Internet scammers in PNG keeping victims at bay silently

The internet scamming trend is phenomenon in PNG whereby innocent and uninformed citizens are victimized. Rather the internet scamming trend is rife now with the access to internet by anyone with a smartphone. Hence, anyone can be scammed into or lied by anyone over the internet with the combination of advancing technology. 

The rapid changes in the internet technology is  happening without any form of awareness towards the users in PNG about the problems and consequences. This is my personal effort to make the communities and people in PNG aware of the existence of internet scammers. It is rampant in some parts of African countries but now the idea has spread all over the globe and PNG is not exception to having internet scammer. 

At some stage, the PNG scammers using the technology and internet platforms are sending random Congratulatory messages to mobile phone users about their phone numbers randomly selected for certain promotions and to claim the prices, the recipient have to email/call/text the sender immediately.

There are phone numbers and email addresses provided in the message which are not related to the organization they refer to in their message.

Without having the courtesy to check for facts and other relevant details, some people have gone so wild after receiving the messages and made direct contact with the senders of the messages immediately. The senders of the messages were actually scams. They would advice you to pay some certain fees before collecting your price. That does not happen anywhere in the world where a promotional winner is allowed to pay any certain fees.  

Regardless of how it works with promotional winning claims, the unaware victims are paying the amount through either Post Office (SMK) or doing direct bank deposits and Western Union transfer. The winner expects the price redemption to be expedited soon towards his possession sooner after the first payment.

However, the agent (scam) intentional delays with several fees more fees  requested or at times switches off their phones to keep the victims under suspense. When the victims tries to contact the companies where the price originates from; they receive surprising responses with nonexistence of such promotions in their companies. 

It happened to my sister one time in Mt. Hagen in 2012. I accompanied her to the town and she drove directly to the Digicel Shop and bought a K50.00 Flex Card. She entered the numbers quickly and send it off to someone whom I do not know and she do not know as well. Then she called up the recipient and said, ''I already sent you the K50.00 Flex Card and I'm at the Digicel Office in Mt. Hagen, can I pickup my price here''.

I heard her talking and when she finished, I asked her, 'who was that; 'she said, the Digicel agent send me the congratulatory messages to my phone that I won K50 000.00 from the randomly selected numbers from Digicel Promotion. I was asked to collect the cheque in the office. To do that; the agents needed K50.00 Flex Card.  

I explained to her the existence of the scams in PNG and she should not have to give in easily like that, she should have checked for the details properly to see if such promotions have been advertised by Digicel PNG. 

To be honest, the rapid changes in the internet and having access on the smartphones is having a catastrophic impact in the lives of the people in PNG. It seems like, anyone can believe anything on the internet and believe into it without have any due consideration of the sources. There are news or promotional driven messages on the internet and mobile phone messages have scammers behind it. 

The scamming trend has gone from email to Facebook Inbox and then onto Whatsapp and IMO messenger and text messages. The scammers are really smart and can play around with people that will tend to know nothing of the existence of scam to ensure you are scammed. 

Many vulnerable people have lost their money in the process of receiving a promised Fortune, a Treasure Box , Million Dollars Transfer or to claim a Won Promotion on their phones. 

It is better to think that none of such like treasure box, million dollars transfer and uninformed promotional winning do exists in the world and it is ; purely work of the internet scammers. 

In whatever ways the messages were sent to you, it is for the best interest of yourself to; 

i. Confirm the sources of the messages or promotion to be 100% true and relevant

ii. To know their office location and get their specific details to confirm with other people

iii. Do not be too quick to pay any fees anytime soon event if requested persistently

The screenshot messages below are shared to me by Lorraine in Lae after viewing my first story I did to create awareness on the existence of the scam in PNG. 

It is terrifying for me to see the laws and requirements being mentioned and described by the scammer to Lorraine. Such laws and rules does not exists in PNG and a logical thinking would have prevented her from depositing or paying the second fees again. 

I was told that, their (scammer's) phone is off on the voicemail but so active on Whatsapp and IMO. It is assumed that, the scammers have diverted the voice-calls to voicemail intentionally and active on Apps which is appears to me as a smart idea. 

The screenshots of the message to Lorraine from the scammers based in Port Moresby by the name of Cassandra Wakia and some of her/his colleagues who are into this scam business.

This scam case has been reported to Lae Police Station and it is now a police case to investigate and bring these kind of people to face law and learn their lesson. 

Please be vigilant and do not give into such scam messages too quickly. Use your #SmartBrains and not #Smartphones.

This is uncommon in the logistical operations 

Payment was deposited into the nominated BSP Account with details

Clearly scammed into more money 

Samples of scammed packages 

Do scammers exist on internet?

Be smart and use your smart brains and not your smartphones

In this article I will briefly discuss the internet and mobile phone scamming trend that is rampant over the technological world and sounds genuine fortune or good luck towards anyone through social media Inbox but it does not exist as one thinks. It is costly to get involve for Nothing is Free in the business world. To understand the context of the internet scams better, please read through the article and some of the cases presented. 

Many of the unsuspecting man and women plus the vulnerable youths have been scammed into this trend and became victim by loosing valuables and money or shared their personal information with scammers which were used to manipulate their operations. Some of them lost most of their savings and hard earned income whilst others have loans with the hope of financing the promised treasures on transit to their homes.  

My personal experience (Case #1)
I came to learn and know the uses of internet with hands-on experience in 2015 at the university. With access to internet, I had my email accounts on Gmail and Yahoo engines opened together with Facebook account.

It was extremely exciting moment for me and I have to send emails to those people whom I have had their business cards and others from my notebook to reconfirm my email accounts. I got replies on real time with attachments of information I needed. The internet made my life at the university so easy and I started to browse any websites I wanted to know. 

