
Flannery includes a wealth of information about the fauna of New Guinea, about the people and about plundering of natural resources: the last chapter is a sober commentary on the unrest fomenting between the Kamoro (lowlanders) and Amungme (highlanders), PT Freeport Indonesia and the Indonesian military at the time. This is an interesting and thought-provoking read.
Throwim Way Leg is the fifth book by Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, global warming activist and author, Tim Flannery. It describes his many expeditions into Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya in quest of various wildlife species. As well as detailing what is involved in tracking down, sighting and examining his quarry, Flannery comments on the huge challenge faced by those involved with environmental conservation in an undeveloped country such as this.
While the myriad of species which get a mention may fascinate (or may make the eyes glaze over), Flannery’s tales of his encounters with the locals are interesting, frequently curious and quite often hilarious. Nor is he averse to relating anecdotes that paint him in a less-than-favourable light: the laugh is often on Tim! Accounts of (mis)adventures with pythons and possums, rats and bats, giardia and entamoeba, malaria and altitude sickness, tree kangaroos and a tropical glacier, an angry villager and a tapeworm snacker, all provide diversion and entertainment.
Flannery includes a wealth of information about the fauna of New Guinea, about the people and about plundering of natural resources: the last chapter is a sober commentary on the unrest fomenting between the Kamoro (lowlanders) and Amungme (highlanders), PT Freeport Indonesia and the Indonesian military at the time. This is an interesting and thought-provoking read.
April 19, 2021
The author, a mammologist, takes the reader with him as he explores remote areas of Papua New Guinea looking for rare animals. As the reader accompanies him, we are introduced to isolated villages, beautiful landscapes, stunning wildlife and interesting characters.
December 17, 2011
Yes, they really wear gourds on their penises. (Oh do admit, you were dying to know.)
Parental guidance recommended for viewing:
Parental guidance recommended for viewing:
March 6, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2010
Tim Flannery, a zoologist with the Australian Museum, has been traveling since the early 1980's to New Guinea, where he's discovered lots of new mammal and other animal species, most notably the black-and-white ground-living tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus mbaiso). The spirit of this memoir is generally one of wonder, adventure, and joyous discovery. It's not all fun though: the decline of traditional ways of life and the injustices perpetrated on Irian Jaya by the Indonesian military make their way into the book too. I highly recommend this as a travel narrative and an introduction to the flora, fauna, and human traditions of New Guinea.
July 26, 2021
I think Flannery must be a good man and an amazing biologist and researcher; I’m not denying his professional credentials but his explicit and implicit condescension to Melanesians and Caucasian residents of PNG was too much for me. Admittedly, I’m biased as I know a few of the people he discusses in this book and I didn’t like his cursory and almost belittling descriptions of them and their work and their culture. He purports to being modern but I felt a deeply unconscious and hypocritical colonial lens running underneath his worldview just as he denigrates others for doing the same.
April 13, 2009
A fantastic narrative in Papua New Guinea. This book will make you see how a "primitive" culture is actually a superior intellect evolved specifically for its environment. You would not last 2 days in the forest of Papua New Guinea, an environment where native people have lived for thousands of years. Cannibalism will also make sense in this setting, whatever revulsion you may have toward it.
July 11, 2011
this book really got me hooked on travel writing, Tim Flannery, and new ways of looking at things.
November 16, 2023
Tim Flannery is a modern anthropologist, meeting the people of remote Papua New Guinea and West Papua, and acting as an intermediary for them.
From 1980 to 1998, Flannery traveled several times to our neighbouring island, to meet the people, see the animals, and record information about their lives and the impact of the Freeport gold and copper mine, set up by the Americans, being sold partially to the Indonesians.
Reading this book partially inspired me to write 'Long Pork', about the Papuan people impacted by this mine, still living their tribal lifestyle, suddenly having their rivers poisoned by mine tailings.
This book is illustrated by photos of Flannery's explorations, guided by teams of locals, hunting for specimens of tree kangaroos and other endemic wildlife.
Flannery's other book, 'The Future Eaters' is a great analysis of Western versus Indigenous lifestyles, and our impact on our only planet.
A great thinker, a great man, a great book.
From 1980 to 1998, Flannery traveled several times to our neighbouring island, to meet the people, see the animals, and record information about their lives and the impact of the Freeport gold and copper mine, set up by the Americans, being sold partially to the Indonesians.
Reading this book partially inspired me to write 'Long Pork', about the Papuan people impacted by this mine, still living their tribal lifestyle, suddenly having their rivers poisoned by mine tailings.
This book is illustrated by photos of Flannery's explorations, guided by teams of locals, hunting for specimens of tree kangaroos and other endemic wildlife.
Flannery's other book, 'The Future Eaters' is a great analysis of Western versus Indigenous lifestyles, and our impact on our only planet.
A great thinker, a great man, a great book.
March 4, 2012
Uno de mis viajes soñados es por los mares y los montes de la isla de Nueva Guinea. Al ver este libro no me pude resistir, porque encima estaba de oferta a 3�. Y qué gran compra, estimados lectores.
Tim Flannery [TF] se licenció en literatura inglesa, créanlo, y luego se doctoró en zoologÃa. Aunque ahora anda dedicado al cambio climático, en tiempos se dedicó a estudiar a fondo a los marsupiales, con gran éxito, pues descubrió 39 especies desconocidas para la ciencia. A lo largo de estas páginas vivimos la emoción del descubrimiento de nuevas espacies en los más oscuros recovecos de las junglas de Papúa Nueva Guinea (paÃs que ocupa la mitad oriental de la isla) y la provincia de Irian Jaya, que era la mitad occidenatal (y que hoy son ), en una sucesión de varias expediciones para catalogar la fauna local, y especialmente los grandes mamÃferos.
