In late 1991, Stan and I traveled to Papua New Guinea (PNG). This was our second-most-favorite touring adventure after our three trips to Africa. In PNG, the people were the most interesting things to see, rather than the animals in Africa. Parts of PNG were like going back in time to the Stone Age where the people didn't even have the wheel!
And there we were, you'd never believe it!
We thought we were going to die!
We were hiking back from an arduous hour-long trek in the mountains to view the honored mummified dead whose desiccated bodies were posed on a mountain ledge in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. When we rounded a sharp bend on the trail, we came face-to-face with natives armed with bows drawn with arrows pointing directly at us!
Read on to discover the outcome of this adventure and many more in Papua New Guinea from December 21, 1991 to January 8, 1992.
Preface
In December 1991, Stan and I went on a 25-day trip to Papua New Guinea (PNG). On the way, we stopped off at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia for three days of snorkeling.
Our three days on Lizard Island are the subject of a separate missive.
Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Papua New Guinea is composed of four major regions. People generally identify quite strongly with their region, and inter-region rivalries can be intense. The four regions are the Highlands, Islands, Northern and Southern Regions. We spent time in several areas of each region.
Below is a detailed map of Papua New Guinea showing many of the towns that we visited.
Below is a summary of key information about Papua New Guinea to provide an insight into this unusual country during the timeframe that we visited it in 1991-92.
Trip Diary
The following pages consist of my diary that I wrote from December 21, 1991, to January 8, 1992. I have added photos taken mainly by Stan – I was usually busy shooting video. I have also added supplemental material on places that we visited that I included in our photo albums. In places, I have augmented my diary with my memories, which I have designated in orange italics. (While writing my Rwanda gorilla missive, I discovered that my memories are not always factual 😜.)
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Saturday, 12/21/91 – Cairns, Australia, to Mendi, Papua New Guinea, via Mt. Hagen in the Highlands of PNG
6:30 am – Beautiful buffet breakfast at hotel.
7:00 am – Took a taxi to airport.
8:00 am – Left Cairns for Mt. Hagen in the Highlands via Air Niugini.
9:10 am – Arrived at Mt. Hagen (hour time change, so flight was 2 hours and 10 minutes long); met by Melanesian Tours Services’ agent who checked us in for flight to Mendi and gave us all of the vouchers and airline tickets we would need in New Guinea. Since we had a 2 ½ hour wait and there was no seating in the meager terminal, he walked with us a quarter of a mile to the Plumes and Arrows Hotel where we sat in the lobby, had a cup of coffee and a game of chess, and viewed the hotel’s artifact collection from the Sepik River.
11:40 am – Departed Mt. Hagen for Mendi on Talair.
12:45 pm – Arrived in Mendi after a short stop in Tari; met by John, the manager of Kiburu Lodge, and his friend Jean who was visiting him from England. One other couple from San Francisco (Carl & Trudy) were aboard who stayed with us at the lodge (there were no other guests while we were there, although the lodge could hold 24 guests). We were driven to the Kiburu Lodge which was 5 km outside of Mendi.
Top left: Barbara & Stan at the Mendi Airport.
Top right: Our bungalow at Kiburu Lodge.
Bottom: Kiruru Lodge.
We took our gear to the room and had a nice lunch in the dining room of the lodge. Everything was a la carte, ordered from the menu, with an appetizer, entree, main course, and desert.
The rooms were one-half of a bungalow looking out over a fast-moving river with rapids. The lodge was located on six acres of land surrounded on two sides by the river and containing a small muddy pond with water lilies and a few large inner tubes.
2:00 pm – Departed from the lodge by minivan for an afternoon tour. It rained during most of the tour, and most hadn’t brought rain coats along. First, we drove through Mendi village and stopped at a native store. Trudy bought an audio cassette of the Western Solitary Ladies String Band, and she and Carl each bought a pair of shorts. Next, we went to an outdoor vegetable market and wandered about photographing in the rain.
Muddy Mendi outdoor market in the pouring rain.
Then we drove for over an hour on the “National Highway” (an unpaved road which was extremely bumpy) toward Tari to see a hanging highway bridge over the river. On the way, we had to swerve around a tree which had fallen most of the way across the road. John backed up to see if the tree had been purposely cut down, but it didn’t look like it was on purpose. We had received warnings from the U.S. State Department about armed robberies in the in the Highlands, and they usually do it by blockading the road so your vehicle is unable to get away.
It was raining hard by the time we reached the hanging bridge, but after coming all this way on that road, we all dutifully hiked up to a ridge to view the bridge – which was nearly invisible in the rain and fog. Then we had the long rough ride back.
The hanging bridge over the river can barely be seen in the middle of this photo.
7:00 pm – Dinner in the dining room of the lodge (same courses as for lunch). John lit a fire in the Franklin-type stove in the middle of the lounge as it had gotten quite chilly once the evening approached. Nothing to do after dinner but read a little and go to bed. We were also warned not to leave the lodge area after dark in the Highlands.
Sunday, 12/22/91 – Kiburu Lodge, Mendi
6:30 am – Stan went for a jog and Barbara for a walk to video the surrounding territory. Stan joined Barbara for the walk. We met up with two small boys at the Kiburu Lodge entrance who were sons of the gatekeeper. They walked with us for about a mile, and then told us they could go no further.
They showed us the car wrecks in a river that we closed and said they were due to the locals getting drunk and accidentally driving off of the bridge. They also said that a woman’s body had recently been found who had fallen into the river further upstream.