On the other hand, with Facebook I could invite anyone and post anything anytime without even knowing the pros and cons that exists. I did not knew that my privacy was violated and bragging seems to be opposite of my real life at some stages. I gave a break to myself with Facebook. 

At one stage, I got an email from a very pretty lady in Ghana, South Africa. In her email, she said that; her father used to own a gold mine but due to a civil war in the area, her father was killed and mine was taken over by the enemy and she was taking refuge at a military camp. 

Her father's fortune were under her name as next of kin but she could not get it due to the fact that she was living in a military camp. She has to go into exile in order to claim her father's savings and investments. Hence, she needed a friend to contact some banks and important people in the investment sectors associated to her late father so that the funds can be transferred to me as the partner (trustee) in PNG. Even-though this sound new and strange to me, my excitement was more than I could ever imagine in my life. This deal seemed a lifetime luck and opportunity for me. I was already dreaming into what to get and what business to start with the fortunes coming my way. 

As days went by, we communicated consistently and she supplied me all the necessary documents electronically via email and everything appeared genuine and true with me.

I was curious but believed in her and kept every of the information to myself. Then, I followed all her instructions to contact the agents and investment companies relating to her late father's business links. In the process, I supplied all my personal details like; bank accounts, passport and others which would have been used by scammers to scam other people or if I happened to have lot of money in the bank account by that time then Im sure, I would have lost it all in the process to scammers.

To make the story short, after the communications were completed for the transfer of funds to me, she asked me to pay $1000.00 as a service fee to the bank via Western Union. At that time I had no money and the amount was too big for me as a student and mentioned to her that Im unable to pay the service fees. 

The tone of the communication changed and interests in the communication dropped unlike consistently. From thereon,  I knew it was not genuine luck for me and I was thinking again to get advice from some people to see if such business or luck do exists. 

I insisted on Western Union payments and tried to locate the bank details of the finance agent on the internet which required the service fee but could not locate it anywhere on the internet. I drew my own conclusion and block her off my contact lists - It was an internet scam.  

To my own understanding, there's nothing of such financial institutions exists anywhere in the world. I knew that the the transaction involving such billions of dollars will never be transferred to any banks in PNG easily with email exchanges. In fact, such transactions involving millions of dollars into PNG needs coordination with Central Bank of PNG which most ordinary people in PNG don't know yet (I guess). Such million dollars money will never enter PNG easily and secretly.

Case #2
From similar settings to case one, a pretty lady in one of the states in South Africa again emailed me saying; she had a treasure box full or billions of dollars from her family business that she wants to bring over to PNG due to a civil unrest in the area which was affecting her inherited family business. From the treasure box, she promised to give me 50% share of it, if I will help her process and coordinate the shipment of the treasure box to PNG.

She also promised to marry me and sent me her sexy photos which made me go so high on feelings every day/night and nearly gave up my studies too. I lost focus on other stuff in my life and concentrated on email exchanges with her from time to time for almost three months.

To make the story short, she asked me to pay for the agency fee that will take the treasure box to Indonesia in a week then to PNG. She said to expect a call from Indonesia on a given date. I waited and then my one bang Nokia on Bmobile rang and that Indonesian scam agent spoke to me genuinely and confirmed the shipment on transit from Africa. That person asked for trans-shipment fee of £1000.00 euro asap via Western Union. I was shocked with receiving international calls for the first time on my mobile phone. That phone call alone made me believe that the  treasure box was on transit and I was convinced to do the payment soon as possible but I have no money.  

I nearly borrowed or loaned that amount to pay for the shipment of the treasure box but it made me think again; there was nothing of such treasure box with millions of dollars transfer exists in the world and such cash shipment has never happened in my life or never heard of it.

With a bold statement, I replied her last email; ''Please, just bring anything and everything at your own cost to PNG and I will help you liaise with government and businesses for investment. After my email, there was no responses  and it all ended there. It was a good experience to know and understand the operations and existence of  the internet scams. 

Case #3
See the screenshot attachment. That person asked me to convert $1000.00 USD to PNG to pay for the clearance fee on some stuff coming from England which a friend was sending through. I asked to know if they were related in any work or anyone whom she met before. She denied and insisted many times to letting me know and later she admitted that;  they  met over the Facebook and a very nice friend to her and her family in PNG. My suspicion was right and I saved that person from loosing the big amount of money to the scam. 

Case #4
A friend of mine in Lae was asking me to help pay for the clearance fee of a Box in POM. That box was coming from Europe and have some expensive lady's stuff inside. I asked for consignment number and details to verify the details but that never happened because he insisted to provide me details. Out of frustration, that person said to fly over to POM and check the package for himself and he left me out of the discussion. Goodluck!

Case #5
There was someone by the name of Lydia in Buka paid for transshipment fee of K1000.00 of a box containing ladies stuff from Europe sent for her by her Facebook friends. The box must have arrived in POM and a customs agent in POM asked for another K1000. 00 clearance fee. At that point, she asked me to help pay for the clearance and she will repay after selling her stuff from the package. 

I asked for details of the box and there wasn't any shipment information like the consignment number.

That frustrated her and she left me out of the communication for assistance and said: if you wanted to help me out then pay the agent for the clearance and she provided a name of a male with BSP banking details. 

That agent (guy) already took the first K1000. 00 from her on the transshipment fee which was deposited directly into his BSP account provided. Again another K1000 for clearance was for customs clearance. (Such business transactions never exists in the logistics industry). I told her it was scam but she insisted and she said to pay for herself. I asked for the consignment details of the package but she never did. Goodluck!

