The Kombai are a Papuan people

Papuan peoples

Papuan is a cover term for the various indigenous peoples of New Guinea and neighboring islands, speakers of so-called Papuan languages. They are often distinguished linguistically from Austronesians, speakers of a language family introduced into New Guinea about three thousand years ago, but this...

 of Melanesia

Melanesia

Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...

 living in the Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n province of Papua

Papua (Indonesian province)

Papua comprises most of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands. Its capital is Jayapura. It's the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia. The province originally covered the entire western half of New Guinea...

 in Western New Guinea

Western New Guinea

West Papua informally refers to the Indonesian western half of the island of New Guinea and other smaller islands to its west. The region is officially administered as two provinces: Papua and West Papua. The eastern half of New Guinea is Papua New Guinea.The population of approximately 3 million...

.
The Kombai have become prominent to the outside world primarily because of their traditional tree house

Tree house

Tree houses, treehouses, or tree forts, are platforms or buildings constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level...

 dwellings, which often reach heights of over 20 meters. They live adjacent to the Korowai

Korowai

The korowai, also called the Kolufo, are a people of southeastern Papua . They number about 3,000. Until 1970, they were unaware of the existence of any people besides themselves....

 people, who also live in tree houses, and have some similar cultural practices, but speak a different language. Pigs are equivalent to currency to the Kombai; for example, if the wife of a Kombai man were to die, the family of the woman may demand pigs as compensation.