Thursday, Nov 3 - Birding around Port Moresby

We got up at 4 AM, and staggered around getting our field gear on and meeting the others at the lobby at five. We piled on the bus which drove out of town in the dark. We climbed up and up on progressively narrower roads until we got to Varirata National Park (given to the country by a local tribe) at an elevation of ~2700’.

It was good to leave the messy city outskirts and climb into hill forest and see some unspoiled land. The hotel gave us boxes of sandwiches, fruit and pastries, so we were well provisioned. We parked and walked down a trail hoping to see the Raggiana Bird of Paradise, a beautiful chestnut and yellow bird with fantastic plumes. The males only display at dawn and stop when the sun is up, and we happened to get a bright horizon and no displays, but we saw a flash of the bird and Leonard, our local guide, picked up a handful of beautiful feathers that the birds had molted. We took off on another trail that followed a lovely stream. This was birding speed: we walked 3.6 miles and it took us over seven hours! Quite an exhausting day, but we saw some marvelous birds, none of which were easy to photograph. Lots of beautiful butterflies that were even harder to catch! We saw five kinds of Kingfishers - iridescent blue with chestnut breasts on some!      (pic: Brown-headed Paradise-Kingfisher-from "Birds of NewGuinea", by Brian J Coates)

We returned at two and met for a light lunch by the beautiful pool, and were to meet again at four for a drive to see the highlights of Port Moresby, but we all decided that we needed the afternoon off. I tested the pool which was bathwater warm and dashed down for my suit and spent an hour lounging in the water..

PNG is, unfortunately, the second fastest growing country in the world. When David started coming here in the seventies, there were 1.7 million people; now there are over 7 million! Progress in health care, but not on family planning.

There are 800 languages spoken and the terrain is so rugged that people in nearby valleys have distinct languages as they have no contact with each other. Everyone communicates by speaking Pidjin English as a second language.

Tomorrow we fly into the interior where birding and culture should be very interesting. I have no idea if they will have internet, but, so far, it’s been great. Bob and I went up to the dining room for dinner and instruction for tomorrow. We had drinks, did the List, and had a very good meal from the buffet of Thai pumpkin soup, sushi, lamb curry and an array of desserts.

Suitcases out by 6 AM!