Case #6
I have posted this message on all the social web-pages and blogs I managed and it saved some people from the similar scams that are existing in PNG as well.
Berdshiba is from Manus and she was aware of my messages on the Facebook about the existence of internet scams. 
She got the messages from some unknown phone numbers informing her of a parcel under her name in Port Moresby that was awaiting customs clearance and need her to pay the clearance fee. 
If she does not pay the fees then she would be arrested for not paying the customs fees. 
See the attached Whatsapp messages below. 

This is irrational and illogical to understand in business context but those scammers knows how to prey on the vulnerable and innocent people because that is what they have been doing to earn their living.   

There is not much awareness done on existence of internet and mobile phone scammers that exists. The responsible individuals, financial institutions and others need to create awareness platforms on this to safeguard our vulnerable people in the communities who have been exposed to the mobile phone and internet scam. 

The Bank of PNG is responsible for monetary policies and regulation mechanisms. As the responsible agency, the BPNG have issued several public notices like this on on the link;  https://www.bankpng.gov.pg/public-notice-on-email-scam/ . However, such information from BPNG is reaching only few people or its an intentional ignorance by many and keep falling prey for the internet and mobile phone scammers.  

Lessons learnt

• Nothing in this world that involves business is never free and its not free.
• No one will send your fortunes and treasures cheaply from anywhere in the world, Never!
• Such scammers have a networking worldwide and now it has links into PNG.
• For a parcel or box to arrive in PNG, the sender pays for everything on transit to PNG and if required, you as the receiver will pay clearance fee at the nearest Post Office, TNT /DHL upon collection and not in POM to anyone or agent.
• Do not pay clearance fee to any individual or agency, please confirm your consignment number (connote) with the carrier (Post PNG, TNT or DHL) before doing any payment.
• Ask the sender of the box or parcel to provide the consignment (connote) number of the carrier/parcel and track it online whilst on transit.
• There are so many online consignment tracking portals for free and please use them.  
• Please note that:, scammers are real and they do exist. Many have fallen victims and living in silence with agony and many more of such cases of mine or others outlines above exists whereby they lost money to scammers but I never lost any money and Im here to provide awareness on the lessons learnt.

Be smart and use your smart brains and not your smart phones, 
Never let your fingers and eyes  make decisions on such scams - Use your smart Brains.
Remember: Nothing is Free

By: raonraonpng media

Photos: Examples of scammed messages being screenshot by Berdshiba from Manus

Rego’s Karawa villager carves for a living

It was not our tradition but my dad learnt the ideas and skills somewhere in Port Moresby in 1970s and then he was one of those creative carver in our village. Now it earns us a living in the village.

While attending the University of PNG’s 13^th Tourism Convention at the Port Moresby campus by the final year Tourism and Hospitality Management students. My attention was caught by this lone stall towards the end of the display arena. On that day; there were many business houses and SMEs with stalls that were showcasing various products from arts and crafts to catering, body care and many more which resulted in one of the successful events ever staged by the students.

Nevertheless, the focus of this story is on the fifty-seven year old father of seven (7) children, Mr. Lohan Rove who comes from Karawa village in Rigo, Central Province. Mr. Rove dropped out of Grade Six in 1985 from Wood Lagoon Primary School. Whilst in the village, he learnt some carpentry skills with the interest to help is dad who was already into his carving business which he started in the 1970s from his stints as a student at Indubada Vocational School now Port Moresby Technical College.

After grade six, Mr. Lohan become a builder in the community and started building houses for people on contract basis. However, there was no way he was able to earn a consistent income with his carpentry skills and he opted to help his father with the carving business.

Life in the village became harder for Mr. Rove when he got married in 1989. Karawa village being located further inland from the sea, there was no easy options available for Mr. Rove and his family to make money or venture into any fisheries business or cash crop farming activities to earn a living. The accessibility to the area from Port Moresby also contributes to the hardships the Karawa community endures.

Towards the late 1980s, Mr. Rove involved fully with his father in the carving business and ensured that he learn all the skills and ideas to be a skilful carver like his father. Once the carvings have been completed, the different types, sizes and shapes made of Rosewood, Walnut and Mangroves are then taken into Port Moresby city by road to sell at Boroko Arts and Craft Market or sell at other convenient places in the city. Mr. Rove admitted that; this was only way he can sell his carvings which is the hardest way around for him in the city. Sometimes it takes weeks and months to sell a caving whilst living with his close friends and family in the city.

The carvings like, coffee tables, Kundu drums and ukulele are not easy sell out items in the city, the family usually lives with friends in the city and sells the carvings daily at the Boroko Craft Market. Sometimes when he is lucky, few of the customers do place their orders for a specifically curved item and that makes his work easy. When asked about how many bigger orders he did managed to delivered since he started to took over from his late dad, Mr. Rove said;  ‘’We do not take bulk orders but less than ten (10) of the same type or different types within ten piece was our limit since we started but we can take more than that.’’

The tables have a special folding leg frame which is skilfully curved out of a piece of log which can give three or four poles to support the wooden table top (either square or round) when loosen and straightened.

According to Mr. Lohan, the trade of designing and curving out the folding leg frame from a piece of log was learnt by Loha’s father in the 1970s at a market stall at Koki Girl’s Guide in the 1970s. The design seems to have brought from India by the Indian teachers who were teaching at the Indubada Technical College which is now Port Moresby Technical College.

Now Mr. Lohan is a creative carver with expert skills to curve out dinner and coffee tables to ukulele and other souvenir items on request or as his usual products. One of his fastest selling curved item in Port Moresby and in the village is the eight (8) string ukulele curved out of Rosewood and Mangroves. The local churches and string band groups have been using his ukulele product and it became one of the fastest selling item for him. The ukulele is cost K250.00 and comes with standard fret from Keynote Music House and strings doubled to effect the pitch and tone quality of the ukulele to attune into the standard musical pattern and rage. 

