Trip Reports - Papua New Guinea Wigmen use uraniam face paint (photos)

http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/wp-content/uploads/papua-new-guinea-11.jpg

Made a quick trip to Papua New Guinea while in the north of Australia. I've been around and around the world, yet I was awed by the traditional dancers called Wigmen. They use a yellow face paint that looks so unnatural it made us ask questions, though none of them spoke much English. The best I could get was "we dig it out from between the gas and the oil." Huh? A chemist explained later: there's something down there called yellowcake, and it's uranium! Can't be too good to put on the face! More photos here: http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2009/10/papua-new-guinea/

How did you get to PNG from OZ? Any difficulty obtaining a visa?

Interesting pictures.

Visa is on arrival.

Airnuigini (Qantas codeshare), Airlines PNG, and Pacific Blue fly between Australia & PNG.

how to get to Papua New Guinea (http://theglobaltraveller.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-get-to-papua-new-guinea.html).

Actually yellowcake is a concentrated form of uranium, but the "natural product" isn't refined enough to cause health problem unless ingested/inhaled. The industrial product isn't even yellow, as the bright yellow color doesn't come from Uranium but impurities AFAIK.

Thanks, Kiwi Flyer! And thanks Richelieu, too. I guess if yellowcake caused health problems, the wigmen wouldn't still be using it. Thanks for clarifying.