En sus expediciones, casi todo son incomodidades. TF casi murió por fiebre de los pastos. Sólo le salvó una monja enfermera que sospechó que tras una semana de tratamiento contra la malaria la ausencia de mejorÃa significaba que probablemente no era malaria lo que sufrÃa TF. La enfermera buscó con cuidado la mordedura de una especie concreta de garrapata y, al encontrarla (siempre pican en la zona genital), lo envió corriendo a un hospital donde podrÃan darle tratamiento.
Además, el libro es un constante devenir de especies que están a punto de extinguirse. A cada sitio al que llega le dicen que hay cierta especie de canguro arborÃcola que no se ve desde hace una o dos generaciones. El libro es una continua búsqueda de especies en el borde de la existencia. Algunas veces TF tiene éxito y otras sólo puede esperar que en algún rincón olvidado sin presencia humana, una pequeña comunidad de canguros pueda aguantar un par de generaciones más.
Pero el libro no va solo de animales. TF hace una descripción cargada de amor y admiración de la cultura melanesia, hoy prácticamente destruida por (o adaptada a) las influencias europeas y musulmanas (indonesias). Durante sus andanzas por la isla se hizo amigo de muchos melanesios, oks, telefols, y muchos otros de cuya existencia yo no tenÃa ni idea. Su descripción de las costumbres y el modo de vida de estas tribus nos hace sonreÃr, a pesar de que si las analizamos frÃamente sean muy primitivas: la inmensa mayorÃa de los asesinatos en Papúa son por robos, ya sean de tierras, mujeres o cerdos (¿en ese orden?). TF cuenta cómo la creciente presencia de no melanesios en la isla tiene consecuencias catastróficas, según él, para la cultura local. Un párrafo que da idea de las opiniones del autor:
Para un soldado bugi o javanés embrutecido de servicio en un puesto de guardia, el viejo negro con un calabacÃn fálico que va arreando un cerdo delante de él es un ser demonÃaco y profundamente detestable. Es una caricatura de la humanidad, con la que el soldado evita todo contacto salvo la violencia. Pero yo conozco a ese anciano. Tiene un sentido indomable del valor, sentido del humor y un profundo sentimiento de humanidad. Es el jefe de una comunidad respetado por su sabidurÃa, su oratoria y su riqueza tradicional. Es un gran hombre. El soldado es inferior en todos los sentidos. Y sin embargo el gobierno pone un arma automática en manos del don nadie, con lo que tiene la libertad de tratar a sus conciudadanos con una brutalidad y una falta de consideración que ha creado un odio intenso entre muchos iranianos contra lo que ellos consideran un ejército de ocupación
Hay una anécdota muy graciosa, cuando TF intenta entrevistarse con el jefe de una tribu pero le dicen que no, que se ha ido con su grupo de danzas tribales a participar en la ceremonia de inauguración de los Juegos OlÃmpicos de Barcelona 92 
El libro es muy entretenido y se aprende un montón. La traducción es buena, salvo por la confusión demasiado frecuente de haya/halla y otros fallos como a parte/aparte, que molestan bastante cuando te golpean en la cara.
Mi nota: Muy interesante.
January 4, 2023
This book gave great insight into PNG and West Papua and I learnt things that will stick with me forever. Not only a great story teller, Flannery has managed to explain the local people in a deep, interesting way. Highly recommend this book if you are interested in Melanesian culture.
January 6, 2014
Tim Flannery is a biologist studying the mammals of New Guinea. This book describes his expeditions to the island, both the independent half and the Indonesian-ruled half, in the 1980s and the 1990s. Flannery did discover several mammals new to Western science, though not to the local hunters: a new species of cave-nesting bat, a new species of tree kangaroo, a new species of ground-living tree kangaroo, and so on; in a cave he found the bones of an extinct panda-sized herbivorous marsupial and an extinct wallaby. The animals are not as interesting, though, as the indigenous people Flannery worked with.
The hunters-gatherers knew the natural history of their region, could imitate the calls of many animals, and tracked and hunted specimens for Flannery. However, they had little understanding of the outside world. A Papuan man once asked Flannery, how to make an airplane. Well, you take ore out of the ground like in the mine you've seen, smelt it and cast the metal, and form it into the wings, fuselage and propeller at a factory; it takes the organized labor of many people to make an airplane, and no single man knows it all. No, just tell me how to make them. He did not understand that Flannery did not possess a magical formula for making airplanes, which he refused to share out of sheer selfishness. Another complained to Flannery that the central government has given transistor radios to all the ghosts, but not to the live residents of his village. A Christian missionary told Flannery that when he first described heaven and hell to his parishioners and showed proselytizing cartoons to them, they all preferred hell: dark-skinned humanoids sticking many-pronged spears into white men next to a warm fire is of course much more attractive than menacing-looking white men in a misty place reminiscent of cold mountaintops. An American ornithologist and a zoologist paid a tribe too little for their help; so they decided to avenge this by killing the next Western biologist who comes to their tribal area, as they would kill a clansman of a Papuan who has wronged them. Fortunately, Flannery avoided being killed by throwing a pig feast and making a formal agreement with the tribe about compensation for their work.
The traditional way of life is being slowly destroyed by environmentally destructive gold and copper mining, immigration from other Indonesian islands into the Indonesian half of New Guinea, Christian missionaries eradicating pagan customs and beliefs, introduced disease such as tuberculosis and the pig tapeworm, which is transmitted to humans who eat undercooked pork and can form cysts in the brain, and accessibility of modern goods such as second-hand clothes. Of course, the old days were no golden age. An old Papuan once told Flannery how his village raided another village; he thought that they had slaughtered everyone when he noticed a baby not yet a year old in a string bag up in a tree; he slung the bag over his shoulder, and the baby fell asleep between the severed limbs of its parents. The raider raised the baby as his own son. As he was telling this story, his wife chimed in: when they ate the baby's fat parents, she had enough milk to nurse two children. Yet the Papuans are not given a choice, whether to live the old way or the modern way.