When asked if he have other interests to pursue in life apart from carving, he said; ‘I took over this trade and skills from my dad who raised us through the income from carving and now I have done it for my family and I will maintain what I’m doing to keep my father’s legacy. I have been teaching my children about carving skills while the Karawa community youths are also into carving to earn an income.’’ The competition in the carving within the Karawa community seemed to have set some standards in quality which was the reason why Mr. Loha’s products seemed to have originated from a well-equipped workshop with and the prices worth their value with the following range;

Coffee table (big) K1200.00

Coffee table (small) K800.00

Kundu drum (standard) K550.00

Ukulele (standard) K250.00

Out of the items Mr. Lohan has been producing, the Kundu Drum, which is the hardest item he has been producing so far. Because of the hallow and opening on either end with one side for beating and the other for the sound emission, it takes a lot of time to create one to the shape of the Kundu Drum with decorated patterns and handles outside.

Apart from carving some of the unimaginable items over the years with his father and now himself and his children into the curving business, he also makes himself available for carpentry work in the village and Rigo area. There are few challenges that are beyond his control, hence he only wish if one day there will be a market specifically for carvers in Rigo District or in Port Moresby where there is storage area for safe keeping of the carvings as well.

Indeed carving is really a tough artwork which comes with commitment that turns time into creativity. The works of the artisans, carvers, porters, artists and painters are some ways of looking into our past to ensure those items of cultural significant and cultural heritages coexist with the modern influences of the 20^th century. It would be rational for a leader to provide subsidy or incentives for such people who have taken their own initiatives to hold on to the skills and knowledge that are important to our societies as a livelihood support.

Photos courtesy of; #raonraonpng
Link to The National Newspaper article of the same story; Rigo villager carves a living

Mr. Loha and Naithan after the interview at UPNG Campus

Mr. Loha with his products and the special folding leg frame for tables

The Kapakapa Trail - Personal Diary #1

being an enthusiastic person to see and explore new places was my motivation but I did not realized that I was accompanying those well-conditioned trekkers from PNG and overseas.  

Whilst I could be the first PNG Government Officer to completed the full length of  Kapa Kapa Trail, a distance of 2700km approx in 18days of continuous walking until Girua Bridge (Popondetta) and onto Buna. 

I'm grateful to my employer PNG Tourism Promotion Authority for the opportunity and support. Also to Getaway Trekking Adventures for the logistics on the trail. Buna Treks & Tours boys from Central and Oro side for your endless support throughout the duration of 18days trekking. 

The local trekkers were young fellows who've heard stories of the WWII and the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angles but they have proven to us that; they have the genes of their grandparents who endured all odds on the trek to ensure that their masters were safe. I could imagine the different settings of the environment and trekking gears used those times of the war and today as tourism interest on the trek. We have good rests and there was always someone with refreshment (locally preferred word) consist of fruits and garden food to share with trekkers. 

 Whilst looking back to the interest of the local trekkers to take care of us in every situations on the trek,  there was overwhelming liveliness. The excitements on the trek were fueled by jokes, local songs and music from the solar powered boomboxes which were mounted onto the top of the trekking bags. We could surely feel the tiredness at some stages of the trekking but no boredom could never find us along the trek, there was always a local guide trekker or expat trekker checking on each other. 

 It could be the knowledge and skills the locals have learned to be into the business of trekking and guiding on the Kapakapa Trek but there the legacy of Fuzzy Wuzzy lives on. The younger generations have opted to live the footsteps of their great grand parents who lived to the name during the Second World War for Kokoda Campign and Buna Front Campaign by the Allied Forces. 

I will hardly forget those countless memories and experiences navigating upstream Kemp Welsh River, pushing boats, hiking uphill and downhill descending continuously for the average of 6 hours each day has become part of the Kapakapa Trek for me. The canopy walk without the exposure of the sun, the bush camps with bush fires all-around, the near to freezing point streams, the brush turkey eggs for lunch and dinner. Cooking the local foods in different ways, collecting galip nuts, getting to taste a lot of fruits, nuts and food along the treks forms a part of never to forget memory of me on Kapakapa Trek.  

The Ghost Mountain at the elevation of 2000+ meters above sea levels was a challenging climb on the trek with couple of adventures. At one stage, we lost the GPS trekking signal and arrived at the abandoned Suaru village. The heavy rainfall welcomed us back into the abandoned village and our tents were setup under the rain. Sadly, two of our guide trekkers (porters) who were carrying the  group canvas or tent for the guides went off-trek and met up with a waiting group on the other-side of the hill separated by terrains and rivers. 

It was fun onsite, we gradually made a big fireplace from the logs and dry woods at the site and collected rainwater from the canvas that was providing shelter for us. Those rainwater were used when there was no water for tea.

 Despite the slippery tracks, the fast flowing creeks and off the beaten tracks that could not pickup GPS and satellites signals, we all had fun with our endless songs and new war cry "Fire Wara" and what the Uda Boroma are you ?

The nights in the campsites were totally different from the villages, there were big fireplaces on each of the four corners of the campsite whilst candles lights were placed at separate areas to cast light over the camping area. It was us (trekkers) under the trees in the area used to be home to birds and other animals. 

However, the nights in the overnight villages feels like someone is welcoming you whole night. The exotic Rigo inland dialect songs voiced by children and elders over the acoustic guitar gave us the well deserved lullaby into rest.  