We met a man carrying an axe over his shoulder and felt a little uneasy at first. We met a man who asked if we wanted to see a snake that he had in his hut – Stan said, “Sure.” On the way to his hut (along the road), several boys brought out a green snake wrapped around a stick with its head captured between the split ends of the stick. We finally realized that they thought that we might buy the snake. When we appeared not to want it, they thought that it was because we didn’t think the snake was lively enough – so they tried to untangle it from the stick. The snake was perfectly happy to remain attached to the stick.
Upper left: Two sons of the gatekeeper who accompanied us on our walk for a mile.
Lower left: A man we met who was carrying an axe over his shoulder
Upper right: The road ahead of us into the mist
Lower middle: Crops planted on the steep hillside
Upper middle: A group of boys carrying a snake wrapped around a stick that they wanted to sell to us
Lower right: A man holding the snake out to us with its head free
On the way back to the lodge, we talked to another man who overtook us. He introduced himself and said that he was a priest on his way to a village to give the Sunday sermon (he didn’t look nor dress like a priest, but had a gold earring in one ear, and was wearing boots with no laces – most people were barefoot. He walked with us awhile and explained that he had tried to get a job with the oil company, but they only wanted skilled laborers, so he had decided to stick with preaching for now.
7:30 am – Breakfast ordered a la carte from the menu plus a small buffet.
9:00 am – Departed by minivan for a full day tour of the Mendi area. We drove over the bumpy “National Highway” toward Mt. Hagen for about three hours to reach a village where there was a museum of tribal attire and weapons. On the way, we stopped for a break by a bridge over a river.
Two old men came along and were given cigarettes and money by Jean. Our guides were very careful to make sure that the old men were not unhappy. They told us later that if the men had been mad at us, they could have gotten their friends and waylaid us on the way back.
The man on the right is carrying a machete and is wearing an 'ass grass' skirt, traditionally worn in the Tari province.
Also along the way, Trudy said she was getting carsick and needed to stop at a local store for a breath of fresh air and something to drink. We turned around to go back to the store which was surrounded by a large crowd of natives. They didn’t seem all that friendly, and we were all relieved when Trudy and Carl got back into the van and we could proceed,
The museum was located in the town of Umbuti inside a fenced, barb-wired enclosure. We toured the museum, which consisted of one large room. Trudy wanted to buy an item, but no one there could find out what the price was, so she gave up.
The four of us (Stan, Barbara, Carl and Trudy), against John’s best judgment, went down to a grassy square block in the village and mingled with the natives, most of whom were playing bingo. Trudy sat down with a man who let her play on a bingo card of his, but she didn’t win. Carl bought and smoked one of the native cigarettes, which were a foot long made out of tobacco rolled in newspaper. He said that it was mild and had a pleasant flavor.
These natives were definitely not pleased that we had joined them in their grassy square.
Notice the 'ass grass' skirt worn by the one in front.
Back to the museum where John and Toku (our national guide) had set out our picnic lunch in an enclosed porch area of the museum.
The highlight of the day was on the return trip when we stopped by a group of natives selling their wares (baskets and necklaces) along the side of the road.
Upper left: Stan & Barbara by the side of the road.
Upper right: Trudy & Carl at the roadside market.
Lower left: Several males with birds for sale perched on their heads.
Lower middle: Barbara examining wares for sale.
Lower right: A woman displaying a large shell necklace for sale.
Toku talked them into letting us tour their village. We spent nearly an hour in their village which was entered through a long fenced aisle that led onto a large grassy square. The huts were located around the square. Trudy got involved in a deal with the chief where she bought his kina shell* wrapped up in couscous (tree kangaroo) skin and shells; when she put it around her neck, she asked him if that meant that they were married – this brought a laugh from all of the villagers.
* 'Kina shell' is the name for the crescent-shaped, cut and polished clam shells of the yellow-lipped clam (see the kina shell in the necklace on the right that I purchased from the chief). They are worn by the men in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea as ornaments for the neck or chest, and even to this day they are used as a means of payment of the 'bride price'.
The chief then took us back to his circle of huts (one for himself and one for each of his five wives). We photographed him and his family. Then his family gathered in the entrance of one of the huts and sang songs for us. After that, Carl and Trudy sang “Jingle Bells” for them, after which Barbara joined them to sing “Silent Night.”
Barbara bought two kina shell necklaces (one is shown at home in the photo on the right) using money she borrowed from the others, as we had not yet had a chance to get any PNG money.
Top left: The village as we approached it. Top right: The chief and his family in front of his hut.
Middle left: Stan and a native in front of his hut. Middle right: Stan, the chief and Carl.
Lower left: The chief wearing a 'hair wig,' which is made out of human hair. Lower right: Everyone is very interested in Barbara's video camera.
7:00 pm – Dinner at Kiburu Lodge while it rained once again. We watched my day’s video take on our portable TV with Carl and Trudy – both of whom want a copy when it is edited. Carl recently published his first travel book (Southeast Asia Handbook, July 1990), which took him five years to research and write. His companion Trudy is a professional photographer. They used her airline mileage and his connections with Melanesian Tours to come to PNG to film their resorts, and so Carl can include a section on PNG in the revision of the book. He is now working on his second book, a travel guide to Thailand.
Monday a.m., 12/23/91 – Mendi Village
7:30 am – Breakfast at Kiburu Lodge. We expected to go into Mendi village around 10 am to change money and see some stores, but we were delayed for an hour so Trudy could take her obligatory photos of the lodge.
11:00 am – John drove Carl and Trudy to the airport, and then took us into town (a few blocks away from the airport) – to the bank to change money (along with Carl and Trudy’s passports to change money for them also). There was a huge crowd at the bank, but fortunately a Caucasian woman who lives in Mendi took us to the head of the line and got us waited on immediately. It still took over an hour to change our money. Still had time to explore a few stores and walk the length of the main street.
