More New Guinea Information
Some more reading through brochures and whatever information I could get my hands on. Nobody I knew had ever visited New Guinea. Now you can just surf the PNG Tourism website...much easier.
ex-Marine still kept asking about Michael Rockefeller, youngest son of Nelson Rockefeller ( presumed dead). He "disappeared" during an expedition in the Asmat region of southwestern New Guinea
The Japanese and Allied (primarily Australian) forces had a series of battles during World War II, in what was then the Australian territory of New Guinea. The infamous Kokoda Trail started outside Port Moresby and ran 40-66 miles through the Owen Stanley Ranges to Kokoda. It was originally used by gold miners in the 1890's walking north from Port Moresby to the goldfields of Kokoda.
This trail crosses some of the most isolated terrain in the world, is passable only on foot and the combatants had to contend with humidity, torrential rain and Malaria. It was first used as a resupply route and was strategic to the Japanese maching their way through the Pacific/ About 13,000 Japanese and 85,00 Allies (primarily Australian) died in New Guines. Some tour companies lead treks on the Kokoda Trail. The walk takes between 5-10 days and you stay in villages along the way. This is not for us...snakes? Malaria? Remote villages where headhunters once practiced their cannibalism even if they don't now? I don't think so.
New Guinea is divided into Eastern and Western halves:
- The nation of Papua New Guinea on the East; and
- Irian Jaya belonging to Indonesia on the West.
New Guinea is one of the World's best source of fine primitive art. No one knows why but you can find this very unique art in museums and important collections everywhere.
Margaret Mead, the famous Anthropologist, studied human cultures in New Guinea and her fieldwork resulted in: Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education.
New Guinea, a destination with so much unique history....
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