Festival in Kutubu to provide wonders

I REMEMBER a Thursday of September, 2018, I was at one of the highest and beautiful of Kutubu’s low-lying hills.
I have heard and known of Daga village, which is the venue of the Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival hosted annually to showcase Kutubu’s rich culture and environment but I have never visited this enriching and profound event before.
It was my first time.
I have heard of local legends and how they were connected with the sacred beliefs of the beautiful Lake Kutubu and the surrounding areas.
Kutubu’s traditional legends are profoundly rich, symbolic and spiritual just as any others in Papua New Guinea.
As I stood there feeling the cool breeze from the nearby mountain range, I imagined how long ago Kutubu’s forefathers were able to know through their traditional legends that their life and culture were connected to the environment.
The sacred beliefs about Kutubu’s culture and environment is a rich narrative, which is untold of since the Kutubu men were able to confirm without any modern scientific knowledge, that their lives and culture were connected to their environment.
Science is the way to understand the connection between humans and the environment but a traditional sacred belief is a powerful customary narrative beyond scientific explanation. The land where I stood was where the Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival all started because the Daga men continued to treasure their kundu drums and Digaso oil and the Kutubu Cultural Centre was located where the cultural artefacts and stories where housed.
A traditionally-designed house stood as the cultural centre.
That was the first of its kind in Kutubu and the surrounding areas of Mt Bosavi, Nipa, Huli, Samberigi and Upper Kikori.
The fascinating views presented from all directions of the Daga hill tops and the cultural displays were breathtaking and awesome.
The tip of Southern Highlands’ own Mt Castle, which was the location of the province’s main radio repeater tower was visible to the north while Kutubu’s own belts of mountain ranges, including Moran well pad, displayed a lush patchwork of magical beauty that resonates human fascination.
Driving a few meters west, I saw a stretch of watery patch as none I had seen before below the lush mountain rainforest of the towering Mt Kemevago.
It was the Lake Kutubu.
It was bigger than I have earlier known, which perhaps resonated the life in human fascination.
However, interestingly, it envisaged Kutubu’s rich environment, which is home to twelve endemic fish species found nowhere else in the world, including the Kutubu rainbow fish.
I was impressed with the theme of the event.
The organisers, including Saina Jeffrey of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the locals, ensured that the event empowered the people and they understood the importance of their culture and environment.
The vice chairman, Andrew Igimabo said: “We’re privilege to host this event in Daga because it will help promote cultural and environment conservation efforts at the doorstep of the world-class Kutubu oil and PNG LNG projects”.
It was a tremendous local community milestone achieved by local villagers in partnership with WWF and Community Development Initiative, which Kutubu and the entire Southern Highlands should be proud of because it’s a national record.
The festival is organised and run by some prominent local Daga villagers.
Cultural groups from the different tribes, including the Kawali of Bosavi, the Wigmen of Huli, the Wela, the Agu, the Kewa of Kikori, the Foropa of Erave and a group from Sirunki in Enga participated in the event.
The Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival has brought tangible benefits for the locals.
This can be confirmed by the part-time employments, tourist spending, equipment and vehicle hires, lodge bookings and catering apart from the conservation efforts which are perhaps a big bonus for Kutubu.
Kutubu’s culture and environment are absolutely rich, symbolic and spiritual as known through generations and I have no reservations that the festival will throw awesome and magical experiences to anyone who visits it.

Mike Haro,
Lake Kutubu