The hunters-gatherers knew the natural history of their region, could imitate the calls of many animals, and tracked and hunted specimens for Flannery. However, they had little understanding of the outside world. A Papuan man once asked Flannery, how to make an airplane. Well, you take ore out of the ground like in the mine you've seen, smelt it and cast the metal, and form it into the wings, fuselage and propeller at a factory; it takes the organized labor of many people to make an airplane, and no single man knows it all. No, just tell me how to make them. He did not understand that Flannery did not possess a magical formula for making airplanes, which he refused to share out of sheer selfishness. Another complained to Flannery that the central government has given transistor radios to all the ghosts, but not to the live residents of his village. A Christian missionary told Flannery that when he first described heaven and hell to his parishioners and showed proselytizing cartoons to them, they all preferred hell: dark-skinned humanoids sticking many-pronged spears into white men next to a warm fire is of course much more attractive than menacing-looking white men in a misty place reminiscent of cold mountaintops. An American ornithologist and a zoologist paid a tribe too little for their help; so they decided to avenge this by killing the next Western biologist who comes to their tribal area, as they would kill a clansman of a Papuan who has wronged them. Fortunately, Flannery avoided being killed by throwing a pig feast and making a formal agreement with the tribe about compensation for their work.
The traditional way of life is being slowly destroyed by environmentally destructive gold and copper mining, immigration from other Indonesian islands into the Indonesian half of New Guinea, Christian missionaries eradicating pagan customs and beliefs, introduced disease such as tuberculosis and the pig tapeworm, which is transmitted to humans who eat undercooked pork and can form cysts in the brain, and accessibility of modern goods such as second-hand clothes. Of course, the old days were no golden age. An old Papuan once told Flannery how his village raided another village; he thought that they had slaughtered everyone when he noticed a baby not yet a year old in a string bag up in a tree; he slung the bag over his shoulder, and the baby fell asleep between the severed limbs of its parents. The raider raised the baby as his own son. As he was telling this story, his wife chimed in: when they ate the baby's fat parents, she had enough milk to nurse two children. Yet the Papuans are not given a choice, whether to live the old way or the modern way.
May 17, 2016
I love travelogues about Papua New Guinea. It's one of the only places left where you can, if you try hard enough, travel back to the Stone Age. Everything feels a bit more real there, in a gritty but wacky way. Here also is a rare glimpse into the Indonesia-controlled Irian Jaya side of the island, yet another case of a 'civilized,' militarized power invading, exploiting, coralling, and slowly annihilating the native cultures they found. Not that the natives of Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea aren't doing a good job killing each other and overhunting the eponymous tree kangaroos and other fauna all on their own.
December 8, 2009
Very interesting and one of the best sources of detailed biological and cultural info on Papua New Guinea & Irian Jaya that I've found. Flannery is a good storyteller, weaving scientific details and intercultural interactions in an engaging narrative. He worked in parts of PNG quite different from the coastal zone where I was based, but his stories evoke common themes from my experience there.
March 8, 2013
I enjoyed reading about Flannery's travels through New Guinea and learned about the country, its flora, fauna, and people. I didn't think it was very well written though - a bit fluffy. I also wish there were better maps and more photos.
The subject matter is especially interesting to me because I'm a biologist, my mother was born in Irian Jaya, and I protested against Freeport McMoran as a college student from 1995-1998.
The subject matter is especially interesting to me because I'm a biologist, my mother was born in Irian Jaya, and I protested against Freeport McMoran as a college student from 1995-1998.
December 5, 2016
Full score, five stars, Even if I sometimes felt it'd be more interesting to hear about the people(s) and less about the animals this biologist met on his travels. But. It's a great journey. And it's well-written. And so hilariously exotic and gung-ho and fun. Sympathetic yet unsentimental. And with a telling last chapter about the Indonesian state's treatment of the Melanesians, a story I've never heard before and yet it is all too familiar. One of the best books I've read this year.
July 27, 2011
$2 today 11/7/11. Did not think I would find this one 2nd hand. wheee! Includes colour photos and maps/illustrations
June 19, 2012
Papuan travel adventure, ecology and anthropology all in one. Highly readable and most enjoyable. For fans of Douglass Adams' Last Chance to See.
August 4, 2012
Great insight into PNG
June 1, 2022
After Greenland it is the world's largest island, and its size, shape and rugged mountains are all the result of its peculiar geological history, for New Guinea is Australia's bow wave.
People have lived there for at least 45,000 years. They arrived by sea from Asia at a time when New Guinea and Australia were joined.
The ancient Romans flavoured their food with cloves, which are the flower buds of a lilly pilly which grows only on islands just to the west of New Guinea.
During the colonial period, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia all counted parts of New Guinea as their territory. Australia ended up administering the eastern half of the island, which became the independent nation of Papua New Guinea in 1975. The western half passed from Dutch to Indonesian hands, and is now a province of Indonesia.
He questioned me intensively about the beast and its sexual habits, before explaining that his most recent book of poems was called Antechinus. The work had the sex lives of these strange marsupials as a major theme. Their reproductive pattern is unusual in that males live only eleven months, while females can live years.
To this day the Neon Basin of December 1981 remains my enchanted place - the refuge I imagine myself in as a means of escape from the interminable boredom of committee meetings.
