Irish YouTuber and TikToker Dara Tah has faced backlash online after filming his attempt to approach an Indigenous tribe in Papua, the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea
An influencer has come under fire after trying to approach a remote “cannibal tribe” for a social media video.
Irish YouTuber and TikToker Dara Tah, who is known for putting himself in dangerous situations while filming videos to share with his followers, decided to visit an unknown tribe in Papua, the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea. In his latest video, which has nearly 18 million views on TikTok, he can be seen on a wooden boat with a group of tourist and a local guide as they cruise along a river in the region.
Footage shows that as the vessel approaches the river banks, some members of an Indigenous tribe gather, with one pointing his bow and arrow at the little boat. An anxious tourist says, “I think they’re pointing bows and arrows at us, bro.”
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“Seriously, this is terrifying…they’re huge bows,” Dara replies, while trying to wave at the locals in an apparent attempt to signal they come in peace. But since that doesn’t work, he takes out a packet of salt to a man who was accompanied by a dog.
After opening the packet and having him some salt, the local man tastes it and then spits it out, before Dara says, “Oh God, he doesn’t look like he likes that. Alright guys, let’s move back maybe.”
The leader of the group then says, “We have to move. We’re not welcome. It’s really dangerous.” The influencer, who has 723,000 followers on TikTok and 828,000 subscribers on YouTube, comments, “I’m not going to lie, that was absolutely terrifying.”
“I’m sorry I take you here,” the guide then says, as the video ends. Despite clearly seeing they were not welcome, the influencer didn’t back down and vowed to come back in an attempt to befriend the tribe again. He captioned the video, “Deep in the jungle of Papua… Just tried to make contact with a cannibal tribe LOL Will try again tomorrow. Wish us luck.”
On social media, many people criticised the influencer for his stunt with one writing: “Leave them alone.” Another said: “Did you just intrude their land for content and called them scary? Lol….” A third said: “THEY R NOT CANIBAL, THERE JUST PEOPLE LIVING IN PEACEFUL LIFE.”
Someone else commented: “LEAVE THEM ALONE & THEY ARE NOT CANNIBALS!” Others said the video appeared staged as one wrote: “Staged tourist trap. People believe this?” One added: “Am I the only one that thinks this tourist got set up and scammed by the guy that said ‘I’m sorry I had to take you here.'”
Back in 2018, American tourist John Allen Chau was killed by an uncontacted tribe after travelling to North Sentinel Island, part of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, India, even though tourists are banned from there. He bribed fishermen to ferry him to the island, but as soon as he reached the beach, the tribe shot at him with bows and arrows before dragging him onto the sand.