Travelers to mid-southern Irian Jaya, also known as West Papua, are likely to cross paths with Kalman Muller, who in the past decade has immersed himself in the culture and the environment of the Kamoro people.

The Kamoro, one of more than 200 ethno-linguistic tribal groups indigenous to Indonesia's easternmost province, live in the hot and humid, mosquito-ridden mangrove coastal area of Mimika district.

That's home to Muller, a multi-lingual