Depends on the elevation levels, some places were warm and hot whilst some were so cold that we have to unpack our sleeping bags and wrap ourselves until 5.30am call for packing and breakfast before setting off on the journey. 

The rivers and creeks were so cold to the near freezing point and the good part of the reconditioning therapy for trekkers is the naturally cold creeks.  To explain how cold the creeks where is unreal but if anyone has to be under the water for more than a minute loses the consciousnesses. The cold water therapy us outdoing all the pains I had from the 5-7hours work each day to reach the next camp.

Im also grateful with Buddy Walbino's boys from Central side and the Buna Treks and Tours boys under the leadership of Peter Bonga. 

Not forgetting our host villages from Sirimu to Buna. You all have a tradition that is blended well into your cultures and that's where the force of attraction is on Tourism for Kapa Kapa Trail. 

Thanks to Kevin, Joe & Julie, Stephan, Donna, James, Rachael, Peter Gamgee for the team efforts.

#KapaKapaTrail #KokondaTrack #BunaTreksTours #GetawayTrekking #pngtourism #pngtravel #pngjourneys #ghostmountainboys #raonraonpng

Talking to the community at Itokam Village in Oro Province

Group Photo at New Suwai Village

At the top of Ghost Mountain. Photo by: Donna

Heartaching memories do haunt

“It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” ― Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy -

My dearest brother Emmen Wasi (MnM) , I your beloved and your Ten (10) is living with heartaches forever because you were too young to be called home. I blamed no one for you gone too soon but the Creator of you and me has plans like this too.

From the collection of photos at DWU, I realized that, you made this one using Adobe Photoshop on my PC at home after the graduation day.

We met at Kopen Secondary School when I was in grade eleven (11) and you were in nine (9).

As a student leader, I corrected you on a minor mistake at the dinner table and your respect over me earned the trust and formed the friendship between you and me from there.

You followed me to Madang and enrolled at Madang Technical College when I was in my second year at DWU. Most students were thinking that you were a DWU student since my room became your room.

During my semester holidays, my room at DWU became your room to learn computer and then people told me you were too good with computer lessons at Mateco. I was proud and did anything I can for you when I have whatever you deserve. And I know all your secrets and importantly the wallet with no cash and pockets with coins only. Our moments were lively over one plate of white rice with RD Dolly Tuna over it from DWU mess.

The times passed, I moved on to work with MTS after DWU and you graduated with PETT certificate in Sheet Metal Fabrication and got employed in Porgera mine. We achieved one of our many little dreams among the big ones.

With your selfless gratitude and trust over me as your brother, you alone came for my graduation with a 40kg bag filled with pineapple only. To make your journey over to my graduation day worse, the 5km landslide in Chimbu made you carry the 40kg pineapple bag to the other side safely and got into Madang at early morning.

We stayed at my room at Madang Resort compound and it became your home during your field breaks from Porgera.

I can't write more of your generosity, senses of humour, unique character, so loving and caring personality traits and above all, you were one gentleman with attitudes of being a true man for anyone in your life.

If the Creator did gave you chances to live, we would have achieved some of those big dreams together by now because I know we can.

It only hurts for me to see into those photos of ours, your scribbled files of homework, assignments and notes for me on desktop among my old files.

You promised to sister Julie and Jj when they visited me in Madang that, your next break, you will spend with them in POM. Now when they heard of your sad news and it's so hard to comprehend, how saddened they were while pointing our graduation photos on the wall of our house.

The big baby Jj enjoyed your arms when you carried her around in Madang following sister Juls (best babysitter). She is now big girl and sees all the photos of Madang with you and appreciates it but not the person you now.

I was surprised by the news of you gone too early and it leaves an immense spaces for bonding friendship of such we had as brotherhood I cannot compare now.

I asked for the burial site information and now got the location correctly. Next time I will be in the Province, I will frame this photo for you and drop it off at your site as a respect to you my MnM.

It hurts too much but cannot afford the superstition powers get you back to live again till the last day. I don't want to say; "Rest in Peace" because it hurts so much but rather "Return If Possible"

From your Ten (10) 

Pics: Edited by; Emmen Was at DWU Feehan Hall, 2007

Birds Haven - Western Province's Lake Murray

Nestled among the trees on an island spit, Lake Murray lodge overlooks beautiful Lake Murray. Here in the remote reaches of Papua New Guinea, one truly feels that they are on the edge of the earth. The almost unbroken quiet of the lake is barely disturbed by the gentle sounds of dugout canoes seamlessly gliding through the water. Despite some Western influences, the tribes in this remote area still maintain many of their ancient and traditional customs and ways of life.



Read more from the link below shared by SPTO

https://consumer.southpacificislands.travel/lake-murray-lodge/

A local and PNG Engineer has fallen in love with the native birds

I did it my own way for nearly 30 years and need support from government and others to
ensure our bird species are accounted for the interest of tourism and undiscovered exotic products are promoted.

 -Mr. Samuel Kepuknai - 

Samuel Kepuknai is a native from Kiunga’s Drimskai village and a former Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) with the TALAIR airline company in the 1980s and was based in Goroka.  After the aircraft company ceased its operations in the country, Mr. Kepuknai returned back to his home village with hopes of working for the giant copper and gold mine at OkTedi. 

Read more details from the link below published by The National Newspaper 

PNG local engineer has fallen in love with birds

Mr. Samuel Kepuknai at Wawoi Falls in Kiunga, Western Province 

Bougainville experts resurgence in tourism

While referendum for ABG seems to be the main agenda for ABG these days, we cannot wait to see what will transverse on the next process, we have to prepare our people to sustain themselves through alternate economic activity and tourism is one of the focus now for Bougainvilleans,

Mr. Steven Tsivele, Secretary for ABG Department of Economic Development

Read the copy of the newspaper article online via The National Newspaper website on the link below;

Bougainville experts resurgence in tourism 

A Bougainvillean kid sitting ontop a remain of  WWII relic - It appears to be mortar launcher located along Buin/Siwai Road

A PNG native and an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) has fallen in love with birds

''I did it my own way for nearly 30 years and need support from government and others to ensure our bird species are accounted for the interest of tourism and undiscovered exotic products are promoted''.