1:00 pm – Walked to the airport where John met us with our baggage, which we checked in for the trip to Bulolo via Mt. Hagen. Then he took us to a relatively clean (and empty) Talair room where we could sit and wait for our plane. While waiting outside, Stan photographed several pigs being loaded into burlap bags for a plane ride in the passenger compartment. We were thankful that it wasn’t our plane.
Left: Waiting for the plane to board at the Mendi airport.
Right: Several live pigs are being loaded into burlap bags to be carried aboard. The man on the right is boarding the plane with a pig in the burlap bag over his shoulder.
We went out to the gate by the runway before takeoff time. While waiting for the flight to be announced or someone to check us in at the gate, we noticed the plane’s door being closed and the plane starting to taxi. We had to run for the plane and get it to stop and lower the door for us to get on.
Monday p.m., 12/23/91 – Mendi to Bulolo via Mt. Hagen and Lae
1:35 pm – Left Mendi for Mt. Hagen on Talair.
1:50 pm – Arrived in Mt. Hagen and checked in for connecting flight to Nazdab Airport near Lae. Made sure our baggage was transferred. After our Mendi experience, we tried to board the plane too early and were told to wait behind the gate.
2:30 pm – Left Mt. Hagen for Nazdab Airport on Talair. On this flight, we did have a pig aboard, as well as a couple of chickens.
We were told by our guide that all of the pilots in PNG are Australians. When the airlines tried to use a New Guinean pilot once, all of the passengers disembarked and refused to fly on the plane.
Barbara sat in front in the copilot’s seat (Talair doesn’t use a copilot and lets a passenger sit there if the plane is full – Trudy had clued us in about asking the pilot for permission to sit there.) Got a lot of good video (and hopefully photographs also) up front.
Photos from the copilot seat on the flight from Mt. Hagen to Lae
3:30 pm – Arrived at Nazdab Airport near Lae. Met by Michael, manager of Pine Lodge in Bulolo. Driven 2.5 hours in minivan to Bulolo along with Michael’s four children who were going there for the first time (Michael had recently moved to Bulolo from running the lodge at Mendi and the children had just finished school elsewhere before the Christmas holiday.) Beautiful scenery along the way; the road was bumpy in stretches and paved in other parts (about half of the way).
6:30 pm – Shown to room at Pine Lodge near Bulolo and hustled to the driveway in front of the lodge to see the mudmen* performing their ‘ghostly ritual.’ The mudmen are a tradition.
* Mudmen: Just outside Goroka in the Eastern Highlands, the highway to Mt. Hagen passes through Asaro, home of the legendary mudmen. Tribal folklore records that a centuries ago the warriors of Asaro were defeated in a tribal fight with a neighboring village. Honor compelled the men to retaliate with a 'payback' raid, and to make themselves look fierce in the process, they covered their bodies with grey mud. According to legend, the ruse worked and their enemies fled at the sight of them. In recent years, the men of Asaro have been recreating the drama for tourists and have become so famous that they are being imitated by other tribes in other parts of the Highlands.
It started to sprinkle as the five mudmen appeared. After watching them circle the driveway area twice, we all departed for the inside of the lodge to avoid getting soaked. One came into the doorway and posed with Stan; he also took his mask off and let Stan put it on for a photo.
The mudmen in front of our lodge near Bulolo in the Morobe Highlands.
Stan, his shirt spattered with rain, is wearing the headpiece of one of the Mudmen.
Monday p.m., 12/23/91 – Pine Lodge, Bulolo
7:00 pm – Dinner in the Pine Lodge dining room with the other three guests who are Germans from Munich: Heinrich, Uta & 18 year-old son Holger (an extremely bright boy who has studied about PNG for five years and taught himself Pidgin).
Tuesday, 12/24/91 – Tour to Aseki
6:30 am – Breakfast
7:00 am – Departed from the lodge in a minivan with Michael and a guide for a full day tour to Aseki and the mummified bodies.
It was a three hour drive to get to Aseki (which was not a village, but an area). The drive was very picturesque and we stopped to photograph some authentic villagers.
Countryside scenes on our drive from Bulolo through the Aseki area.
Top: Stan next to the village chief and members of his tribe.
Bottom left: The chief doesn't look very welcoming.
Bottom right: A pregnant village woman in a grass skirt.
The hike in to see the bodies was quite arduous and took about 45 minutes. Part of the path was gone due to landslides, so the going was somewhat treacherous.
On the Hike to to See the Mummified Bodies
Upper left: A native in an 'ass grass' who was hiking with us and carrying a very long knife.
Upper right: Barbara and others being led down the trail with a boy carrying a bow & arrows.
Lower left: Barbara crossing a log bridge.
Lower right: Barbara being helped down a steep trail destroyed by a small landslide.
We were accompanied by several Anka tribesmen and children, all carrying bows and arrows. The Anka’s, also known as Kukukukus from the sound of their war cries, look very mean and tough, even though they are only five feet tall. The children aimed their arrows at us playfully (we hoped). One let the bowstring snap while aiming at Barbara with a loud crack while she was videoing him (first releasing the arrow from the string). They all got a big kick out of scaring her.
Upper right: Stan with the mummified bodies perched under a mountain cliffside overhang, as if they are chatting with each other while surveying their former kingdom in the valley below.
The other photos: Details of the mummified honored elders.
Upper 2 photos: View on the hike back from the mummified dead.
Lower left: The hike back was as arduous as the hike in.
