In a land of Eden
Eco tours in Jurassic-like jungle
Nestled in the Nakanai Ranges of New Britain Island, Tuke village is a wild Eden. Think tremendous landscapes and cliffs carpeted in white wildflowers, elaborate and uncharted cave systems boring into the sides of mountains and bright-blue crystal cascades raging downstream.
Under the threat of logging, the people of Tuke asked my father, Riccard Reimann, founder of the eco-conscious Baia Sportfishing Lodge, to help establish an eco tourism model in their mountains.
By arranging helicopter day tours into the area for small, managed groups, it’s hoped this model can bring much-needed revenue to the locals to improve community health care and education, without them losing their land and livelihood to logging.
As a preliminary step, a group of seven scientists and conservationists were recently invited in to survey the region’s biodiversity and document the importance of preserving such a rich eco system. I was lucky enough to tag along as a translator.
Although I was looking forward to the gruelling two-day trek into Tuke from Baia, I was fortunate enough to be offered a seat on a helicopter heading in.
The 40-minute flight provides some perspective to the 1600-metre elevated walls of lush jungle and intact rainforest and the colossal size of ancient sinkholes, large enough to maintain their own
The 40-minute flight provides some perspective to the 1600-metre elevated walls of lush jungle and the colossal size of ancient sinkholes, large enough to maintain their own microclimate.
microclimate. If ever there is a Jurassic-like jungle, this is it.
After touching down in a small clearing, we are welcomed by an excited crowd.
Kids scurry ahead to a magnificent series of blue lagoons running fresh with icy rapids. From the rocks, they launch into the narrow channel where the rapids churn.
Then their curly-haired heads bounce up out of the water; overjoyed by the adrenalin, they are ready to jump again.
The lagoons are the main meeting area for the locals. It is where kids play and mamas wash their babies, where men share their stories on the banks, and where we go daily for our morning swim.
Crossing limestone ridges, we are taken to a spot where we see two towering waterfalls plummeting into a network of streams and rapids.
The waterfalls are lined with hibiscus and the impenetrable wall of deep jungle, giving me my first glimpse of this Eden.
Trekking past kunai huts we eventually come across the dark mouth of a cave, 11 storeys high. Bats rush about the entrance and towering stalagmites are covered with moss and broad-leafed, bottle-green ferns.
Venturing towards the cave, we are surrounded by limestone walls and climb – on all fours – up a sheer, rocky slope. Finally at the cave mouth, the narrow beam of our head torches reveals a realm of scuttling insects and bats on the hunt for them.
To me, the bats all look the same – small, brown and furry. The passion of the group’s ‘bat scientist’, however, rubs off on us and eventually we are as excited as he is to be identifying the frequencies of over 13 bat species.
Also, like the bats, we become accustomed to eating insects.
At Tuke, a favourite for lunch is the kidam blo bush, or crayfish of the land. These giant stick insects are found in abundance in logs and taste like pork crackling.
The next morning, local people perform a sing-sing for us to mark the start of a sustainable relationship, with heli-tours and the prospect of other eco tourism initiatives promising an income for the locals without costing them their land or livelihood.