Indigenous Peoples and Conservation Organizations

CHAPTER 6
WWF’s Partnership with the Foi of
Lake Kutubu, Papua New Guinea
Joe Regis 1
I. Introduction
According to a legend of the Foi people who live
along the shores of one of the world’s natural
wonders, Lake Kutubu was once not a lake at all
(Craft Works 1992). It was a dry and thirsty valley
nestled between limestone pinnacles. Men
did not live there because the rains soaked into
the limestone, leaving behind nothing to drink.
But there were a few women who managed
somehow to eke out a living anyway. One day a
dog they owned came prancing into the village,
licking his lips, the picture of health and vitality.
Obviously he had found water, but where?
The women decided among themselves that the
next day they would follow the dog to find out.
They tied a strong string to his back leg while he
slept, and rose the next day to follow close
behind as the dog loped through the forest.
Finally he entered a clearing where there was a
huge tree, and without looking left or right he
jumped straight through a hole in the trunk and
vanished. The hole was too small for a person to
squeeze through, but the women could hear
splashing coming from deep inside. The thought
of not being able to get at the water made the
women angry, so they took their stone axes and
whacked the tree again and again.
Finally it fell with a great crash. And close behind
came a great spout of water that quickly spread
over the land. The women ran as fast as their legs
would carry them uphill, scrambled over rocks and
snapped tree limbs, but still the water climbed
faster and higher. They cried out spells and incantations,
but were swept up by the rising water and
drowned. They remain by the shores of the lake
to this day in the form of palm trees.
For uncounted generations, the ancestors of the
Foi lived by the waters of Kutubu, which means
“the lake that came out of a tree.” The landscape
was lush and abundant, and it was difficult to