Lower right: As we rounded a sharp bend in the trail on the way back, we came face-to-face with natives aiming their arrows on strung bows right at us! And there we were, you'd never believe it! We thought we were going to die! It took us a couple of seconds to realize they were just the children having fun with us once again!
On the drive back from the Aseki mummified bodies.
Had lunch on rocks in a river with rapids going by. Many tribesmen gathered way above on a cliff to watch us eat
We arrived back at Bulolo at 2:30 pm. Michael took us to a private home which had a zoo in the backyard, but no one was home (it was Christmas Eve day, so it was closed).
He then drove us on a dirt road to visit the two huge gold mining dredges which were used in the 1920s and 30s. They were located in swampy terrain and there were lots of mosquitos.
The huge gold mining dredges which were used in the 1920s and 30s
Wednesday, 12/25/91 – Bulolo to Madang
6:30 am – Breakfast
7:00 am - Departed with Michael with the Germans to drive to Nazdab Airport along the Morobe Highway. Made a side trip through the city of Lae so that Michael could pick up his typewriter which was being repaired (it wasn’t ready).
11:25 am – Departed Nazdab Airport for Madang on Air Niugini.
12:00 pm – Arrived in Madang; met by Melanesian staff and transferred to the Madang Resort Hotel; remainder of the day was free; checked into our room which was one of the best rooms at the resort (one-half of a large bungalow with a balcony hanging over the water.
Outside of our bungalow in Madang
1:00 pm – Had lunch in the hotel lobby dining room.
Afternoon – Walked into Madang village; everything was closed since it was Christmas Day; filmed the bats which filled all of the trees around the park.
Upper two photos: Madang Electricity Commission & Local Court House buildings
The other three photos: Bats in the trees in Madang
Stan went for a swim in the hotel’s Olympic-size swimming pool.
Watched and filmed the large storm which hit in the late afternoon.
7:30 pm – Made our way barefoot in the storm under the umbrella provided in our room to the restaurant on the other side of the pool (the water on the sidewalks came up to our ankles). After being seated, Barbara returned to the room to get the chess set.
Thursday, 12/26/91 – Madang to the Sepik River
Morning, Madang – After breakfast, we took a long walk along the water and back through Madang village.
Center: Two hornbills playing with each other outside our room.
Upper left: Two dugout canoes in the water along our walk into Madang.
The remaining 3 photos: Scenes of the water along our walk.
Stopped in several native stores looking for cassette tapes of the local music; Stan bought a pair of “Hang Loose” swimming trunks and we each got a pair of thongs (in the US, a thong is a piece of underwear; in Australia & PNG, it's what they call flip-flops).
On the left: Stan in his recently purchased "Hang Loose'" swimming trunks.
Filmed the bats in the trees outside of our room using the tripod.
12:00 pm – Checked out of the hotel and had lunch in the hotel dining room.
2:00 pm – Had a tour of the Madang area with our driver, Tony; visited a nearby village and saw their pottery and a girl shaving coconut out of the shell.
Getting High in Papua New Guinea
We each tried a betel nut at a roadside market under Tony’s tutelage with lime chalk (from sea shells which mixes chemically with the insides of the betel nut to produce a narcotic effect) and mustard (a string-bean type of vegetable used for flavoring). Once the lime and betel nut meat are mixed together, the juice turns bright red (along with the inside of your mouth), and one spits the juice out on a regular basis.*
* In Mount Hagen near the beginning of this missive, I showed a photo of a sign saying that chewing betelnuts and spitting betelnuts spittle would result in an on-the-spot fine of K20.00 or two weeks imprisonment.
Upper left: Our guide Tony showing us betel nuts and lime chalk at a roadside market used to create the local narcotic.
Lower left: The roadside market selling betel nuts and lime chalk.
Upper and lower right: A house in a village near Madang and some of its pottery for sale on the ground.
Tony said the effect of chewing betel nuts would last about 15 minutes, but we both felt a strong and pleasant high for about two hours. (My memory is of trying to get out of our vehicle and feeling so high that I wasn't sure if I could go on our next walking tour.)
Tony drove us through the Catholic mission and to the top of the local peak for a view of Madang and the surrounding area.
View of the area surrounding Madang from the top of a local peak.
Tony then drove us to a hotel resort on the beach for sodas to wash the remaining betel nut out of our mouths (the local whites also use this hotel beach/bar for their recreation center).
Tony also took us to a shop in the village where we bought an audio cassette by the Melanesian Bamboo Band, a group from Madang which plays at the Madang Resort Hotel.
5:45 pm – Arrived back and boarded the ship, the Melanesian Explorer, which docks right outside of the Madang Resort Hotel. We were shown to our room (a large, end ‘suite’), and joined the other passengers in the lounge where the introductory talk was in progress.
7:30 pm – Dinner aboard the ship.
8:30 pm – The ship departed from Madang and traveled overnight in the Solomon Sea along the PNG coast to the mouth of the Sepik River. We went on deck to watch Madang disappear.
Friday, 12/27/91 – Sepik River, Mendam & Taway Villages
After traveling all night along the PNG coast, we entered the mouth of the Sepik at daybreak (the river has too many navigation hazards to travel on at night).
Once we started up the river, we entered a world of meandering waterways, oxbow lakes, stilt villages, dugout canoes and Haus Tambarans.*
* A Haus Tambaran is a type of traditional ancestral worship house in the East Sepik region of Papua New Guinea.)
In the Lower Sepik, we encountered a patrilineal Chieftain system; in the Middle Sepik, we found the leadership of a Council of Elders who mediate clan disputes in the Haus Tambaran. Clan women and uninitiated clan men are banned from the Haus Tambarans at all time (except for tourists who are allowed to enter). Here the men carry on their spiritual practices, store their spiritual carvings, and play their sacred flutes and Garamut Drums (also called Slit Gongs, these drums are made from hollowed out logs with a slit in the top and are played by hitting them with the end of a long pole).