Bloated stomachs, denoting malnutrition and chronic swelling of the spleen due to malaria, were almost universal in the few surviving children, as well as many of the adults.
I was actually rather pleased about the leeches, for where there are lots of leeches there must also be many mammals for them to live off.
The worst annoyance on the mountain were the sweat bees. [...] Sweat bees are minute, stingless bees which can swarm by the thousand from dawn until dusk. As their name suggests, they drink sweat.
Most West Miyanmin do, on occasion, become crazed with sorrow. This state of temporary insanity caused by calamity is widely accepted in Miyanmin society as legitimate behaviour, despite the fact that mad grief can become an excuse for the most outrageous acts.
Dan Jorgensen, a Canadian anthropologist who had already spent several years with the Telefol, was then living in a village called Telefolip.
He wore ex-army shorts and a military beret, but had doubtless spent his early years dressed in kamen and autil, the traditional Telefol penis gourd and cane waistband.
After an awkward silence I fished a cooked sweet potato out of the ashes (these formed our principal food at the camp) and passed it to him.
He begged us to buy the tomatoes and carrots which the village women grew. He explained that the Atbalmin would not yet eat such strange food and were growing them only for sale to the expected influx of tourists.
Such places are known as bil to the Mountains Ok, explaining the number of airstrips which bear the term as a suffix (Tabubil, Tumolbil, Defakbil, etc.).
The Mountain Ok people have a special use for the webs. They fashion fish traps out of them. They search for a four-pronged stick, which they whisk into web after web with a circular motion. Soon it becomes a container of sticky web and trapped spiders. They place this in a river or stream, cup upward. There, miniature fish adhere to the sticky fibres.
Anti-malarial drugs offer only partial protection. Malaria, it seems, mutates so rapidly that it becomes resistant to each new drug soon after it is developed.
As a result of these problems, I have learned to live with vivax malaria (the most common and least dangerous strain) while in New Guinea. Indeed, malaria often seems to cause my worst troubles in Australia.
The people of 3Fas are sago-eaters. They plant no gardens, and so even a banana was an unheard-of luxury. Like them, I had to subsist on sago processed into a grey jelly that resembled snot in colour, texture and (I assume) taste.
The boils are caused by a bacterium which normally inhabits the nasal cavity. You are commonly infected by scratching yourself after shaking hands with someone who has just picked his nose.
Melanesians are loath to foul their waterways, and one rarely sees such a disgusting sight elsewhere in New Guinea.
The gourd worn by the young men serves as a pouch. They remove the plug of fur or cloth at its end, and retrieve from it tobacco, matches or other small knick-knacks. Being broad, it has considerable capacity. Being short, it does not get entangled during a dash through the forest in pursuit of a possum. Such an accident, by the way, could be rather painful, considering the string that ties the gourd at its base to one testicle.
One of his innovations was a project to grow garlic, a light, relatively high-priced product, for export.
Endemic plants (those unique to an area) often support endemic mammals. The fact that they were fruiting suggested mammal activity should be at a peak.
Like virtually all mountain people, they can view Europeans simply as a boundless source of wealth, and fail to accord them the common courtesy they would extend to anyone else. Some people demanded ridiculous prices for items such as vegetables, and then became angered when I refused to accede to their demands. Many, I am sure, thought that I acted out of pure selfishness by refusing to share my wealth.
June 25, 2017
New Guinea is a wonderland of fauna and flora found nowhere else on earth, a paradise for an ornithologist, an entomologist, a botanist, or a zoologist like Tim Flannery. But to explore the country’s riches, the researcher has to deal with a seriously rugged terrain: dense bush, steep mountains and slippery descents, slimy logs bridging flooding rivers and deep ravines, extreme heat, and humidity so intense that, as Flannery says, “You can feel the fungus growing on your skin.� There is also the disease factor—malaria, dysentery, scrub typhus, altitude sickness. And then there is the fact that when you finally arrive at a village you have no idea whether the greeting will be friendly or hostile.
To take this on, the researcher has to be fit, intrepid, up for adventure, and passionate about his work. The Australian mammologist, Tim Flannery, though too modest to cast himself as hero, is all four. He is also a writer who can draw readers into both his fieldwork and his personal experience in prose that is at once plain and gripping.
Throwin Way Leg, in New Guinea Pidgin, means “to go on a journey,� and Flannery’s journey begins in 1981 when, at 26, his desire to go to New Guinea was at last fulfilled. His book recounts the various expeditions he made over 15 years, mostly to Papua New Guinea—the eastern half of the island—which was by then an independent country, but later to Irian Jaya, a province of Indonesia.
Flannery’s special interest is tree-kangaroos, but his observations and his hunts, carried out with the aid of many New Guineans, reveal numerous other animals as well: echidnas, possums, rats, Birds-of-Paradise, tiny pink frogs. One of the most exciting parts of the book involves his hair-raising efforts to capture and identify a bat that he believes might be Bulmer’s Fruit-bat, thought to be extinct for 12,000 years. (He proves to be right.) Although he discovers many new species, the high point of his career as a biologist, he says, is the discovery of Dingiso, a black-and-white ground-living tree-kangaroo, who is gentle, friendly, and, judging by the photo he provides, very cute.
Throwim Way Leg, though, is not only about animals. Fluent in Pidgin, Flannery becomes friendly with many of the New Guineans he works with, relying on their deep knowledge of local wildlife for his own work and respecting the great variety of cultures and customs he encounters. “How do we judge a person whose culture and attitudes we barely understand?� he asks. His own response is not to judge, even when confronted with a story of cannibalism that is truly alien. Flannery is clearly so open-minded and interested that people speak freely to him, and their personalities and stories are fascinating.