         Mr. Samuel Kepuknai 

Samuel Kepuknai is a native from Kiunga’s Drimskai village and a former Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) with the TALAIR airline company in the 1980s and was based in Goroka.  After the aircraft company ceased its operations in the country, Mr. Kepuknai returned back to his home village with hopes of working for the giant copper and gold mine at OkTedi. 

Whilst in the village, he has fallen love with the natural surrounding which he did missed for a long time. He forgot the ideas of applying for new jobs or trying his luck with OkTedi mine for employment in his field of expertise.

He started his livelihood in the village by fixing engines of the outboard motors along the Fly River while based in Kiunga Township. He started the company called; Kiunga Outboard Motor Repair Shop which later led him to provide logistics for Bird Watchers along the river. To his coincidental luck, one day a German bird watcher came around and asked Mr. Kapuknai to take him on a bird watching tour along the Fly River using his outboard motor. Little did he knew was the beginning of a new chapter of his life into an unknown field that later he became accustomed to and now a renown local expert in native bird species.

After the tour of the Fly River for Bird Watching, the German Bird Watcher did his own recommendation on the TripAdvisor about Mr. Kepuknai as one of the local expert along the Fly River for Bird Watching and reliable logistical support on the ground.

The recommendation on the TripAdvisor website was the icing on the cake for Mr. Kepuknai who have no idea about birds yet a typical villager who likes to explore new things in his life.  Now he has more than twenty (20) groups or nearly 300 individual Bird Watchers around the world who are booking through him for birdwatching tours in Western and other provinces in PNG as well. He has five (5) identified sites in Kiunga as well as three (3) in Tabubil areas while others remains potential and unexplored among the 180 species of plants and animals found in the Fly River area which are new to science.

Now he never regrets of going back to work to maintain his profession as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer or any other related work in his field of expertise. ‘I have an interest to learn new things and I’m learning a lot from all of these tourists from all over the world who come here from different backgrounds, cultures and tradition that interests; said Mr. Kapunai.

His favourite groups are the researchers and documentary groups because their expectations are not too serious but convenient to manage and have flexibility to recommend the sites of his own choices knowing the kind of data and information the group wants for their research and documentary filming. He once stared on the BBC documentary on the; Destination Unknown’ series for Papua New Guinea. 

Out of his usual work with Bird Watching, he has encountered several challenges but that has never deterred him from his interests in exploring the nature and Birdwatching.  At one stage he has to decamp with his group for documentary filming after realizing that the birds could no longer come to the identified spot to perform for documentary filming.  ‘I had to relocate them to a different site which was also unknown but alternate site after the twelve (12) Wired Bird of Paradise could no longer come over to the identified site to dance at its usual time; recalled Mr. Kapunai. Luckily it was a well-managed relocation and the documentary team were able to film and complete their work; he added.

In reality, PNG is a challenging nation when it comes to tourism operations logistics because most of the tourism products are located in the rural villages which requires an adventurer to accomplish it. The access to the product sites are something for the adventure tourists to save as experiences of good or worst in their lives while exploring PNG. For Mr. Kepuknai, one of the deterrents in his tourism business is the ever increasing prices of the support services and facilities in tourism industry which have never been decreasing but instead they are increasing rapidly and the tourists have complains over the prices or sometimes have to cancel their trips to PNG. For Bird Watching Tours and other queries, go to Kiunga Nature Tours website and contact Samuel directly. 

The drop in booking are indication of the national economy shifts and I have nothing to do with it but I’m struggling and hanging on to the business because the benefit me and my communities in the remote places receive are more than what money can do. The communities get a chance to meet and mingle with the outsiders in a while because of Bird Watching and I’m satisfied with that, Mr. Kepuknai expressed.  

There is already an interest on the ground to promote conservation and preservation of the natural habitats for Birds and exotic products.  Some of the naturally exotic products in the area includes; Hardenberg Wall, Star Mountains, Wawoi Falls, Strickland Gorge and Mount Bossave in the borders areas of Southern Highlands as well as Sepik and Western border areas are unexplored and haven for exotic flora and fauna species.  

With the new discoveries in the province’s unique flora and fauna species, it is obvious that the interest by the tourists in the area for Bird Watching, nature tours and researches are growing.  Mr. Kepuknai is only a local person doing what his interests are and have limitations. He needs support from the government and others in the industry so that a collaborative work can ease the challenges and promote tourism in the rural villages as a livelihood support for the people.

The bigger dream he has is to build capacity for the rural community so that everyone will have the same kind of attitudes and understanding to promote tourism at the same time conservation and preservation of natural habitat are the main focus. This saves the people from engaging in any means of logging in the area and keeping the natural habitat intact to sustain the livelihood in the long run. Also the database creation for all the bird species in PNG is likely to be one of his major achievement after the book; Niugini Birds which he has co-authored with Nigel.

While realizing the tourism benefits to be endless, Mr. Kepuknai, encourages the communities and the resource owners to take ownership. It is an eye opener to the Oktedi Landowners Trust Limited, a company that looks after the loyalist funds for the local landowners. Now the landowner company is into ecotourism and they are planning for ecotourism themed lodge in Tabubil township area. The former Chairman of the Trust, Mr. Henry, has had the idea for long time ago with the view of life after the mine. He lobbied and pressed on the interests of tourism for the long time during his term as chairman and now he is more than happy to support the Bird Watching Project as well as the Eco-lodge.

