By COLIN TAIMBARI
OK Tedi and mining may have been synonymous with the Western province for a long time now but there is a new undercurrent of economic activities, particularly in green tourism that is creating renewed excitement.
This is especially so for the local people who occupy a vast landmass of thick jungles, towering mountain peaks, giant lakes and river systems, monsoon forests and extensive wetlands that stretch to the Indonesian border.
Recently, the Fly River Provincial Government held a workshop in Kiunga for its top bureaucrats, stakeholders and tourism industry partners in Kiunga to finalize the Western Province Tourism Sector Plan (2008 - 2011) that will guide the development of tourism in the province.
The gathering at the Peter Torot Centre was a significant policy shift initiated by the provincial government, signaling tourism as the next best economic activity when the mine life expires.
Governor Dr Bob Danaya and provincial administrator Nelson Hangrabos are pro-tourism and are confident that the plan once formally launched in the coming months will provide the roadmap needed for tourism to flourish in the province.
Hangrabos wants to make Western province the best tourism destination in the country and to achieve that it is necessary that they create an environment that will attract tourists who keep on coming back for more.
“This is the industry that will increase participation of our people because tourism is about people. Training for our people to deal with tourists must be incorporated into our plan,” he stressed.
And he is not alone in batting for tourism, long time resident of Kiunga and former North Fly MP Warren Dutton is another believer as well.
According to Dutton, OK Tedi ships out some 600,000 tones of copper earning about K1 billion in profits after tax. Rubber which is the next economic commodity, saw 12,000 tones been shipped last year earning K20 million but that’s peanuts compared to mining. And Dutton should know, since arriving in the area as a kiap in the 60s he pioneered rubber as a cash crop and currently operates North Fly Rubber Ltd which produces one of the best quality rubber in the Asia-Pacific Region. Traveling the Fly River or up the highway to Tabubil, one can’t help but notice the rubber trees on small village plantations along the river banks or on the side of the road. However, Dutton is not sure if rubber can be the top money spinner for the province in the long term.
“Rubber by itself will not save Western province so we’ve got to find something else and that’s tourism otherwise we’ll go back to what it was like in 1962 when I came here and people were fighting over sago,” he said.
“While that maybe an extreme scenario, tourism is the only key after Ok Tedi is gone.”
But while Kiunga and Western Province for that matter is not as yet recognized as a town tourism destination, there are very positive developments already taking place that indicate a bright future for tourism in the province.
Many of these green tourism projects are established with assistance from OK Tedi, PNG Sustainable Development Fund and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
For instance, the province is home to black bass and barramundi and Suki Guesthouse promotes sport fishing for anglers looking for a fierce fight with the ferocious Papuan bass.
The other tourism attraction that is slowly gaining international recognition is bird watching. The baby-boomers who are now in retirement are paying good money to travel half way round the world just to spot a rare bird species.
Samuel Kepuknai, a local who accidentally stumbled onto this gold mine, operates Kiunga Nature Tours (www.toa.org.pg) and last year accommodated some 200 birdwatchers including Europeans, Americans and Japanese at his Egeme Guesthouse situated on the Elewara River - a tributary of the Fly River.
It is popular for its Southern Cassowary and Flame Bowers Birds among other bird species. So what’s so exciting about watching bird dancing or mating? Samuel says its hobby and birdwatchers belong to small clubs where they compete with each other for the most birds watched - mainly rare and endemic species with pigeons and Birds of Paradise on the top of the list.
“So every time they travel around the world and spot a particular bird, they cross or tick it off against their list and when they return home they compare notes with others in their small club of birdwatchers,” he explained.
The annual Balimo Cultural Show is also gaining popularity and will feature prominently on their annual calendar of events. The highlight of the show is the traditional canoe race. Up to 40 warriors all standing in a single hull dug out canoe paddling and chanting in unison.
These huge long canoes are elaborately painted with colorful traditional patterns and mounted with a totem representing each clan. WWF is also doing a lot of work in the wetlands region, creating wildlife management areas in partnership with locals. According to WWF, the TransFly Eco-region which straddles the international border with Indonesia is low-lying coastal region of grasslands, savannas, wetlands and monsoon forests covering more than 10 million hectares.
Bensbach, once a popular tourist spot for game hunting, is slowly been revived by new owners Trans Niugini Tours - but hunting is not promoted. Further, with the proposed international marine port to be built in Daru along with a 5-Star hotel, things are looking good on the tourism front for Western Province.
But how could I not include a few lines about Kiunga where we spent four nights of this trip at the Kiunga Guest House. Built on the bank of the Fly River, Kiunga is a thriving little township, strategically developed for the copper that is piped down from the Ok Tedi mine some 137 kilometers up in the Star Mountains to ships that take them down river to the mother ship bound for overseas markets.
Kiunga is also been developed as the provincial headquarters of the Western province with a two-storey office complex set for construction soon. The town’s safe and easy to move around in and they have interesting names like Broken Hill, Church Hill and West Bank. A word of thanks to our hosts from the Commerce & Industry Division Kaor Yohang, Bolozi Iowa, Nemo Joel Bunn and his family for looking after us in Kiunga.

 

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