Liklik Stori PNG: East New Britain

East New Britain

Hi all and sorry for the delay between posts, we have been busy absorbing and learning (and battling terrible internet access)!

We’re now living in the province of East New Britain, which is one of two provinces (the other being West New Britain) on the island of New Britain. New Britain is the largest Island in Papua New Guinea and sits east of the mainland. East New Britain has a bit of everything: colonial and war history (info to come in later blog post), exciting wilderness and a great local culture.

ENB flag

View on the drive to Gaulim

Local bay

Being based on East New Britain has been a blessing. ENB has two main towns, Kokopo and Rabaul which are linked by a coast road littered with smaller villages. Behind these leads to the Baining Mountains which has some smaller towns and a vast amount of small villages (including Gaulim where our college is based).

Kokopo and its surroundings is known as being one of the cleanest and safest places in Papua New Guinea and it does have that feeling about it compared to other parts of PNG. During the day we can move freely around town on foot and feel safe doing so. There is an awesome market in town, huge amounts of fresh fruit and veg and the rest can be purchased at the supermarkets. Kokopo itself is a relatively small town, built in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption in 1994 which destroyed the neighbouring town of Rabaul. As a result, a lot of the infrastructure is quite new and well maintained, and generally the town has an opportunistic feel about it.

The majority of locals on East New Britain come from one of two cultural groups, the Toli and the Baining people. The Tolis are known for being a matrilineal society, where land and power is handed down through the women, they are a very recognisable cultural group because they have beautiful golden blond hair which is unique to the Toli people (particularly women and children). The Baining people were the original inhabitants of ENB, they generally live further inland in the Baining mountains and are known for their fire dancing ceremonies, which we’re very interested to see eventually!

The view from our guest house

The Caldron from the air

Geographically, ENB has to be most famous for its active volcanoes and its world class diving. Rabaul (capital of ENB) sits at the base of an extinct volcanic caldron. When it erupted it created a large bay which is lined by five smaller volcanoes which are still there today. Our current accommodation sits on the crest of the cauldron looking out over the bay and the volcanoes, quite often we look out to see Mt Tavurvur billowing with smoke and when it is having a good puff you can hear the eruptions which sound like a gas torch going off. Although it is quite exciting and special to be living in such an active place, a quick trip to nearby Rabaul gives you a good insight into the destruction the volcanoes can do. In 1937 and 1994 massive eruptions (Mt Tavuvur and Mt Vulcan) destroyed local towns and changed the landscape dramatically. Since we have arrived, Mt Tavuvur has been spilling smoke with a couple bigger eruptions, these have closed the local airport but were nothing to be worried about beyond that. Another geological wonder is the frequent earthquakes. Our biggest so far is around a 5.0 which shook the house in the middle of the night and was a bit frightening but exciting at the same time. Mary and I are always amazed and bring it up with locals and colleagues who don’t seem to think it is anything special.

The 5 volcanoes in view

The little one to the left is Tavuvur which has been errupting lately

Before arriving in PNG it was a common joke from our friends that we would be living on a diet of sweet potato, yams and more sweet potatoes. One of the nicest things about Papua New Guinea is the range of fresh foods. For a country which is very low on the international poverty scale, PNG certainly does not have a food shortage and with a quick glance in any direction you will see trees laden with fruit or small vegetable gardens bustling with produce. Papua New Guineans enjoy their food, they are very self-sufficient and extremely generous in sharing their crops, we are often visited by our neighbours bearing gifts of freshly grown fruit and veg .

A highlight of our week is always a trip to Kokopo’s town market. Every town has a market as well as smaller ones popping up on the roadside next to each village, once again we are very lucky that Kokopo’s is one of the best in the country. Because it is relatively new, the market is well laid out, clean, organised and offers a great range of local fruit and veg. Peanuts, mangos, pineapples, bananas, pawpaw, coconut and citrus can all be found in the fruit section while the veg has a range of almost everything including greens, aubergines, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and lots more, before you even make it to the staples section. This is a favourite section of ours including every sort of sweet potato you can possibly imagine, as well as taro, cooking bananas, yams and other root vegetables. Visiting the market in PNG is an interesting adventure, and gives you a good insight into the local produce and climate. The food you will find there is totally organic, seasonal and only what is grown in the area. When you fly around PNG, locals are often carrying a bag of fresh veg that they cannot get back in their home markets. A favourite for most to travel with is broccoli and cauliflower from the highlands which we do miss and will probably start collecting when we travel.

Local Grub prepared by our neighbous