Friday Morning, 12/27/91 – Sepik River, Mendam Village
At 8:30 am, we took the speed boats up a tributary for a half-hour ride to Murik Lakes and the village of Mendam.
The villagers had their wares lined up along the pathway from the boat landing to the village. The village was interesting but quite damp from recent rains.
In order to build up the land, the villagers scatter leftover organic material over the ground such as coconut shells, oyster shells, etc. It makes the village look littered, but it didn’t smell as they didn’t put compost-type material down.
We bought two small (17"-20" high) statues carved out of wood for eight kina each (1 kina = $0.90 U.S.) – shown in the photo on the left in our home.
Below Are Scenes from Mendam Village on 12/27/91
On the way back down the tributary, a storm broke with heavy rain. The rain plus the speed of the boat thoroughly drenched all in it. We did have our ‘raincoats’ with us, which helped to protect the cameras and wood carvings.
Friday, Early Afternoon, 12/27/91 – Sepik River on the Way to Taway
12:00 pm – Lunch on board.
1:00 pm – Documentary titled “Pearls and Savages.”
3:00 pm – Briefing on afternoon’s activities. We are skipping our planned stop at Angoram today because of the rain and will stop on the way back downriver on Monday, 12/30. Today, we will stop instead at Taway, a village which the boat normally visits on the return trip downstream.
Friday, Late Afternoon, 12/27/91 – Sepik River, Taway Village
4:00 pm – We visited Taway village where we could go straight inside the cultural center if it rained. The Taway Cultural Center has a daunting array of Lower Sepik art. It stopped raining as we reached Taway village.
Six women elders danced topless for us for a very long time.
After filming for 10 minutes, we went inside the cultural center to look at the art. The cultural center was a large covered hut on dirt built in the traditional style. It looked like a Haus Tambaran and had rows of carvings from floor to ceiling which were difficult to see because of the lighting.
We bought a 3 ½ foot tall mask with a carving of a man on the headpiece (shown on the right hanging in our patio at home for the past 31 years).
One of the features of Lower Sepik art is a flying fox, either on the ancestor faces or on the standing figures.
Saturday Morning, 12/28/91 – Sepik River, Tambanum Village
7:30 am – Breakfast.
9:00 am – Visited Tambanum village. This is the largest village and one of the most attractive of the Middle Sepik villages with 1,000 people in the main village and another 1,000 people in the outlying areas. This is an area closely studied by anthropologists such as Margaret Mead and her husband, Gregory Bateson. Here we found an abundance of art forms created by very talented carvers. The houses belonging to the elders of the clans are very large and handsome with ornate decorations on the gables.
Below Are Scenes from Tambanum Village on 12/27/91
We bought three artifacts: a mask with a crocodile on the headpiece (being held by Stan in the upper left photo below), a large 3' female statue (the statue on the left in the upper right photo below), and a food hook (a carving of a man which normally hangs beneath a hut on stilts along the river bank, with a place to hang two pots from its bottom hooks that can hold food – it shown hanging on a wall in our home in the lower right photo below). (We did not purchase the large statue in the photo in the photo on the lower left.)
Saturday, Early Afternoon, 12/28/91 – Sepik River on the Way to Kamindibit Village
11:45 am - 1:00 pm – Face painting demonstration onboard. Stan and two Japanese girls (Yuko and Harumi, wives of Jim and Steve, Americans working in the capital of Port Moresby) were painted along with four of the German women (see photos below).
1:00 pm – Lunch.
2:00 pm – Jacques Cousteau documentary titled “River of the Crocodile Men,” which is about the Sepik River. James Kinjimali, our man Friday aboard, was the pilot/guide for the Cousteau team. James comes from the village of Aibom on Chambri Lake that we will visit.
Saturday Afternoon, 12/28/91 – Sepik River, Kamindibit Village
4:00 pm – Departed by speed boats to travel upriver to Kamindibit village. This was a small, pleasant village located on the river bank.
We purchased a small statue of a smiling man holding his penis (pictured in the photo on the right).*
* An interesting sideline – we had this carving displayed in our home after we returned from our trip. Every time our home was cleaned by our two female housekeepers, the statue was always turned around to hide its penis. I finally placed it way above our cabinets where it's organ was not visible. Unfortunately, due to health, they are no longer able to clean our house – and the statue is once again prominently displayed.
We also bought four ‘Sepik trousers’ – decorated gourds which are worn as penis sheaths (one of which is shown on the left hanging in our home). These gourds are the only thing worn by the men in the more remote areas to protect their private parts when going through the bush. Some of the gourds we have seen in photos were three feet long and their tips were tied around their wearers' necks to hold them up.
Saturday Evening, 12/28/91 – Sepik River, Sacred Flutes and Dancers from Kamindibit Village
7:15 pm – General briefing about the next day’s activities.
7:30 pm – Dinner (tomato soup, entree of chicken caprice, main course of dutch pepper steak, and selection of desserts).
8:30 pm – Men from Kamindibit village came aboard dressed in vegetation and ‘Sepik trousers’ and played their sacred flutes and danced for us on the poop deck. We posed with them for photographs. They were very colorful and didn’t ‘cheat’ by wearing Western shorts underneath their costumes.
Sunday, Early Morning, 12/29/91 – Sepik River & Yentchen Village
7:00 am – Breakfast.
