Remembering Morobe’s famous Black Cat Track

 By MALUM NALU

ON Remembrance Day, July 23, 2003, a small group of us honoured the day as well as the 60th anniversary of World War 11 in Salamaua by trekking the old Black Cat Track from Salamaua to Wau.

It was a five-day walk which started in Salamaua on July 22 and ended in Wau on July 26.

Our thoughts were with the many soldiers and carriers of WWII who lost their lives on this treacherous path in 1942 and 1943.

It was this walk, organised by the PNG Tourism Authority, that put the Black Cat Track back in the spotlight and made it become the tourism icon that it is today.

Ten years later, all our hard work to promote the Black Cat Trail, has been undone by the mindless actions of a few people.

The old Black Cat Track between Salamaua and Wau, Morobe, makes the Kokoda Track seem like a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park.

This is because it is not an established trail like Kokoda, on which hundreds of trekkers regularly tread, but a forgotten World War 11 path that passes through some of the toughest and most hazardous terrains in the world.

Leech and snake-infested jungle, moss -covered rocks and fallen tree stumps, precarious cliff crossings and potentially-dangerous river crossings make the Black Cat arguably one of the toughest tracks in PNG and the world.

It is recommended only for the very fit and experienced trekker.

Some Australian soldiers have described the Black Cat as the hardest walk they’d ever done.

 The Lonely Planet guidebook quotes a local expat as saying the Black Cat is “suitable only for masochists and Israeli paratroopers”.

For those interested in WWII history, the Black Cat Track in the place for you, starting from the old gold mining town of Salamaua which was scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the war.

Old graves around Salamaua, which date back to the gold mining days, as well as Japanese tunnels and anti-aircraft guns, line the hill overlooking the isthmus.

Massive bomb craters from WWII along the Black Cat Trail indicate the ferocity of the battles here in 1942.

The area also has magnificent flora and fauna.

Many soldiers and carriers of WWII lost their lives on this treacherous path in 1942 and 1943.

Skin Diwai is a detour from the main Black Cat Track, which continues on to Bitoi and eventually Wandumi village outside Wau. It is now the preferred choice of locals.

Skin Diwai was the site of a major Australian base during WWII and is littered with live bombs, ammunition, other war junk including boots, and even the wreckage of a DC3.