raonraonpng: Varirata National Park

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Varirata National Park - Promotional Video

In an effort to continue the conservation work for biodiversity and promote ecotourism related activities at Varirata National Park under CEPA-JICA Biodiversity Project 2015-2020. The Varirata National Park Management Committee is looking for options to ensure that operations of the park also continues.

The first promotional video for Varirata National Park was has been released on July 2020 which signifies the completion of a milestone the five (5) year CEPA- JICA Biodiversity Project undertook to revamp the park to where it is now.

The collaborative efforts from PAU, PNGTPA, Koiari LLG, Kae Association and other stakeholders have significant impact on the project and the video acknowledges their commitment and time on the project.

With the current situation with Covid-19 pandemic, we hope this promotional video inspires an avenue to resuscitate domestic tourism in Port Moresby (PNG).

Please reserve a time to visit Varirata National Park.

Brief details of Varirata National Park;
Varirata National Park was the first National Park declared in Papua New Guinea and was officially opened on the 08th of October 1973.

The Varirata National Park is located on the state land and covers an area of 1063ha. It is located on the Sogeri Plateau, approximately 48km east of Port Moresby city and is accessible by road.

Interestingly, Varirata National Park is located at an elevation of 600-800m with an average rainfall of 1400-2000mm. It has closely spaced narrow accordant ridges and rocks consisting of ballistic lava, agglomerate, tuff and dyke origins.

The land was locally called Wodobonomu and used to be the traditional hunting grounds of the Koiari people.

Varirata National Park has scenic views from some of its lookouts with beautiful forests comprising of rain-forests, Savannah grassland, gallery forests and secondary regrowth. The area is also inhibited with some unique plants and animals such as Rusa Deer, Forest Wallabies, Possums, Bandicoots, Cassowaries, Raggiana Bird of Paradise and other extraordinary bird species, Pythons, Monitor Lizard and various insects including Butterflies and Beetles.

The main picnic area and the information center area were once a coffee nursery established in the 1950s. The same area was previously logged by Sandis and Burns Philip (NG) Ltd, respectively.

Later a piggery and poultry farm was established and the concrete basements are the only remnants today.

With the CEPA-JICA Biodiversity Project, the Varirata National Park have been revamp and significant changes were made including the following;