PNGTPA supports the projects through with technical advises following an existing MOU with the Trust and working collaboratively with the landowners for ecotourism product developments in the province as well.

The recent visit to the area by PNGTPA officials for a product scoping have realized the tourism prospects in the area to be amass. It is no surprise that, Western Province has vast landmass with undiscovered biodiversity, flora and fauna species that are not yet recorded in the science books.

The most notable comparison to the area could be Asia’s Mongolia being one of the inland and mountainous country with frequent tourist’s arrivals. However, Tabubil in Western Province has something similar but landscape and features are definitely unique and different to offer to tourists. The Hindenburg Wall and Lake Wagbin are some natural wonders in the area but never been explored by the world and the Oktedi Trust Landowner Company is investment on the prospective tourism interest in the province and Tabubil despite the unforeseen impediments.

And interestingly, the local PNG’s bird expert is from Western Province and it’s a bonus for the tourism to drift to a direction where most people might think Star Mountain is for gold prospects only but means the other way in Papua New Guinea’s tourism industry.  

Mr. Samuel Kepuknai near Wawoi Falls in Western Province 

Samual Kepuknai's Bird Watchers group at action 

Wawoi Fall in Western Province - Picture supplied by Samuel Kepuknai 

Samuel Kepuknai and his team of Bird Watches along the Fly River 

One of the Bird species on the list for Bird Watchers - Picture supplied by Samuel Kepuknai

Samuel Kepukani and his team at Henry's Bird Watching site at Tabubil

Photo of Hidenburg Wall - Supplied by: Samuel Kepuknai

The Oktedi Scoping Team Photo with Oktedi Trust GM 

Clouds hanging over Hindenburg wall 

At the entrance of the 1km tunnel for the Min Highway

Naithan Lati - Inside the Min Highway Tunnel 

Simon Pih at one of the rapids along Tabubil Oktedi Mining Road

The rehabilitation work at Yuk Creek in Tabubil

Full Oktedi Landowners Royalty Trust Board Members after the meeting

Revitalizing Bougainville Tourism for an alternate economy

While referendum for ABG seems to be the main agenda for ABG these days, we cannot wait to see what will transverse on the next process, we have to prepare our people to sustain themselves through alternate economic activity and tourism is one of the focus now for Bougainvilleans,

Mr. Steven Tsivele, Secretary for ABG Department of Economic Development

Bougainville has risen from the crisis and embraced tourism development everywhere in the region. There are locally designed and built Resorts, Lodges and Guesthouses that can cater for any tourist types from adventure to budget traveler with exceptional facilities that can cater for Meetings, Incentive, Conference and Events (MICE) segments of the tourism market.

There are handful of family homes that are providing home-stays after renovation and installation of extra rooms and amenities for the comfort and convenience of tourists that the families will be hosting. One of such is the notable women of Buka Island, Ms. Florence Harepa who owns the Hanis Inn located near the Buka Passage and close to the main wharf. She does not want to advertise her accommodation facility because she has limited rooms with already existing client base. She recalls sleeping outside with other friends one time when her house was fully occupied sometimes in 2012 with her repeat visitors. She had no choice but to give her room to the visitors and find herself a place outside of her home.

Opened to business in 1998 and now has 12 serviced rooms that includes 6 standard and the other 6 rooms are deluxe with suites.

The kitchen had been renovated and lounge set with dining tables and caters for breakfast, lunch and dinner only for the in-house guests. There was a plan of mini in-house bar installation within the area but all at the minimal impact to her usual family atmosphere.

Additionally, Buka Township has some accommodation facilities that are beyond anyone’s expectation with the extra amenities provided in the rooms and within the preemies. The center of attraction that are not to be missed are Kuri and Reasons Resorts which are located next to each other with their restaurants and bar views are directed towards the famous Buka Passage. Dine out or have a few chilled stubby over the decks in the afternoons and you will get the chance to see the wonder of the currents of Buka Passage in the afternoon when the setting sun casts its rays over it. The Buka Passage’s water taxis are frequent sights anyone will never miss on the passage, ferrying passengers between Kokopau and Buka town or to and from Sohano Island.

There is more to do and see in Buka Island despite its landmass and Small Township. Towards the north there are bird watching sites, WWII relic and limestone caves like Tiama which is located only 10km from the town. The naturally hallowed limestone cave is one of the beautiful wonders on the island. The cave extends further into the jungles with a fresh water that flows out from the limestone crest into the sea near a beautiful beachfront of Tiama village.  Scientists researches have confirmed that humans have been living inside Tiama cave for the last 300 000 years.

On the southern side of the township is Sohano Island which has a vast history connecting the island to the Bougainville cultural heritage and the WWII history. Further out of Sohano and off into the lagoon are famous WWII wreck sites, best diving, snorkeling and picnic spots.   

There are a number of beautiful coral islands with white sandy beaches that are uninhabited and one of the most visited island is Christmas Island for picnic or swimming.  The unspoiled corals and undersea biodiversity is diver’s world of adventure and breathtaking exploration for snorkeling enthusiastic. 

Meanwhile, along the Buka Ring Road are few tourist sites and facilities that have been initiated and developed by the locals for, bird watching, home-stay, camping, picnic and day out recreation areas. One of the notable sites and currently frequented by residents of Buka town and other visitors on the island is Hon. Francisca Semoso’s place at Malasang village. The place is situated on the cliff edge with stunning views over the Solomon Sea and an ideal place for meetings in a village style setting or for corporate and business functions. The place supports local horticulture for local women groups and promotes arts and crafts which have Tuesday and Thursday market stalls in Buka town.