10:30 am – Visited Yentchen village with a beautifully thatched Haus Tambaran where we had the privilege of being allowed to photograph the Orator’s Stool, which is an important component in the adjudication of clan discussions. The Orator’s Stool is located on the ground beneath the second story. In other Haus Tambarans, we were not allowed to photograph it because they believe that the spirits of their ancestors reside in the stool. This village, however, believes that the spirits reside in the ground, and therefore the stool itself is not sacred. The Orator’s Stool is a double chair sharing the same backrest. An image of the sun god is painted on the front of one side of the backrest and the moon god on the other side.
Upper photos: The Haus Tambaran in Yentchen village.
Lower left: Detailed carving on the headpost in front of the Haus Tambaran.
Lower middle & right; The Orator’s Stool on the 'ground' floor with an image of the moon god and the sun god on each side of the backrest.
Below are photos from inside the upper floor of the Haus Tambaran. Women and uninitiated males were not allowed to enter, but tourists were exempt.
Sunday, Midmorning, 12/29/91 – Sepik River, Palembei Village
9:30 am – Coffee onboard.
10:00 am – Began a pleasant 20 minute walk over level fields to Palembei village. There we visited two Haus Tambarans which were set at each end of a parklike ceremonial group. Again a different art form and the women displayed their woven string bags (bilums) and jewelry along the edge of the grassy ceremonial ground. We climbed into the upper story of the larger Haus in order to observe the construction methods using bush materials. There was a ladder at each end of the Haus and at the top near the ceiling of each ladder was mounted a spread-eagled female carving like the one seen when we entered the upper story beneath and between her legs. The purpose is to represent the men reentering the womb of the female whenever they enter their spirit house.
We saw one of the ‘crocodile men’ – young men who are initiated into the clan by having the skin of their upper torso (front, back and arms) cut in intricate patterns with knives or razor blades. The young man we saw had recently come out of the Haus Tambaran after three weeks spent inside recovering after his initiation.
Sunday Afternoon, 12/29/91 – Sepik River, Wombun Village
12:30 pm – Lunch onboard as the boat moves downriver.
2:00 pm – Departed by speed boats for a long ride up a tributary to Chambri Lake to visit Wombun and Aibom villages. We saw many species of birds as we passed along the canal – white kites, jacanas, darters, cormorants, kingfishers and more. Our boats were nearly blocked from getting to the villages by the large floating islands which can cover tributaries. We had to literally push an island away to make room to pass it. One could not tell that we were on a lake when we finally reached Lake Chambri because of the huge amount of floating islands which covered most of it. The country is trying to control this growth, since in recent years it has blocked off the villages on the lake from the outside world for several months at a time.
The village of Wombun had a lovely Haus Tambaran set against the background of hills edging the lake, and the varied art here is totally unique to the Chambri area. Wombun was very hot and muggy with no breeze, since it is situated a short distance inland from the water’s edge due to the marshy ground. We left the group and returned to the speed boats to sit in them under the shade and get a little breeze until the others joined us.
Sunday Afternoon, 12/29/91 – Sepik River, Aibom Village
In close proximity to Wombun is Aibom, the famous painting village of the Middle Sepik. Clay fireplaces, storage and cooking pots are made by the women of Aibom, featuring as decoration the face of Kollimangge, who was the Spirit Woman to first make the pots. When she died, she entered the Aibom Hill where they obtain their special clays, and so they believe that each pot contains the spirit of Kollimangge. The women use the coil method of potting and fire them in the open air using dried coconut fronds and timber. All of the pottery is handmade, as they have no modern kilns or potter’s wheels.
Aibom is the village that James was from, and we get to meet his family there. Our boat had engine trouble when we tried to leave Aibom and we had to wait there until the other boat made one hour and twenty minute trip to the ship and back to get the engineer to try and fix the engine. While we waited, Jan sent James to fetch some coconuts for us to drink and some ripe bananas, both of which were delicious and welcome in the hot humidity. The engineer was unable to fix the engine, so the other boat took us back to the Melanesian Explorer and then returned to tow the crippled boat. This slowed down our progress on the trip as we had intended to have a couple of hours of cruising downriver before dark and could no longer do so.
7:30 pm – Dinner onboard.
Monday Morning, 12/30/91 – Sepik River, Kambaramba Village
7:00 am – Breakfast.
8:00 am – General briefing on the activities for the day.
Morning: We traversed an inland waterway by speedboat to visit the village of Kambaramba. This village is built on stilts and is flooded most of the year. Not so long ago, the men would use their women as prostitutes in trade for commodities, due to the large population and scarcity of adequate garden land close by. The people, dogs and pig all have to live together in the huts on stilts. Everyone came to meet us in dugouts including a dog, which swam out and finally was allowed up into a dugout so he could rest. We were told that even pigs learn to swim here, although we didn’t see one swimming.
Stan paid 50 toya to ride in one of the dugouts and was paddled around the village to get a close-up view. Jan had to pay compensation of 10 kina for a previous visit by the Explorer, when the villagers claimed that her wake did damage to one of their canoes.
Monday Afternoon, 12/30/91 – Sepik River, Angoram Village
Afternoon: We visited Angoram village, which has the largest collection of artifacts from all over the Sepik. The Haus Tambaran was build to celebrate Independence Day in 1975,* and carving contributions were made from virtually the full length of the river.
* The nation of Papua New Guinea achieved its independence from Australia on 16 September 1975. The new country became a constitutional monarchy with membership in the British Commonwealth. Papua New Guinea had been administered by Australia as a single territory since 1945. It comprised the former British protectorate of Papua – which had been an Australian territory since 1906 – and the former German colony of New Guinea, which became Australia's responsibility as a Mandated Territory of the League of Nations (1921–42) and a United Nations Trust Territory following World War II.
