tothe BY Hedda Moye PHOTOGRAPHS BY Richard McLaren
Brooke Shields visits the Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa and is embraced by the Aboriginal Kuku Yalanji
Brooke Shields pops a green ant in her mouth and grins broadly.
“It has a really lemony taste. Come on everyone,” she laughs as she bounds off on the trail with a Kuku Yalanji tribal elder. Nobody else follows her lead. The idea of eating a live ant is just too much for the rest of us.
“I’ll be the only one who doesn’t get sick,” she cajoles, looking back over her shoulder to see four scaredy cats — her mum, the photographer, assistant and myself — still standing there trail-side feeling shamefully unadventurous.
Green ants are a highly potent source of Vitamin C for the Kuku Yalanji, and their potency is one of the many things revealed to us on our rainforest walk.
“When most people look at the rainforest, they see a complex wall of green. But for tradi-
tional Aboriginals like our families, the rainforest is a kitchen, medicine chest, tool shed and a church,” explains our guide.
The rainforest comes alive for the five of us in this traditional manner as we are shown trees that were used to make wooden shields, woven baskets for carrying goods, and bark cloth for fish traps and shelters. Edible and medicinal plants reveal themselves everywhere.
The Kuku Yalanji have been custodians of the spirit of the rainforest for approximately 9,000 years. While they were shamefully decimated by European development into the late 1800s (along with Aborigines throughout Australia) there are still 200 tribal members who rely on the rainforests
of the Daintree today.
The Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa, given the right by Kuku Yalanji elders to build 15 sustainable luxury villas on the land 13 years ago, have been eco-trailblaz-ers, honoring the original guardians of the rainforest and deeply embedding Aboriginal culture into every aspect of the resort, from spa treatments and the restaurant menu to our guided walks and inter-
References:
Archives