We wished we had more time to explore the capital city of Papua New Guinea, the largest of the country. The visit was quick, but we were glad to get a glimpse of life in this city.
Day 50, Friday, October 25: Port Moresby
In case it wasn’t raining in the morning, before our departure for Port Moresby, we planned to visit from Ambua Lodge the nearby waterfall (the trip was previously cancelled). No, it wasn’t raining, but Steve didn’t feel well – last night he ate something strange – so the visit was cancelled again.
At 9 am, we were driven to the Tari airport. Even though we were already checked in (through our travel agency), the whole airport process still took around 45 minutes before we even went through the security check (which was a very laid back, kind of small town, local affair). They had a very nice, new, and not quite finished departure lounge.
We took off at 12:40 pm and landed at Port Moresby’s airport after an hour and 25 minutes. Took a shuttle to our hotel, conveniently located just a few minutes from the airport. While we were checking in, an employee from the Trans Niugini Tours (the same guy who met us on October 19, when we first landed in Port Moresby) appeared and said he was going to be our driver/guide for the half-day tour of the city, but he couldn’t find us at the airport and – by the way – it was already late in the afternoon (in his opinion), so let’s just do the planned tour the next day. We were tired, so we agreed.
It turned out that our hotel, the Airway Airport Hotel, was quite luxurious with elegant décor, and has been visited by many dignitaries of the world (their pictures hang in the lobby). The building was nestled in a tropical garden (behind a secure gate). Their spa won the world luxurious spa award multiple years. Besides a restaurant, there were two libraries, reading nooks, mediation center, shops, swimming pool, and even one of the first airplanes of Papua New Guinea displayed and converted to a bar.
The food in the restaurant was very good. Unfortunately, Steve didn’t have an appetite to enjoy it. We went to bed early to gain enough energy for the next day’s sightseeing and flight.
Day 51, Saturday, October 26: Port Moresby
Our guide arrived at 9:30 am. We felt immediately that the time he gave us for sightseeing wasn’t going to be enough. The checking out time from the hotel was 11 am, so we asked – and were given – an extra hour. It turned out that even with this extended time the sightseeing was a rush.
First, we visited the big fish market where an incredible amount of big and small, colorful, for us unknown types of fish were presented by local fishermen to anyone who was interested in buying them.
On our trip in Papua New Guinea, we saw many people with red-stained teeth. They were chewing betel nuts with a mustard stick that was dipped in lime powder, then they spat it out – yes, we saw the red splats on the ground too. At the fish market, a guy demonstrated the whole process for us. It’s apparently a stimulant that increases alertness.
From the fish market, we drove to the grounds of the University of Papua New Guinea, where we spent about 45-50 minutes.
The initial plan for the sightseeing tour included visits to the Parliament (only the outside view was promised), the National Museum, and the Nature Park. In the end, we just drove by the Parliament and entered the Nature Park, but there were long lines to get an entrance ticket and at this point we had almost no time left until we had to check out from the hotel, so we didn’t explore the park. But we didn’t really mind this at all because the time we spent at the university was quite exciting.
At the university, we tried to find a plaque of the Hungarian zoologist and ethnologist, Lajos Bíró (1856–1931) and the Hungarian naturalist and explorer Samuel Fenichel (1868-1893), which was placed there in 1974. Lajos Bíró was among the first Hungarian scientists to travel to Papua New Guinea. He spent 7 years there – starting in 1895 – studying the indigenous tribes and the nature of the island and continuing the work of Samuel Fenichel. The majority of his natural history collection (about 200,000 pieces) were insects (including previously unknown species), birds, reptiles, minerals, and rocks can be found in the Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum (Hungarian Natural History Museum) in Budapest.
Why was this important to me? Lajos Bíró was one of my third cousin’s great-grandmother’s brother! I heard about him for the first time when I was 12 years old and was visiting my cousin and her family in Budapest; heard stories about him and saw his picture on the wall at my cousin’s place.
Anyway, at the university, we had no clue where the plaque could be. Our guide tried to discourage us in our quest. But by sheer luck, in the first building we entered, in one of the offices, we found a lecturer of population studies, Dr. Alfred Faiteli, who happened to remember that he saw a plaque we described. He fortunately spoke very good English. He took us to the science department’s building, and there indeed was the plaque! Another colleague of his appeared and we all got excited about the discovery. We had to promise that we will send him photos from home (after our trip) and a description of this “event” for their university’s records/newsletter.
We were back at the hotel on time, then taken to the airport for our flight to Indonesia through Singapore.
So, what remained for us in Papua New Guinea was to say our goodbyes. We had a great experience there learning about one of the least explored countries on earth with no mass tourism. We learned that the country’s incredible diversity is disappearing, but what we saw – the nature and culture – is still beautiful.
