Part III:  Our Expedition Continues Through Waters Rarely Traveled

We were excited to journey up the waters of the Sepik River, farther into the interior of Papua, New Guinea.  Wondering what awaited us, we eagerly watched as the water we were traveling on turned from the clear, deep blue of the ocean to the murky brown of the river.  There was even a clear line of demarcation marking the boundaries. 

Having previously pictured a mountainous terrain on either side of the river, it was an eye opening discovery to see flat floodplains on either side of the banks stretching for miles.   The vegetation was lush: life-giving sago palms lined the river; some trees blended into the sagos in the distance.  Indigenous people in canoes of all sizes fished in the river.  They lived in small villages on the banks, traveled in dugouts, and used spears to catch fish.  Some canoes carried entire families, and others only contained a fisherman.  The heat and humidity were oppressive.  It often took 30 minutes or so of leaving the cameras out on deck for them to become acclimatized enough to rid them of condensation.  I only wish I could have become acclimatized in 30 minutes!  We were just a few degrees south of the equator at this point.

Once back out on the coast, we visited more local villages on isolated islands and on the mainland where we not only witnessed their sing-sings (dancing, singing, and drumming in native costume), but they staged plays for us as well.  We were not always in on the jokes, but the villagers, especially the children, thought the acts were hilarious.  Imagine no TV, no Sesame Street for the children, no cell phones or I Pads, and no computers or internet, and you might have an idea how entertaining the whole scene was to the villagers.  After the performances, our expedition leader, Jamie, always presented the village chief with gifts, usually educational materials for the school and other useful items.  And before reboarding the ship, there was always time for “shopping” at a craft market where the locals would showcase handmade items such as wood carvings, ceremonial masks, shell necklaces, and other goods made from local materials. 

 

One afternoon, the captain anchored the ship in front of Papua, New Guinea’s most active volcano on Manum Island for cocktails and a barbeque dinner.  Smoke was clearly visible coming from the vent near the top of the volcano.  Vegetation was lush there, and the island was inhabited (until the next eruption).

 

The ship then made its way north, visiting a couple of towns, and we soon reached the half-way mark of the cruise, the point where Papua, New Guinea, an independent country, changes to Indonesian New Guinea, also referred to as West Papua, formerly Irian Jaia, formerly Dutch New Guinea.  There is a line drawn down the middle of the island to differentiate between the 2 countries.  We changed captains at the last stop in Papua, NG, a couple of guests left and a few more joined us for the second half of the trip. 

The first city we entered in West Papua was Jayapura.  We noticed right away that the people were very different in appearance, more Asian.  Many Indonesians have emigrated here since they are running out of room on their 17,000+ island nation due to the high birth rate.  The harbor at Jayapura was full of rubbish such as plastic bottles, milk cartons and other garbage.  A limestone mountain in town has been carved up to maximize the removal of lime for industrial uses.  New Guinea is one of the last bastions of virgin hard wood forests, so the Indonesians are going into the highlands to make deals with the indigenous village chiefs to allow them to remove the trees and send them back to Indonesia.  Needless to say, we came away from this first stop on the itinerary with sadness at the lack of conservation awareness.

The situation improved dramatically as we continued on our way to small, remote islands to the north and west.  One notable visit was to an island village called Yenwaupnor.  The locals greeted us with singing and dancing accompanied by drums, flutes and a steel drum.  Their music was quite unique, sounding at times like a fife and drum corps and at other times a little like the Caribbean.  They prepared grilled fish and baked yams for us to taste with fresh coconut milk in the shells to drink.  After the performance and food tasting, we took a tour of the village.  Small concrete houses lined the packed dirt streets; there was a school, a church and a clinic.  As we approached the end of a street with a bridge leading into the jungle, we asked the guide where the path led.  He said at 5:00AM, there were groups who occasionally went up the limestone path to see the red birds of paradise that danced and displayed in one particular tree at daybreak.

OMG!  At the start of this trip I knew there were 37 species of birds of paradise in New Guinea, found nowhere else on earth, and that each was more unique and beautiful than the next.  And this island was the only place where the red species lived.  And, I thought if I could just see one species on this trip, I would be quite happy.  I also realized that these birds lived in mostly inaccessible areas—rain forest in mountains where there were no roads and no real means of seeing them.  I hadn’t seen anything on the itinerary that showed any hope of looking for or finding them.  So, we were delighted beyond words when it was announced at our ship briefing that evening that we could sign up for the chance to see them the next morning.

We left the ship at 5:00AM, landed on shore in the inflatable craft, made our way through the village and began our climb in the dark with headlights and flashlights.  We carefully made our way up an uneven, slippery limestone path, climbing steeply up the hill over rocks, tree roots and wet leaves.  After about a 40 minute hike up the mountain, we reached a viewing area where we sat and waited a few minutes as dawn broke and the sun appeared.  As night became day, we started to hear bird song and lots of it.  After a few more minutes, the birds started appearing on the branches of the tree.  More birds joined; all of them males.  They danced and displayed to attract the females.  Several birds performed in this manner the whole time we were there (about 40 minutes).  They were a bit too high in the trees for good photos, but when the sun caught their outspread wings, the flashes of rosy red were very visible.  They had ‘wires’ on their tails that moved with them.  Their bodies and distinctively shaped heads had feathers of yellow and green.  We decided it was enough to see and enjoy something few bird aficionados ever get to see, so the lack of good photos was okay.  They were absolutely magnificent.

 

 

Just when we thought things couldn’t get any better, we spent the afternoon in the most beautiful snorkeling area (maybe in the world).  The coral was of all types and colors.  The fish were plentiful, colorful and of so many types that it was possible to see so much in one area that you could just remain stationary in the water and never see the same thing twice.  For us, this day was the best of the trip so far.

As several more days passed, we enjoyed water activities every day in paradise-like settings of turquoise water, coral reefs and mushroom shaped islands strewn with trees, palms, orchids and other vegetation.  We crossed the equator to the north and back to the south again.  We snorkeled, kayaked and swam, and climbed on some of the islands for breathtaking views of lagoons and coves.  It couldn’t get any better than this!  We felt like carefree children playing and having fun.

Suddenly, it appeared that we were reaching the conclusion of the cruise after stopping in the Spice Islands to see where nutmeg, mace and cinnamon and cloves have been grown for centuries.  The Dutch East Indies Company used to control this area and made fabulous amounts of money shipping the spices back to Europe starting in the 17^th century and selling them there.  These goods were more precious than gold.

This voyage of discovery has been a very unique one.  We’ve seen such a remote corner of the world on this trip, and it’s been fun, informative and exciting.  The undersea life has been spectacular.  We have seen more species of coral and fish than we ever knew existed.  The cultural part of the trip has been interesting, too.  Until very recently, the inhabitants of New Guinea have been practicing cannibalism and head hunting—hard to imagine since they are such a warm, friendly people.  We didn’t see many birds or animals on this trip, but it’s probably due to the fact that they live in the interior of New Guinea, not on the coast.  Whichever ones have lived in coastal areas have more or less been hunted for their feathers and for food, since most people survive in a subsistence environment.  Our biggest hope is that residents here will learn to cherish and nurture their environment before it is too late and this last Eden is lost.