Affectionately known to many as; ‘the island of San Kamap’ (Island of the rising sun), and the PNG Time rewinds back to another one hour ahead so you have an extra hour to explore the Island of Sun Kamap. Arawa town has been one of the center of attraction in the 1980s and one of the best mining townships in PNG ever been developed by the miner Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL).  The latter recalls whilst the history lives on, the memorable Ako beach, Happy Valley Beach of Kieta, Arovo Island Beach Resort and now shining Pokpok Island are the best in making someone still love Arawa despite the crisis. To relive those good old memories, the Speaker for Bougainville House of Assembly; Hon. Simon Pentanu has converted his home on Pokpok island to a bedsitter to accommodate visitors and built extra two self-contained bungalows near his house on the island. He has plans to build jetty and add other amenities for visitor experience and comfort on the island. 

The Arawa township have some lodges with facilities and amenities that are making the names for themselves and includes; Butterfly Inn, Gold Dust Inn, Arawa Guesthouse, Rising Sun Lodge, DJ Garden Lodge, Poonang Nava Inn, Arawa Travelers Inn, Arawa Women’s Centre, Hideout Transit Lodge and few others. 

Currently, the tourists market in Buka is driven by Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) and with the interest to provide orderly visitor services, Mr. Zhon Bosco, a former BRA and musician has started the Bougainville Experience Tours and its going from success to success every year receiving visitors who have connection to Bougainville or those expatriates and families who have worked and lived in Arawa before and visiting Arawa to revitalize the lost and old memories. The company also provides logistics support for special interest groups as well as shore excursion logistics for Cruise and Expeditionary Ships that calls into Arawa and Buka. For tours and logistics support when in Bougainville, please visit their website for more information; www.bougtours.com

It is good to see some of the Bougainvilleans who fled to Australia and other countries during the crisis are now going back to visit their home province and connect with their families. Zhon Bosco’s company has a special package and market for Bougainvilleans who have interest to visit the island and meet with their families. The company provides logistical support services to visitors of all types as well as providing special tours to Panguna Mine Site, Pokpok Island, organizing home stays, cultural and WWII site seeing tours. 

The accommodation in Arawa Township has a diverse range to accommodate for adventure and budget traveler to groups with the distribution types from home-stay to bed and breakfast or lodges that have five star like hotel standard facilities and amenities. The tourist or visitor flow into the island of Bougainville seems not consistent at the moment but with the operation of Aropa Airport which is serviced by both PNGair and Air Niugini presents little prospects of what is expected in tourist or visitor arrival and other tourism market segments will eventually market itself after VFR segment gets into full tourism business motion. 

Accessibility into Bougainville (Buka and Arawa) being one of the main issue that are likely to cause setback for the tourism business contenders in Bougainville area. There have been several issues with air travel and most times flights have been cancelled by the airlines into Buka whilst Aropa airport in Arawa have been closed for sometimes due to varying reasons and technical issues. It is not about building another world class airport for the people of Bougainville to travel direct from AROB to overseas but making interconnecting flights between the New Guinea Islands cheaper with regular or competitive schedule fights out of Lae and POM to Bougainville will entail the expected success in tourism. 

Alternatively, there is a need of convenient and regular passenger ferry services from Lae to Buka with technical stopovers and transits on the few of the townships of New Guinea Islands. The ferry and flight routes between Solomon Islands and Bougainville needs to be opened for tourism purposes and also link with the nearby Micronesian Islands with passenger ferry. There is undiscovered Siwai culture that needs accessibility to showcase for the interest of tourism. The only avenue for them now seems to be The Reed Festival which is staged annually in Arawa but Siwai culture has more to offer for tourism. 

Buin is near to the Solomon Islands and there are traditional trade links and family intermarriages that dates back to centuries. The accessibility is one of the main issues the area have despite they have interest to develop tourism potentials which seems to be the livelihood support after cocoa and copra. There is massive WWII relics on the road to Siwai from Buin and most of the machines, guns and tankers have never damaged and still in good state. The famous Japanese Admiral Yamamoto’s Plane Crash site is also located near Buin together with Little Tokyo which is an underground military base for Japanese Forces. Now the area is covered with thick jungle.   

The current flights from Port Moresby to Honiara, Fiji and Pohnpei were to have position Bougainville as one of their technical stopover or transit routes, there could be significant realm of tourism for Bougainvilleans. It could be technically impractical for the airline companies to consider Bougainville as stopover airport for their Pacific Island routes but there could be some prospects for the interest of tourism and airline companies out of the bigger picture. 

The Bougainvilleans are leading the show in PNG with tourism as a way to improve living standards as well as seeing into it as a livelihood support.  With the looming referendum voting for Autonomous Region of Bougainville on the verge, there are worries, anxieties and fears of what will happen but out of what already happened in Bougainville, the Bougainvilleans have developed a resilience pedigree which will never get over with referendum easily when tourism interest forms the foundation to rebound into greater new heights and prosperity awaits for Bougainvilleans into tourism.     

Sunset at Buka Passage 

One of the self-contained private bungalows at Pokpok Island

Siwai Girls Choir Group ready for welcoming visitors 

Siwai Girls Choir Group Photo with PNGTPA Officers

One of the Pigeon species at sunrise in Siwai near - 

A mini lake at the pit of Paguna Mine 

Canoeing at Buka Passage 

A sailing yacht at Buka Passage

Buka Water Taxis near Buka Market 

Fish at Buka Market 

Vegies at Buka Market 

Arts and Crafts at Buka Market 

One of the family initiated lodge near Pokpok Island