Category — First Person PNG Experience

This is a picture of me on a plane. I took that flight to Vanimo a week or so after Heidi, my cousin sister, passed away and I took her home to the village to bury her.

You can see the stress and the sadness of the experience etched on my face.

She was diagnosed with a very rapid Leukemia and her prognosis was never good. It killed her in a matter of days. She literally died in my arms. She was only 18. [Read more →]

While much of Papua New Guinea may have celebrated the New Year with partying and alcohol, the people of Surinki, a place once notorious for violent tribal fights, brought in the first day of 2012 with peace and calm.

Stuffing the intestines, for old people with no teeth.

The community in Enga created their own history when over 3000 members of various churches held a multi-denomination mass on the 1st of January at the open air auditorium of Yaskom Hotel & Resort. [Read more →]

What happens when a dreamer dies in Papua New Guinea? What happens when the shining light of a rural village, the person with the dreams and ideas, the one with the spark, the one who learns from elsewhere and starts a project to teach his people about science and botany, passes away?

Ipi's daughters at the entrance of Waiap Lodge

If you visit the Waiap Orchid Lodge in Enga, about 1 hour of Wabag, between Surunki and Laiagam along the Highlands Highway, you will find the Waiap Orchid Lodge. Behind the house is a hill, fenced all the way to the top.  The fence protects a  beautiful forest garden filled with orchids, trees and shrubs, and alive with the sound of birds. [Read more →]

Sleepy eyed, I arrived to a packed Port Moresby airport at 5 am in the morning to check in for the flight to Wapenamanda, Enga Province.

Enga Boy with his pup...waiting with me for the bus to Wabag

There were long queues at the check-in counter. I stood at the line where the sign for Wapenamanda was up. But we were not being served, the desk instead being used to check a horde of anxious passengers for Lae and the New Guinea Island region. [Read more →]

One thing I wanted to do when I was in Balimo, Western Province was to travel to the great Wawoi Falls and shoot an awesome video. The Waterfall lies at the foot of Mt Bosavi and is possibly the largest waterfall in PNG.

Scary Crocodile on the Guavi or Bamu River, more pics below

I spent a good deal of time searching for information on how to get there and truth be told, there is not much information available.

So I jumped on a plane and headed to Balimo town along the banks of the Aramia flood plain, expecting to catch a boat all the way up river to the Falls.  How naive i was. [Read more →]

Bougainville: High up in the hills of Kongara, overlooking Kieta and Arawa is an amazing idea, just waiting for the intrepid traveler too stumble upon.

The Manee Resource Centre. More images at the bottom of this post

The Manee Resource Center is a brilliant project in the middle of the Kongara mountain forests being built for the preservation of certain old traditional knowledge of people in this area. It is entirely self funded.

[Read more →]

(Continued from previous post, the Panguna Mine Experience Part1)

Before the crisis, the Panguna town supported 3,500 people, married and single that worked at the mine.

Facilities included supermarkets, post office, banks, schools, medical center, chemist, schools, cinemas, gymnasium and sports equipments, taverns and more.

Staff was housed in either the married quarters or the single quarters depending on their status. [Read more →]

In the early 1980’s, the town of Arawa on the southern side of the main Bougainville Island was one of the most developed towns in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific.

Located on scenic Arawa Bay on the site of a large plantation, Arawa was established in the late 196Os as planned suburban town for the employees of the Bougainville Copper Ltd which was operating the large open copper, gold and silver open pit mine at Panguna.

Globe at Arawa Peace Park. You can see more Arawa pics at the bottom of this post

[Read more →]

Momote Airport in Manus is the only Airport for the island province in Papua New Guinea. Its on the Los Negro Island and during World War II was one of the important air and marine basis first for the Japanese Army and later for the Allied Forces who captured the base from the Japanese. The Allied Forces used its strategic location to their advantage in the WWII Pacific Campaign. In this video, my friend Kuiox and I drive around the island after I arrived. [Read more →]

Hawaii Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. World War II bullets litter this small island. I earlier posted pictures and a short story of my visit to the island. In this video, the islanders show how to break two live bullets for me. [Read more →]