When Flannery arrives in Irian Jaya, however, he finds that unlike Papua New Guinea, where whites and new Guineans now work together and socialize comfortably, terrible racism and abuse are prevalent. The Indonesian government has taken the land, mined it for gold and copper, and shared none of the profits with the indigenous people, thousands of whom have been killed by the military the government has used to control them. Deeply upset at the mistreatment and death of a young boy, Flannery feels called upon to write about the human rights violations he witnessed, heard, and read about. His descriptions are insightful, disturbing, and moving.
Having lived in and written about Papua New Guinea, I’m always interested in the island, and I can’t understand how I missed this wonderful book when it appeared in 1998. So little is written about the country that it’s especially delightful to find this 20th-century tale of exploration that brings the island so colorfully to life.
To take this on, the researcher has to be fit, intrepid, up for adventure, and passionate about his work. The Australian mammologist, Tim Flannery, though too modest to cast himself as hero, is all four. He is also a writer who can draw readers into both his fieldwork and his personal experience in prose that is at once plain and gripping.
Throwin Way Leg, in New Guinea Pidgin, means “to go on a journey,� and Flannery’s journey begins in 1981 when, at 26, his desire to go to New Guinea was at last fulfilled. His book recounts the various expeditions he made over 15 years, mostly to Papua New Guinea—the eastern half of the island—which was by then an independent country, but later to Irian Jaya, a province of Indonesia.
Flannery’s special interest is tree-kangaroos, but his observations and his hunts, carried out with the aid of many New Guineans, reveal numerous other animals as well: echidnas, possums, rats, Birds-of-Paradise, tiny pink frogs. One of the most exciting parts of the book involves his hair-raising efforts to capture and identify a bat that he believes might be Bulmer’s Fruit-bat, thought to be extinct for 12,000 years. (He proves to be right.) Although he discovers many new species, the high point of his career as a biologist, he says, is the discovery of Dingiso, a black-and-white ground-living tree-kangaroo, who is gentle, friendly, and, judging by the photo he provides, very cute.
Throwim Way Leg, though, is not only about animals. Fluent in Pidgin, Flannery becomes friendly with many of the New Guineans he works with, relying on their deep knowledge of local wildlife for his own work and respecting the great variety of cultures and customs he encounters. “How do we judge a person whose culture and attitudes we barely understand?� he asks. His own response is not to judge, even when confronted with a story of cannibalism that is truly alien. Flannery is clearly so open-minded and interested that people speak freely to him, and their personalities and stories are fascinating.
When Flannery arrives in Irian Jaya, however, he finds that unlike Papua New Guinea, where whites and new Guineans now work together and socialize comfortably, terrible racism and abuse are prevalent. The Indonesian government has taken the land, mined it for gold and copper, and shared none of the profits with the indigenous people, thousands of whom have been killed by the military the government has used to control them. Deeply upset at the mistreatment and death of a young boy, Flannery feels called upon to write about the human rights violations he witnessed, heard, and read about. His descriptions are insightful, disturbing, and moving.
Having lived in and written about Papua New Guinea, I’m always interested in the island, and I can’t understand how I missed this wonderful book when it appeared in 1998. So little is written about the country that it’s especially delightful to find this 20th-century tale of exploration that brings the island so colorfully to life.
May 31, 2020
This is a good look at a the cultures and wildlife of New Guinea in the 1980s and 1990s. The author, an Australian mammalogist, traveled extensively in both halves of the island (one its own country, Papua New Guinea, and the other part of Indonesia). His purpose was to look for rare and previously-unknown mammals. In the process, he had extensive interaction with many of the indigenous people, and learned much of their history and ways of life.
During this time, there was a lot of "development" going on there, which took a heavy toll on the environment, including the wildlife and the indigenous people, many of whom had had little contact with the outside world.
The indigenous cultures and situation (which varied in different places) were at times hard to stomach. There were groups that had only recently (if yet) subsisted partly by destroying other villages and eating the inhabitants. And it sounded like they really needed the protein! And yet, many of them were (otherwise) sweet people, including being loving parents to children from the destroyed villages whom they'd adopted rather than eaten. Serious health problems were ubiquitous, largely due to contact with the outside world and the resultant change in habitats. Most people's lives were short and filled with difficulties.
The author depended on these people for shelter and for obtaining animal specimens, and well as for lore about the animals of interest. He knew or learned enough of their languages to communicate well, and became close friends with some. The book tells a lot about these people, including the ones he didn't like so much.
I was bothered by the amount of casual killing of animals (especially some very rare ones), not so much when the locals caught them to eat, but for the author's specimen gathering. I was troubled also, for most of the book, by what I thought was some amount of callousness to the peoples' predicaments. The author's group would be on an expedition, and they would have encounters with people who really needed help, but they didn't have enough supplies to help, or they were on their way to find animals and couldn't stop. But near the end of the book, he showed himself as much more concerned. The book left me with both a sense of wonder about the amazing environments described, and sadness and outrage about the destruction and abuses of encroaching "civilization."
During this time, there was a lot of "development" going on there, which took a heavy toll on the environment, including the wildlife and the indigenous people, many of whom had had little contact with the outside world.
The indigenous cultures and situation (which varied in different places) were at times hard to stomach. There were groups that had only recently (if yet) subsisted partly by destroying other villages and eating the inhabitants. And it sounded like they really needed the protein! And yet, many of them were (otherwise) sweet people, including being loving parents to children from the destroyed villages whom they'd adopted rather than eaten. Serious health problems were ubiquitous, largely due to contact with the outside world and the resultant change in habitats. Most people's lives were short and filled with difficulties.
The author depended on these people for shelter and for obtaining animal specimens, and well as for lore about the animals of interest. He knew or learned enough of their languages to communicate well, and became close friends with some. The book tells a lot about these people, including the ones he didn't like so much.