The designs on the painted bark ceiling and the carved Haus posts supporting the structure were very interesting, depicting legends from each area along the Sepik.
We purchased a carved storyboard and a boar’s tooth necklace with shells, outside of the Haus Tambaran.
My boar's tooth necklace is shown on the right at our home.
We visited a small hotel in the village where they had some nice masks, but we didn’t buy any as we were already loaded down with artifacts and still had the islands to visit. We saw a crocodile farm where babies are raised in enclosures.
Late Afternoon: We entered the mouth of the Sepik and headed out toward open sea. This was the most exciting part of our days on the water because the waves caused by the large volume of water from the river entering the ocean were very exciting to plow through. Barbara went up to the pilot room with the Americans from Port Moresby and then out on the bow to ride them out while Stan declined.
Later, we viewed a documentary titled “The Sky Above, the Mud Below,” which is about the transverse of West Irian Jaya by a French team in 1961.
Tuesday, 12/31/91 – Madang & Baiteta
6:00 am – Arrived in Madang at the dock by the Madang Resort Hotel.
7:00 am – Breakfast on board.
8:00 am – Departed the ship to walk into Madang village where we bought tape and string to package the artifacts we had purchased so far. We were given two nice large boxes and some packing material at the local Burns Philips hardware store. We also bought two bottles of wine at a quarter of the price charged on the ship. We had our artifacts brought up from the ship’s hold and boxed them so they would ride better in the seas that we might have ahead of us.
12:00 pm – Had lunch in the dining room of the hotel along with the other passengers who would be continuing with us to see the islands and a few new ones who would be joining us.
2:00 pm – Boarded a minibus for a tour to Baiteta village; our driver was Michael, the son of Michael Somare who led PNG into independence, headed up the provisional government until independence, and currently is Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Baiteta is located in the foothills of the Adelbert Mountains along the North Coast of Madang. We drove along the North Coast Road past the Madang Teachers College; past cocoa, coffee and coconut plantations; and past the historic Alexishafen Catholic Mission to Rempi. We left the main road and drove through thick rainforests, gradually climbing 500 meters to Baiteta village.
At Baiteta village, we saw a ‘sing-sing’ composed of dancers and musicians (men, women and children) as well as a bamboo band. We also saw a demonstration on how they make salt by heating certain palm leaves which creates an ashen residue with a salt flavor.
5:00 pm – Reboarded the ship.
7:30 pm – Dinner on the ship with noisemakers for New Year’s Eve provided by Peter Barter, the ship’s owner, who was away on New Britain Island campaigning for a parliament seat for the national government.
9:00 pm – The ship departed Madang for the Siassi Island Group.
The Islands – Tropical Perfection: The itinerary for the islands of PNG is based largely on age-old trading routes; in particular, the ‘Kula Trading Circle’ of the Milne Bay Province. This trading circle was documented by the Russian, Malinowski, when he published his book in 1929 titled ‘Sexual Lives of Savages’ about the Trobriand Islanders. We entered regions which can be described as timeless with the daily routines of tilling the soil, fishing, and creating a canoe from a felled tree still force.
We visited only a small fraction of Papua New Guinea’s many islands, concentrating on the Trobriand Island Group and the d’Entrecasteaux Island Group. On the way there from Madang, we paid a visit to a small island of the Siassi Island Group called Aromot which is situated near the island of Umboi.
Wednesday, 1/1/92 – Aromot Island in the Siassi Group
6:30 am – After an all-night journey from Madang through the Vitiaz Straits to the Siassi Island Group, we arose early to view the coastline at daybreak. We were able to see the peaks of western New Britain island to the east and Long Island soaring from the sea close by. Long Island contains the mysterious and immensely deep Lake Wisdom within an ancient caldera. A volcano rises from this lake and erupts on a fairly regular basis, giving credence to the many “time of darkness” legends which abound through the country, almost certainly due to major eruptions of Long Island in the past spreading ash across the land.
7:30 am – Breakfast.
8:30 am – Briefing in the lounge.
9:30 am – We visited the tiny, fascinating and densely populated island of Aromot in the dinghies; had a dry landing. This is a very small island which is called the ‘Hong Kong’ of Papua New Guinea because it has so many people crowded together on it (700 people and 700 pigs which run freely). The island contains two churches – Catholic and Lutheran – and we saw a service in each and heard people singing. Their gardens are on the large island of Umboi which is a half mile away. Umboi is also where they bury their dead and where their hospital is located.
12:30 pm – Lunch during which we set sail for the Trobriand Islands, which took all afternoon and night to reach.
Trobriand Islands: Traditional village life and customs highlight a visit to the Trobriand Islands. Located 200 kilometers northeast of the Papua New Guinea mainland in the Solomon Sea, the Trobriands are low-lying coral islands in complete contrast to the continental islands further south.
The main town of Losuia is situated on Kiriwina, a raised atoll about 40 km long and 10 km wide. It is a place of spectacular beauty, with long coastal beaches backed by dense rainforest. Trobriand Islanders resemble Polynesians in both looks and customs, and it is thought their origins may trace back to migration from the South Pacific.
The Trobriands have a social system that is dominated by hereditary chieftains who continue to wield tremendous power and influence. Their society is also matrilineal, whereby all inheritances are passed on to the female side of the family.
The fertile soil of the Trobriands is tilled carefully, as gardens are an important part of village life. Yam cultivation, in particular, is of great practical and cultural significance. Besides being a staple food, yams are also a sign of prestige, an indicator of expertise, and a link between villages and clans. The large yams (six feet long) are valued as a form of exchange.
