raonraonpng: 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.