I was bothered by the amount of casual killing of animals (especially some very rare ones), not so much when the locals caught them to eat, but for the author's specimen gathering. I was troubled also, for most of the book, by what I thought was some amount of callousness to the peoples' predicaments. The author's group would be on an expedition, and they would have encounters with people who really needed help, but they didn't have enough supplies to help, or they were on their way to find animals and couldn't stop. But near the end of the book, he showed himself as much more concerned. The book left me with both a sense of wonder about the amazing environments described, and sadness and outrage about the destruction and abuses of encroaching "civilization."
August 29, 2022
I just could not get through this, as much as I wanted to. The book was peppered with interesting facts and information about the people and nature of Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya, but I had such a hard time seeing through the problems with the writing. Maybe I could have finished if it was just the aimless writing style. Overall it was a hard-to-follow narrative that just kind of felt like cleaned up field notes and anecdotes. While a book like this doesn't need to have a beginning-middle-end arc, I needed some cohesion. I had a really hard time following who was who and where Flannery even was in different chapters.
The real issue that made me give up was the condescending, pitying, paternalistic, Eurocentric tone Flannery took when writing about the indigenous people he met, lived with, and worked with. He had zero humility, curiosity, or trust about the knowledge and expertise of the indigenous people, despite the fact that they were the ones using that knowledge and skill to collect all his specimens for him. He's very upfront about his disdain, too! Early in the the book I was struck by a passage where he writes about the way that local people described the mating habits of an echidna species (which he had never seen himself). He says flat out that he immediately laughed off their description, because the metaphor they used made no sense to him (no acknowledgement that they were communicating in a language that he didn't speak well so maybe that's why he didn't understand. Plus the language was not a first language for the people he was speaking to, so maybe they were limited in their vocabulary choice). Then of course he sees the echidnas mating and it's exactly like what the people described, but the surprise isn't the weird mating habits, it's that the people were accurate in their description. This was all especially frustrating in contrast with the reverence and awe with which he wrote about the animals. It was not unusual to find a description of a human "friend" (his words) that revolved around their dirty clothes and physical ailments, followed in the next paragraph by a description of an animal's silky coat and wondrous evolutionary adaptations. It was all too much for me.
The real issue that made me give up was the condescending, pitying, paternalistic, Eurocentric tone Flannery took when writing about the indigenous people he met, lived with, and worked with. He had zero humility, curiosity, or trust about the knowledge and expertise of the indigenous people, despite the fact that they were the ones using that knowledge and skill to collect all his specimens for him. He's very upfront about his disdain, too! Early in the the book I was struck by a passage where he writes about the way that local people described the mating habits of an echidna species (which he had never seen himself). He says flat out that he immediately laughed off their description, because the metaphor they used made no sense to him (no acknowledgement that they were communicating in a language that he didn't speak well so maybe that's why he didn't understand. Plus the language was not a first language for the people he was speaking to, so maybe they were limited in their vocabulary choice). Then of course he sees the echidnas mating and it's exactly like what the people described, but the surprise isn't the weird mating habits, it's that the people were accurate in their description. This was all especially frustrating in contrast with the reverence and awe with which he wrote about the animals. It was not unusual to find a description of a human "friend" (his words) that revolved around their dirty clothes and physical ailments, followed in the next paragraph by a description of an animal's silky coat and wondrous evolutionary adaptations. It was all too much for me.
May 14, 2025
I read the book with the title 'Throwim Way Leg: An Adventure", which may well be the same content as that depicted in the cover image that this webpage presents and which shows the marketers hand in its 'penis gourds' reference. In fact, the book warrants is 4 stars solidly even if such references had not been included or were more contextual in the book. Of course, that is part of the titillation of PNG stories and seems to have impressed Flannery in his early visits.
For me, I found the adventure very well presented and engaging. The zoological references are the book's essence and reflect the author's exceptional expertise. Some emotive sections do not sound quite real but we should not feel that this detracts from the either the author's personal experience or those inequities of life. I found the references to values divergent from Western norms to be as expected. References to cannibalism, warfare and violence are mentioned from a sensitive Western perspective, even though some modern readers may find such actions offensive. Abuses by Westerners are less acceptable and Flannery is careful yet clear in his criticism of such actions, although he is not an anthropologist. Nevertheless, his description on page 225 of the hardback version of the book is a masterful presentation of cultural clash between Javanese/Muslim lifestyles and beliefs and those of Melanesians. The book is an essential read for anyone visiting PNG or Irian Jaya. Professsor Emeritus Lindsay Falvey
For me, I found the adventure very well presented and engaging. The zoological references are the book's essence and reflect the author's exceptional expertise. Some emotive sections do not sound quite real but we should not feel that this detracts from the either the author's personal experience or those inequities of life. I found the references to values divergent from Western norms to be as expected. References to cannibalism, warfare and violence are mentioned from a sensitive Western perspective, even though some modern readers may find such actions offensive. Abuses by Westerners are less acceptable and Flannery is careful yet clear in his criticism of such actions, although he is not an anthropologist. Nevertheless, his description on page 225 of the hardback version of the book is a masterful presentation of cultural clash between Javanese/Muslim lifestyles and beliefs and those of Melanesians. The book is an essential read for anyone visiting PNG or Irian Jaya. Professsor Emeritus Lindsay Falvey
November 30, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book! In it, mammalogist Tim Flannery regales us with tales from his many years in New Guinea, searching for new species of mammals on the island, the second largest in the world. A difficult island to work in - highly mountainous; extremely few roads, most villages so isolated that they can only be reached by small planes flying to landing strips hacked out of the jungle; parts of it some of the rainiest spots on earth, some areas receiving 11 meters or more of rain a year; possessing many dangerous animals ranging from crocodiles to snakes to huge spiders; tropical diseases and parasites a real problem in many areas (including malaria and scrub typhus, from which Flannery almost died from when bit by an infected tick). Flannery had his work cut out for them as he spent over two decades on the island, both in the eastern half, the independent nation of Papua New Guinea, and the western section, Irian Jaya, part of Indonesia.