Thursday Morning, 1/2/92 – Trobriand Islands, Kaibola & Luwebile Villages on Kiriwina Island
7:00 am – Breakfast.
8:00 am – Ashore at Kaibola Beach on Kiriwina Island in the Trobriand Island Group. Visited Kaibola and Luwebile villages. Kaibola was a 15 minute walk from the beach and Luwebile was another 15 minute walk further. We bought a nicely carved drum, and Stan bought two awls for main canoes from a man who was using them to make his own canoe. They are displayed in a photo in our gym below a photo of the man that we bought them from. It takes a man three months to carve a small outrigger; it took the man six months to carve the drum. The drum head is made from the stomach skin of a monitor lizard.
We snorkeled after the visit to the villages – the dingy took us to the shore further up the beach so that the villagers wouldn’t be surrounding us. The best snorkeling was away from the beach when we swam out to the channel that the dinghies had to use to get to shore, and snorkeled the outer side of the reef.
Thursday Afternoon, 1/2/92 – Trobriand Islands - Kaduaga & Tauema Villages on Kaileuna Island
12:30 pm – Lunch on board while the boat sailed to Kaileuna Island, another of the Trobriands.
2:00 pm – We visited Kaduaga village on the shore of Kaileuna Island. Then we walked 1 ½ hours to Tauema village further along the shore where the boat picked us up.
Evening – After dinner, dancers from the village came aboard and entertained us on deck.
Friday Morning, 1/3/92 – Kumwegeia and Lalela Villages on Kitava Island
7:00 am – Breakfast as we sailed to Kitava Island.
8:00 am – Departed for a 25 minute walk to Kumwegeia village on Kitava Island, followed by a 15 minute walk to Lalela village further inland, and then we returned the same way. These were the first villages that we saw that we could envision living in for a short while. They had a broad avenue running the length of the villages with many flowering trees and shrubs planted along it and with their houses lining the avenue. Rarely before had we seen anyone bothering to plant flowers to beautify their surroundings. Barbara tripped and fell on the coral footpath in Lalela and cut her thumb slightly.
Friday Afternoon, 1/3/92 – The Beach at Nuratu Island
12:30 pm – Lunch on board.
Afternoon – Snorkeling off of the beach of Nuratu Island, an island that the owners of the boat and Melanesian Tours (Peter & Jan Barter) purchased a year ago. Nuratu Island lies a short distance offshore of the path to Kumwegeia village on Kitava Island.
6:30 pm – Barbecue on the beach at Nuratu Island followed by dancing by the natives from Kumwegeia and Lalela villages.
Saturday Morning, 1/4/92 – Nabwageta Island in the Amphlette Group
7:00 am – Breakfast as we sail to the Amphlette Group, famous for their pottery.
8:00 am – General briefing.
Saturday Morning – We visited Nabwageta Island in the Amphlette Group. There was a couple from San Diego who have been living there for six years, translating the Bible into the native language. They have 320 people spread over four islands who all speak the same language. They have a three-year-old daughter and have built themselves a little better home than the rest of the islanders.
Saturday Afternoon, 1/4/92 – Wagifa Island in the d’Entrecasteaux Group
12:00 pm – Lunch as we sailed to Wagifa Island in the d’Entrecasteaux Group.
Afternoon – Most of the people of Wagifa Island dressed in their native materials with very few being in Western clothing. The women wore only grass skirts and most of the men wore only a leaf tied around their waists and wrapped under them to tuck into the back of their waistband. They were totally natural and didn’t try to cover themselves as many of the people in other places had due to the preaching received from the missionaries.
We bought a miniature outrigger canoe for 5 kina (which is an exact replica of the ocean-going outriggers that they use – shown on the right in the gym in our stables at home, minus its upper rigging which has long since fallen off). Barbara also purchased a shell necklace.
We climbed to the top of the volcano on the island (except that Barbara didn’t make the last part where it became very steep. The natives had their gardens growing all the way to the top of the volcano.
Stan went swimming off of the boat along with some of the Germans, but all came back early because there were a lot of jellyfish in the water. There was no beach here, so everyone had to swim from the boat or a dingy.
7:00 pm – General briefing.
7:30 pm – Dinner
9:00 pm – Documentary titled ‘Voices of the Forest’ by David Attenborough on the birds of paradise of PNG.
Sunday, 1/5/92 – Budoya Village on Ferguson Island & Dobu Island
7:00 am – Breakfast as we sailed to Budoya village on Ferguson Island.
8:00 am – Departed for the hot springs of Dei Dei on Ferguson Island in the d’Entrecasteaux Group. The hot springs were a 15 minute walk from the landing site. There we saw the geyser that erupts every half hour and ate an egg which was boiled in the hot springs. We then walked for 40 minutes along the shore to the Budoya mission where the ship was anchored.
12:30 pm – Lunch on board.
1:30 pm – Visited Dobu Island.
Monday, 1/6/92 – Alotau to Port Moresby, PNG
Tuesday, 1/7/92 – Port Moresby, PNG to Sydney, Australia via Cairns
Wednesday, 1/8/92 – Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles
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Postscript
This trip was the second-most exciting and adventurous sightseeing trip that we have ever taken – the first was when we trekked in to see the gorillas in Africa three years earlier, which is the subject of a previous missive.
Our sightseeing adventures cannot quite compare to our sporting adventures like our whitewater kayaking or my skydiving, scuba diving and sailing across the Pacific, etc. – but for regular touring, there is nothing that we have done that compares to these two.
Our third most favorite travel adventures are our two trips to the Galapagos Islands. I plan on writing missives on them soon.
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