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Kalu-u caves of Manus province

By KINGSTON NAMUN
I live in Lae, Morobe province and like so many Manusians living outside our province, I journey home once a year for Christmas holidays.
Every year, the trip home reminds me of the perils of traveling on a low budget.
I take a passenger bus for a five hour trip from Lae to Madang. From there I board a ship for a 18 hour trip to Manus. When I arrive at Lorengau, I board an outboard motor for an hour trip to my village.
I return after my holidays along the same route. I have not even told you the about the pushing and shoving, nausea, cramped legs, crowded rooms, crying children, loading cargoes and many situations that one encounters throughout the journey. That is another story itself.
For me, it is three weeks every year to coastal Liap village to see my parents, the extended family and enjoy, momentarily, life in the village.
Manus province is home to about 48,000 people spread across many smaller outer islands, along the coast and into the mountains.
The province boasts some of the most picturesque sandy beaches, stunning coral reefs, pretty thatched houses, striking waterfalls and the smiles of the locals are captivating.
But I believe the real beauty lies in the highlands of Manus.
The highlands of Manus is mountainous, rugged and cold. In the mornings, cool mist covers the mountains and in the evenings, the water in the streams is icy cold.
The highlands of Manus is home to a great number of people and villages.
The National Highway starts from Lorengau, and passes through many villages including Rosun, Lundret, Kawa, Pundru and then comes to Kari village before going down to the north coast to Dromalmal station and Lomei village.
I live on the northern coastline so when we visit relatives at Kari, we walk uphill for four hours. Some years ago my uncles told me about three huge caves in the mountains of Kalu-u which is about a kilometer outside Kari village.
These three caves are called Lehlia, Poko-oh and Mada Worei. There are many traditional stories about how these caves came to be and who lived in them.
I decided just before the New Year to visit these great limestone caves.
My father and I accompanied by a guide left Liap, crossed over to Derimbat village and began our four hour trip into to the mountains.
The mountains are steep and slippery. The earth is red and claylike. The tropical vegetation casts a spell of silence around us. We walked and rested. I am exhausted by the time we arrive at Kari. We rest and overnight at Papu Kaku's place at Lolep.
Next morning we head for the caves, about an hours walk from the main village.
There is a light shower. The atmosphere is eerily quiet. Everything around us is wet.
My father said soccer boots were the best for this type of bush track, I agree with him.
We walked over sharp jagged limestone. Missed footing and the stones could pierce your flesh like a hot knife through butter.
We walk between a passage of hard black stone that cuts through a mountain. Definitely not a place for the claustrophobic. The dark passage has water running though it. It is also about a meter wide and 30 meters long.
The hard stone walls on both sides run all the way up to about 30 meters. You can see the sunlight above. We walk along the way with the water just above our ankles.
We crossed over a number of shallow streams. The waters were cold and clean. We followed another stream and finally stand in front of a huge opening of a cave.
This is the Poko-oh cave. The pebbles are numerous at the entrance of the caves. Many are round and smooth. The cave itself is hard solid rock and ferns and other vegetation grow on the cave's entrance. The cave itself is dark.
We had torches to light the way and walked carefully. We enter it. It is very quiet, except for the sound of water dripping from the roof onto the ground. The air is damp. I walk quickly to catch up with the others.
We walk through the cave and in a few minutes we are out on the other side. The water runs through the cave and out again.
We climb up dead logs and walk in the mud again. Then we see another cave. This is the Lehleah cave. We go in again, walk through it and out again.
In some caves, the ground to the roof top is 40 meters, in others, it is just 6 meters. The lengths vary from half the rugby field to about 15 meters. The air is damp and cold in some of the caves.
The stone roof in some caves is flat like the belly of a gigantic serpent while in others the roof look like dripping wax from huge candles. There are puddles on the ground formed by water from the stalactites.
I had goose bumps peering into the caves. As you walk through the caves you feel as though you are in another time.
The time when the ancestors walked in these caves and carried pig meat from their hunting trips and taro from their gardens.
A time when they rested in the caves when it rained and told stories to their kids.
A time when the families were strong and warriors were honoured.
You imagine you hear voices but realize that it is only the cold water falling from the stalactites, hitting the stones below then disappearing into the ground.
In some caves, there are holes which are dry and dusty. In others they are wet, cold and slippery. I shudder to think what crawled in them. Sometimes when the river floods, huge trees are pulled by the force of the flood and are washed through through the caves and out the other side.
Outside the caves, the river banks have immense stones with rounded holes. I imagine they have been shaped by the river over a long period of time.
The Kari river joins the head of the Worei river, flows through a cave at Mada Worei then runs quickly into a small cave on the side of a mountain. The cave then falls deep into the earth. They say it runs underground and then comes out again a few kilometers on the south coast of Manus to what is known as the mighty Worei river.
It is after midday when we make our way back to Kari. There is a market on. We eat huge slices of pineapple which cost ten toea each and then follow the road down to Dromalmal station on the north coast.
The government road has over the years been reduced to a bushy track.
Along the way, my father tells me of a place where water actually comes out from a stone. The water is called Wo Drahal. I said I would only believe if I saw it.
And see it I did. The stone is located just a few minutes walk off the road. Yes, the water comes out from a stone. Many travelers have come here, drank from it and even filled a bottle to take away. The stone has a small hole where the water comes out, come rain or shine and long dry periods like the one that Manus experienced during 1997, this water kept flowing like it had been for thousands of years.
Some villagers tried to find its source by digging around the stone to identify the source of the water.
But their efforts have been in vain. They just say it comes out from the stone. I say so myself.