Flannery is a highly accomplished scientist, having discovered 16 new species of mammals in Melanesia, many of them in New Guinea. Many of these and others are described in the book, and make for fascinating reading. We meet the Black-tailed Giant-rat, the bite from its two centimeter long razor sharp incisors much feared by the inhabitants of the island. The Three-striped Dasyure, a vividly marked rat-sized marsupial predator, one of New Guinea's few mammals active during daylight hours. The Snow Mountains Robin, one of the rarest birds in the world, found in the high alpine regions of the Meren Glacier in Irian Jaya, one of the very few equatorial glaciers in the world. _Antechinus, a small carnivorous marsupial notable in that the male only lives for 11 months, existing only to breed. The diminutive, dingo-like New Guinea singing dog, which arrived in the islands some 2,000 years ago. The six o'clock cicada, a tremendously loud insect that received its name from its trill it emits roughly 6am and 6pm daily. The famous Birds of Paradise, breathtaking in their beauty, several species of which are extremely rare. He also describes the Long-fingered Triok, a black and white skunk smelling possum with the fourth finger of each hand a great elongated probe for finding insect larvae; you never know what he is going to find next lurking in the barely explored misty peaks and dripping jungles of the island.
Three of the most remarkable animals are ones that Flannery discovered or in one case rediscovered. One is _Maokopia ronaldi_, an extinct marsupial herbivore that once dwelt in the high mountain forests. Panda-like in appearance, size, and probably habits, Flannery named this new genus and species from fossils he found in Irian Jaya. Bulmer's Fruit-bat, a bat though extinct for 12,000 years, the largest cave dwelling bat in the world, Flannery was elated to have found them alive in extremely rugged western Papua New Guinea. The one though that Flannery is the most proud of discovering was the Dingiso, a new species of tree-kangaroo he found in the alpine areas of Irian Jaya, a beautiful black and white animal, surprising tame, threatened but fortunately partially protected by native taboos against harming them.
However, as remarkable as all of that is, one could argue that the real stars of this book are the people of New Guinea, particularly the indigenous Melanesian peoples that Flannery spends a great deal of time with and clearly loves. Much of his time researching in the field he was based out of the villages of such people as the Wopkaimin, the Telefol, and the Goilala where he became fast friends with many throughout the island, in both countries, viewing them not as savage barbarians, but as noble, often quite kind people, their older generation vast repositories of cultural and natural history lore. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the books were the many stories about life in those villages, some of the tales tragic, others heartwarming, and many hilarious.
Particularly fascinating was what he wrote about the history of cannibalism on the island. Apparently it did exist in the not too distant past, actually in the living memory of some of the villagers he encountered. Though not an every day occurrence by any means, cannibalism was an important part of New Guinea life; indeed, one group Flannery spent some time with, the Miyanmin, were once avid raiders, and actually referred to the neighboring Atbalmin people as "bokis es bilong miplea," which more or less translates into something like "our refrigerator." Though cannibalism is now a thing of the past, its effects are still felt he writes, as villages once got some of their population from raids of other villages, the adults of that village were consumed and the children raised as their own; now, that is no longer a source of new people for villages and some are facing some depopulation as a result.
Flannery sounds several cautionary notes in his book. Several species of New Guinea mammals and birds are in serious danger of extinction from over hunting. Though New Guinea is still a land largely without roads, more and more appear all the time, opening up virgin lands for hunters, loggers, and miners. Indeed in Irian Jaya the latter two are devastating ever larger sections of the island; the massive Freeport mine, which exports over ten million dollars worth of minerals daily, has destroyed large sections of forest with waste mine tailings.
He also worries about the future of the people, particularly in Irian Jaya. He believes that in an attempt to make that land more like the rest of Indonesia it is causing not only environmental damage but also cultural damage. Indeed there are concerns over human rights abuses in Irian Jaya, of dissidents disappearing, of remote villagers forced to wear modern clothing and abandon their pig eating culture by distant Muslim politicians, who often find native culture abhorrent.
Recommended.
Flannery is a highly accomplished scientist, having discovered 16 new species of mammals in Melanesia, many of them in New Guinea. Many of these and others are described in the book, and make for fascinating reading. We meet the Black-tailed Giant-rat, the bite from its two centimeter long razor sharp incisors much feared by the inhabitants of the island. The Three-striped Dasyure, a vividly marked rat-sized marsupial predator, one of New Guinea's few mammals active during daylight hours. The Snow Mountains Robin, one of the rarest birds in the world, found in the high alpine regions of the Meren Glacier in Irian Jaya, one of the very few equatorial glaciers in the world. _Antechinus, a small carnivorous marsupial notable in that the male only lives for 11 months, existing only to breed. The diminutive, dingo-like New Guinea singing dog, which arrived in the islands some 2,000 years ago. The six o'clock cicada, a tremendously loud insect that received its name from its trill it emits roughly 6am and 6pm daily. The famous Birds of Paradise, breathtaking in their beauty, several species of which are extremely rare. He also describes the Long-fingered Triok, a black and white skunk smelling possum with the fourth finger of each hand a great elongated probe for finding insect larvae; you never know what he is going to find next lurking in the barely explored misty peaks and dripping jungles of the island.
