Papua New Guinea in Brief

Just south of the equator and right above Australia lies the second largest island with land mass of 473.189sq. km.

It is the riches in natural resources including gold, silver/copper, crude oil, nickel, coblat, copra, forestry and fisheries and huge potential in tourism.

Estimated population of 5.9 million (2006) people the capital city is Port Moresby all mostly Melanesians, and with the time zone of MGT +10 hours. It currency is PNG Kina and it's nominal GDP is about US$5.9 billion.

It's major export markets are Australia, Japan and China it mainly export oil, gold, copper ore, logs, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, and seafood. It imports machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, fuels and chemicals from countries like Australia, Singapore, Japan and China.

English is the offical language used in business and schools through out the country but Melanesian Pidgin and Motu are also widely spoken.

It has the great tourist attraction from Diving to World War II relics - it it home to spectacular world diving sites for diver, for trekkers in is also home for the famous Kokoda Trek, Bulldog and Wild Cat tracks or even just sight seeing venues.

Vanimo is known for surfing with its huge waves and sandy beaches and also Kavieng in the New Ireland Province.

There are World War II relics every where from Wewak to Rabaul and even in North Solomons Province for those interesed to see the relics. For bird watchers, there are places you can visit in Western, Oro and any province of your choice or the traveller can visit the famous Huli Wigman if Tari and spend a night or two at the Ambua Lodge and get to the mighty Sepik River and spend some time in Karawari Lodge and board the Sepik Spirit and visit the village along the river.

For more information regarding a great travel to visit this magnificant country which is rich in culture and ethnically diverse kindly check this site: http://www.pngtourism.org.pg/

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LAE - PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S HEART

Lae is Papua New Guinea's industrial heart and communications centre with considerable activities in manufacturing, trading agri-business and most recently fisheries.

It connects or is the gateway to the highly populated highlands and Madang Province and provides easy access for road transport for transporting of cash crops especially coffee and also provides the largest port facilities in PNG that service about 70% of trade in the country.

Most recently there have been new investments in Lae, The Hidden Valley in Wau, RH Group's news paper printing facility and wholesale, Frabelle's fish cannery and Ramu Agri-Indutry's diversification from sugar into cattle, oil palm & cashnew nut.

Lae is home to major international and local companies and situated in the Huon Gulf and is the capital of Morobe Province. It's Airport is about 20 to 30 minutes drive from town and there is regular flught to and from Port Moresby and other domestic centres also home to UNITECH (University of Technology).

It also has other tourist attractions like the Botanical Gardens, The Universvity rain forest and wildlife Habitat.

To do business in Lae, simply contact Investment Promotion Authority through http://www.ipa.gov.pg/ or Lae Chamber of Commerce; lcci@global.net.pg

Memory Down Wawoi Falls

With over 800 languages and and a culture that is diverse Papua New Guinea is truely unique in its own way. It also boasts about its unique species of plants and animals; it has 9,000 species of plants, 250 species of mammals and most notably 700 species of birds.

From the Higlands to the coasts and the islands it has some of the most prestine and untouchable surrounds. Apart from popular water falls Biva Falls in the Southern Higlands, I had a chance of visiting Wawoi Falls in the Western Province in August of 2005.

Western Province shares a border with West Papua which is part of Indonesia and have some of the sevral large rivers which run thorugh the province including Fly River and tributaries, including Strickland and Ok Tedi Rivers, the largest lake in Papua New Guinea is the province. Birds view and a closer view of the Wawoi Falls.

If you are interested to visit the falls or other places in PNG, you can contact me for more information or email:biesmbuservices@fastmail.com

Canoe Culture of the Gogodala

Canoes are a very important part of the Gogodala Culture. They use dig out canoes for every day activities like gardening, fishing, transport, hunting, carrying house posts,transporting garden food, transporting sago and collecting firewood.

In the local language, Gogo is west and Dala meaning man, these people from Western Province of Papua New Guinea believed that their ancestors came from the west travelling by canoes. They also believe that when someone dies, their soul leaves the corpse with the rising sun on the day after death by which time it would travel to the west for its final resting place.

The Gogodala make 90 foot dug out racing canoes with elaborate prows and painted sides, paddles are decorated with owners clans. Canoes races symbolises the competitive rivalry but also the complementaries of clans.

In 2007, I visited Balimo for the 5th Gogodala Canoe Festival and saw it myself and if you are interested just contact biesmbuservices@fastmail.fm and will arrange for your travel there.