summer 2018

“Your transport, security, and driver are here,” he says rushing out the door and accepting a payment of 400 Kina. It’s been a busy morning “Your driver and security guard will be with you until at least 6, they will take you to Adventure Park, downtown Port Moresby, the War Memorial, the National Parliament House, some markets, and museums, and will stop off occasionally for food and some additional sights. “Thanks so much, Koriak, much appreciated, I can’t wait to explore,” after being stuck in my hotel for two days, told on more than one occasion that it was just too dangerous to go outside alone without security and a local guide familiar with the area, away from the wild jungle animals.

“Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Kila and this is Godfrey, glad that you made it to Port Moresby. We will be with you throughout the day, don’t be afraid at all, it’s cool here. Hope that you will have a blast.” “Thanks, I was supposed to come here last year, but got strongly talked out of coming, now I figured it would be a great time to visit, just a few months short of the APEC summit.”
“Come on, let’s hop in.” Godfrey guides me to my transport. “Is it really necessary to travel around in the bulletproof jeep?” “Yes, unfortunately, Port Moresby is a dangerous city and we still have active tribal men that occasionally attack foreigners and even locals. It’s necessary to take all of the correct safety requirements. Though things have improved recently, we still experience high levels of crime. We are trying to clean our city day by day, the APEC summit is coming in a few months and Donald Trump, along with other foreign leaders will be attending. We need to send a positive picture all around the globe, this could easily be the beginning of a new prosperous cycle. We can’t afford to have negative images going all around the world, it’s time for a change.”
Two hours pass by relatively quickly and Godfrey and Kila are still as informative as ever. They introduce me to a friend. “Where are you from?” “I’m from Ireland.” “Do you want to hold a possum? “A what?” “We have a collection all over the jungle.” “Do they bite?” “Not really, just hold it properly, they are usually fairly relaxed unless you begin to panic, then they might bite out of fear.” “Did you ever hold a possum before?” “No, not at all, I don’t get the opportunity to see animals, at least not where I’m living.

” “So this will be the beginning, let’s go and find some phalangeriformes later on and if we spot a few, then we could be near some wallabies as well. Do you enjoy roaming around the jungle?” “It’s not bad, I’m glad that I have the opportunity to do so, it’s probably the only chance that I’ll ever get to visit Papua New Guinea, so I might as well pack in as much as possible over the next few days.”
“This is a tribal area, these tribes have a history of settling in the west of the city, most of them don’t have access to electricity, and they’re uninformed about the rest of the world and never really go to Port Moresby, mostly because the busses are too expensive for them. They usually hunt for food, and most of the jungles are usually packed with different animals, nothing too dangerous, but they’re happy to live this kind of life, most of them were raised this way and have become accustomed to this. It’s as if they hide from the other communities and shelter themselves from events that happen in the city. It’s all a bit backwards.”

“Did you enjoy your time here?” as Kila drives me to the airport on my final day. “Not bad, I like it here, I had to cancel my plans last year, now I’m sorry that I did, but overall I only have positive things to say about Papua New Guinea and Vision City Mall is just like any mall that you would see almost anywhere on the globe. I wasn’t anticipating too much pre-arrival, but I would gladly come back again, seeing that most of the Australian flights stop over here anyway, so I’d be very surprised if I didn’t return at some stage in the future. Thanks a lot again and I couldn’t have been happier here. Thanks for the hospitality. “Take care, enjoy your long flight, and remember to keep in touch.”