Three of the most remarkable animals are ones that Flannery discovered or in one case rediscovered. One is _Maokopia ronaldi_, an extinct marsupial herbivore that once dwelt in the high mountain forests. Panda-like in appearance, size, and probably habits, Flannery named this new genus and species from fossils he found in Irian Jaya. Bulmer's Fruit-bat, a bat though extinct for 12,000 years, the largest cave dwelling bat in the world, Flannery was elated to have found them alive in extremely rugged western Papua New Guinea. The one though that Flannery is the most proud of discovering was the Dingiso, a new species of tree-kangaroo he found in the alpine areas of Irian Jaya, a beautiful black and white animal, surprising tame, threatened but fortunately partially protected by native taboos against harming them.
However, as remarkable as all of that is, one could argue that the real stars of this book are the people of New Guinea, particularly the indigenous Melanesian peoples that Flannery spends a great deal of time with and clearly loves. Much of his time researching in the field he was based out of the villages of such people as the Wopkaimin, the Telefol, and the Goilala where he became fast friends with many throughout the island, in both countries, viewing them not as savage barbarians, but as noble, often quite kind people, their older generation vast repositories of cultural and natural history lore. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the books were the many stories about life in those villages, some of the tales tragic, others heartwarming, and many hilarious.
Particularly fascinating was what he wrote about the history of cannibalism on the island. Apparently it did exist in the not too distant past, actually in the living memory of some of the villagers he encountered. Though not an every day occurrence by any means, cannibalism was an important part of New Guinea life; indeed, one group Flannery spent some time with, the Miyanmin, were once avid raiders, and actually referred to the neighboring Atbalmin people as "bokis es bilong miplea," which more or less translates into something like "our refrigerator." Though cannibalism is now a thing of the past, its effects are still felt he writes, as villages once got some of their population from raids of other villages, the adults of that village were consumed and the children raised as their own; now, that is no longer a source of new people for villages and some are facing some depopulation as a result.
Flannery sounds several cautionary notes in his book. Several species of New Guinea mammals and birds are in serious danger of extinction from over hunting. Though New Guinea is still a land largely without roads, more and more appear all the time, opening up virgin lands for hunters, loggers, and miners. Indeed in Irian Jaya the latter two are devastating ever larger sections of the island; the massive Freeport mine, which exports over ten million dollars worth of minerals daily, has destroyed large sections of forest with waste mine tailings.
He also worries about the future of the people, particularly in Irian Jaya. He believes that in an attempt to make that land more like the rest of Indonesia it is causing not only environmental damage but also cultural damage. Indeed there are concerns over human rights abuses in Irian Jaya, of dissidents disappearing, of remote villagers forced to wear modern clothing and abandon their pig eating culture by distant Muslim politicians, who often find native culture abhorrent.
Recommended.
August 19, 2018
Maybe 3.5 stars. I loved learning about this land and ecology, but Flannery’s writing is skilled but uninspired. I don’t usually care about these things, but the pictures in the book are almost solely of people, including the author. Yet the book is full of detailed descriptions of extraordinary creatures and landscapes. I would have loved to see some of these things, but I’m guessing he limited photos to only images captured by himself or companions on the journeys. The narrative is a bit disjointed, following his explorations roughly chronologically, and I felt myself desiring a more cohesive narrative of the ecology, politics, differences between local cultures, and exploration of the island, rather than the disconnects vignettes of which the book is composed. Still, a lot of fun if you enjoy reading about exotic places.
January 23, 2023
Tim Flannery writes an engaging account of his academic work in Papua New Guinea and West Papua. Flannery writes with a good prose and presents a balanced and interesting perspective into not just the wildlife of the island, but also the people and geography that defines it. Mixed with interesting anecdotes and stories on the history of the peoples and their land, Throwim Way Leg exposes a way of life completely different to what we are used to in the West. Flannery's stories are retold with vivid imagery that does a good job of capturing what it must have felt like there in person. Much more than just a biological account, the book provides a geographical, anthropological and natural history perspective on the region too. Highly recommend for those interested in other cultures and remote wildlife, otherwise unseen to the wider Western world.
February 1, 2023
Flannery discusses his travels through the Highlands and the Northern Coast seeking to “discover� and classify different marsupials. This book, despite its name, is more of a journal, documenting his experiences traveling through New Guinea, especially his encounters with the local tribes and the different customs.
Generally, I find Flannery’s writing style to be a little dry, as he recounts every single detail, which to a certain point, isn’t all that interesting. However, being in Papua New Guinea, I find it interesting that he discusses different animals and species but also brings in some information regarding the role of capitalism as it begins to creep into society.
Generally, I find Flannery’s writing style to be a little dry, as he recounts every single detail, which to a certain point, isn’t all that interesting. However, being in Papua New Guinea, I find it interesting that he discusses different animals and species but also brings in some information regarding the role of capitalism as it begins to creep into society.
February 17, 2019
Who ever heard of this book? One of my book club members was born in Papua New Guinea and can speak pidgin so the title held meaning for her and now for all of us in the club. it means going on a long journey and we all took this journey as we learned about the exploitation of the indigenous people through biologist's eyes. Funny, heart warming, informative--author had a tape worm named after him!--and an unexpected page turner.
August 27, 2019
For a scientist, Flannery is a brilliant writer. His accounts of his journeys in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya are sensitive to the environment and the people.
It was particularly interesting to compare and contrast a self-governing country with one annexed by a xenophobic neighbour. His comparisons of the mines at Ok Tedi and Freeport are shocking in their exposure of the treatment of the local indigenous peoples.
It was particularly interesting to compare and contrast a self-governing country with one annexed by a xenophobic neighbour. His comparisons of the mines at Ok Tedi and Freeport are shocking in their exposure of the treatment of the local indigenous peoples.
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