Lost and Found on Planet Dani is a ripping survival journey through one of the world’s remotest and most wondrous places – the Baliem Valley in the highlands of West Papua, Indonesia. When a helicopter carrying two epidemiologists and their local assistant crashes in the fog-shrouded mountains, they must find their way out, through the rich, mystical lands of the Dani people, in the midst of long-simmering violent conflict between the Indonesian government and its indigenous people. It’s a wild ride of friendship, bush craft and will that had me in its grip, and I finished the book in one sitting.
‘Lost and Found’ on Planet Dani
A Novel
Publication date: 28th April, 2024
An improbable adventure sprung from the true account of ‘wabah babi’, or ‘swine plague’, in the far eastern reaches of the Indonesian archipelago, bordering with Papua New Guinea. Home to the Dani people who live much as they have for the past 2000 years. The two leading characters, an American naval officer and ‘disease chaser’, and an Indonesian government doctor, undertake an arduous expedition to investigate the outbreak against a backdrop of a hostage-taking-crisies that has caught the world’s attention. Making for a story that could not have been dreamt up.
Their journey takes on a fantastical turn, the stuff of fiction, when they find themselves fighting for survival in the remote jungle highlands. Their interactions with the Dani highlight the fragility and resilience of the human spirit. Theirs is an amazing trek treated with guile and humor.
The author takes liberties in borrowing from factual accounts of reported events associated with a ‘very real’ and ongoing insurgency, adding authenticity and context to the narrative. He reveals himself by invoking images from the storied cinema and delving into tangents: passions revealed in primitive art and the 'natural world' - the sublime to grotesque, and beyond bizarre.