raonraonpng: P&O’s Cruise Ship MV. Pacific Aria finally sails into Wewak with more than 2000 tourists

At the end of the deck edge were written the following words when it sailed into the ruffled seas of Wewak, ‘Like No Place On Earth’. So be it Wewak! I yelled out when I saw her anchored off Wewak hill towards the new National Fisheries Authority Jetty.

Wewak, unlike any other coastal townships in Papua New Guinea has a natural attraction of its own. The famous Wewak Hill or Point is the home to most of Japanese War Relics and now the home to most of the hotels and residence area for prominent Sepik People and public servants. Maintaining the Japanese memories and history is the New Wewak Hotel owned by Japanese man who was married to a local Sepik woman. The hotel is situation on the Wewak Hill lookout providing ideal place to dine on their Japanese restaurant or having few beers from their open air bar on the edge of the premises overlooking the open Bismarck Sea.

The picturesque hill overlooks the township towards the west and the Bismarck Sea over the east and was a strategic military based for Japanese during WWII.

At the foot of the hill is the National Fisheries Jetty just opposite the town is the one way street with shops on either side and market on the other end towards the bay. The Wewak beach extends from National Fisheries Jetty to Windjammer Hotel. A visitor could not gauge much of the beauty that Wewak has after just having to sit by the town beach front for cool breeze or snorkeling near the shoreline.

It might take years to build interest or to spend more time studying the beauty and history of Wewak with countless sites to visit with the highlighted sites like Wom village which has a unique and fine sandy beach with a access road that runs through the mangrove jungles passing through Wom Memorial Park funded by Japanese Government. The Mission hill has got its own history and Catholic Church had never vacated the area since WWII and the area holds a countless number of WWII stories.

Driving towards the South-East off Wewak township is very scenic and history will easily be recalled when passing through one of the oldest schools in the country ‘ Barandi High School’ now a secondary school which has produced some of the most prominent people in PNG including the founding Prime Minister Grand Chief, Sir. Michael Thomas Somare who has been a former student there. Not further from the school is the Maur village which played host to the MV. Pacific Aria passengers by hosting more than 300 tourists on the back to back half-day tour.

PNG Tourism Promotion under its 5year Cruise Tourism Development Plan, Wewak was identified as one of the cruise tourism spots and made negations with P&O (Carnival Corporation) to bring one of their cruise ships to Wewak and finally PNGTPA got a positive response from Carnival Corporation to have MV.Pacific Dawn on its maiden voyage to Wewak and scheduled for November 20th, 2015. PNGTPA officers worked tirelessly with the support of the Wewak government officers and stakeholders on the ground to prepare all the ground work to make the maiden into Wewak by P&O’s MV.Pacific Dawn a more successful and remarkable event. The cruise tourism awareness by PNGTPA and stakeholders on the ground served its purpose well and people from as far as Murik Lakes, Aitape, Lumi and Sepik Rivers all flocked to the Wewak Township with their arts and hand crafts to wait for MV.Pacific Dawn with estimated passenger and crew capacity of 2500 onboard to come ashore.

Unfortunately and due to unforeseen circumstances that were beyond control, the passengers did not disembark owing to the swells near the National Fisheries Jetty which could not allow the tenders from MV. Pacific Dawn with passengers to berth calmly. Fearing the safety of the elderly people onboard, MV. Pacific Dawn anchored off the seas near Wewak hill and waited for another 30 minutes for the sea to calm down but it did not eventuated. Regretfully, the ship made a decision to sail off to the next destination on the schedule leaving PNGTPA, the stakeholders and Wewak people in anguish. The excitement, anticipation and expectations were all changed into anger and confusion was all over Wewak town and it was the saddest day for everyone whom they left for their homes unsatisfied with their repacked carvings and handicrafts. The uncertain event coincided with the circumstances beyond the control of MV. Pacific Dawn, the ground handlers in Wewak, PNGTPA and the stakeholders. The regrettable event left the Sepik people of Wewak shattered and expectations shrink too low but PNGTPA and stakeholders assured to negotiate again and bring another ship into Wewak sooner.

It was not too long and through the persistent requests and negotiations between P&O (Carnival Corporations) and the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority, the P&O decided to send another sister cruise ship of MV.Pacific Dawn and this time was MV. Pacific Aria scheduled to sail into Wewak waters on Monday 22nd of February, 2015.

The stakeholders and tour operators in Wewak still with uncertainty and unsatisfied feeling from the last incident with MV. Pacific Dawn did prepared for MV.Pacific Area with less interest but in a more organised way and the Sepik Adventure tours under the guidance of Alois Mateos arranged and provided tours under three category; The Wewak Highlight Tour, Maur Cultural Village Experience and Wom Historical Tour. The tours ran back to back for half-day tours but most of the tourist who went to Maur village fallen in love with the village and did not wanted to return back until the second and last tour departs from the village.

Despite the first time to host such a big number of tourists in the village on tour, the villagers prepared well and organised for the tourists to have a good experiences and leave with fond memories. The cultural group leader of Maur village and tourism advocate Valentine Andisagu was overwhelmed with the feedback he received from the tourists with happily repeated words of satisfaction on the tour by tourist who could expressed themselves with words like ‘fantastic, excellent, perfect, awesome, tremendous, amazing, superb, lovely and all those words that have countless descriptions to describe a place that has got more than what the tourists have expected.

The villagers went on to showcased their tradition houses with artifacts and gift for sale, the traditional all girl dances were separated from the mixed men and female dance group. Kids ranging from young girls to young boys were all decorated in traditional attired to draw the attention of curious tourists who did not walk away without a photograph. The village was well prepared with many interesting products to showcase on their first time to host tourists and there were well constructed short tracks leading to the village gardens, sago making arena and to the nearby Barandi River bank where the tourists were served with ripe banana and coconut juice. The villages were so happy to be the hosts for the tourists and offered complimentary fruits and coconut juice to show appreciation towards the tourists for visiting their village. The tour to Maur village ended on a positive allure and the ratings onboard the ship must have been overwhelming if the tourists were given some review questionnaires or score cards to fill for Maur village after the tour.

There were so much potential tourist attractions in Maur village and also other sites in Wewak but PNGTPA officers on the ground have advised the resource owners to market and sell what is available and accessible to tourists while keeping the others as substitutes or keeping on standby for other market segments.

From the frequent expeditionary cruises from few of the Australian cruise operators to Wewak and Sepik River, the recent visit of the purposely built cruise lines like MV. Aria operating under well renowned cruise operators like P&O have set a milestone and paved a way forward for Wewak’s cruise tourism investment. PNG Tourism Promotion Authority is happy with the overall operation and the achievements in Wewak and looking forward to negotiate for more cruise ships to visit Wewak in the near future.

Words and Pictures by; Nathan LATI, PNGTPA – Tourism Product Development Officer