Way out West in Vanimo

EVENING at Dali Beach, Vanimo, West Sepik province, on Friday, June 22, 2012.
I am lying on the beach¬front of the Vanimo Beach Hotel, waves lapping up to my feet, watching the hermit crabs scurrying along the white sand, and smelling the freshness of the turquoise waters.
To my right, the sandy stretch runs all the way to Ai¬tape and on to Wewak in East Sepik, while to my left, it does all the way to Wutung along the border with Indonesia, and on to Jayapura.
As the waves rush up to my feet, I can’t help but think about the future of this coun¬try, especially with this being the season of elections.
The footprints in the sand remind me of one of my favorite poems, Footprints, of a man dreaming of walking along the beach with the Lord.
I spent three days in Vani¬mo recently, from June 22-24, enjoying this beautiful fron¬tier town way out west to the border with Indonesia.
The two-hour Air Niugini Q400 flight from Port Mo¬resby takes in spectacular sunrise scenes and the breath¬taking grandeur of the Gulf of Papua, Highlands and Sepik River before we descend into Vanimo.
After checking in and hav¬ing breakfast at the Vanimo Beach Hotel, we drive up to Vanimo Hill – the Beverly Hills of the West Sepik capital – to catch million dollar views of the town.
On top of the hill, where local MP Belden Namah is building a plush new resi¬dence, a big crowd is gathered to hear their leader address them.
After that, we take a scenic drive along the West Coast Road to Wutung Border Post, on the border with Indonesia.
I have travelled hither and thither in the country; how¬ever, none matches the natu¬ral beauty of the road from Vanimo to Wutung.
Mountains, natural unspoilt forests, streams and ocean meet along this drive to the border.
One thing I notice in Vani¬mo and all the way to Wu¬tung, is the number of election banners, a costly exercise elsewhere in the country, but very cheap here because they are done up by Indonesians at the border.
At Wutung, we check with PNG Customs at the border, and are given the green lights to walk through the 1km long “no man’s land” to the Indo¬nesian side of the border, on to the Indonesian side of the border and through to Batas Market.
The original plan was to have travelled all the way to Jayapura; however, this was not to be.
One of the perks and priv¬iledges of Vanimo is that you can travel from here by road to Jayapura, starting at Wutung, where you hire a vehicle.
A visa can be easily ac¬quired at the Indonesian consulate in Vanimo.
Batas has, over the years, become a mecca for shop¬pers from all over PNG to buy cheap Indonesia food, clothing, electronic goods and other items, however, in re¬cent times, it has become the hub for trade of illicit goods into PNG.
Clothes, food items, cigarettes, alcohol, electronic goods and all manner of goods are sold here.
The Indonesian sellers are very aggressive and approach you with their sales pitch, “papa, papa”, as they ply their trade.
One of the hottest-selling items here are male sprays, which the salesmen say will, “keep you hard all night and make her very happy”.
I’m man enough to say that I don’t need one right now!
Pornographic movies, sold in SIM cards, sell like hot cakes to PNG customers as well as sexual toys for both men and women.
The clothes and toys are cheaper and of better quality than that sold in other Asian shops in PNG, and I end up spending some K300 on clothes and toys, both for my kids and myself.
After that, my escort and I walk back across the border, stopping for a chat with Indo¬nesian border guards, who we find are just as good sales¬men as their countrymen and women at Batas Market.
The next day, Saturday, we take a drive around Vanimo town and see that there is not much by way of market as the place is inundated with Indo¬nesian goods from the border.
We take a drive along part of the East Coast Road, which leads on to Aitape and then Wewak, before turning back to town for lunch.
After lunch, we take another drive to Wutung, stopping along the way at picturesque Lido village, home of some of the best surf in PNG, which draws in surfers from all over the world here in search of that fabled “perfect wave”.
Lido is a neat, well-kept village, and children are swimming and riding the waves, elderly women fishing, oblivious to all the politics that has divid¬ed their village as well as Vanimo.
Splinters is the first feature-length documen¬tary film about the evolu¬tion of indigenous surfing in PNG.
In the 1980s an intrepid Australian pilot left behind a surfboard in the seaside village of Lido.
Twenty years on, surf¬ing is not only a pillar of village life but also a means to prestige.
Next year, Lido will host an international surf¬ing tournament, which surfers from all over the world will attend.
After Lido, we drive on to Wutung, where we leave our vehicle at the border post and walk across the border to Batas Market to do some more shopping.
Loaded with bags, we walk back across the border, and take the drive back to Vanimo.
Evening in Vanimo is absolutely spectacular, pretty as a picture, as the sun sets.
That’s why West Sepik is called Sandaun (Sun Down) province.
And the sun sets on one of the most-beautiful places in PNG.
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