PAPUA NEW GUINEA
EXPEDITION
AN UNMOTORISED CROSSING
12th April 2014
Week 5: Hotmin to Mianmin
We are now in Mianmin, the most substantial settlement for several days. There is a radio here, enabling sporadic contact with other villages. The Papuan’s have yet again been overwhelmingly welcoming, providing us with shelter to sleep and plenty of taro to boost our calorie intake. The locals inform us that we are their first visitors in four years, and that the last ‘tourists’ to travel through were in fact Indonesian terrorists, on the run. It is impossible to know how much truth underpins these tales in the isolated communities, but we are so grateful for the friendliness and help which we have received.
Since leaving Green River, we have taken great care to continuously dry, air and talc our feet, in the hope of avoiding the ever dreaded immersion foot. Unfortunately Richard’s feet have begun to show the inevitable symptoms, and despite his desperate drying routine, immersion foot has undoubtedly taken a foothold.
It is here in Mianmin that Murray will leave us and return to Green River. This is the furthest that he has travelled in to the jungle, and directions were understandably becoming looser and looser. He has done a spectacular job in guiding us to this point, and we are sorry to see him leave, but after a few moments of finding ourselves uncomfortably lost in the jungle we have decided that we really must seek navigational support directly from Mianmin.
We will rest in Miamin until Monday 14th April, and estimate that the stage from here to Telefomin will take five days. The proximity of the contours on the map look like modern art, and as I call through this blog the mountains ahead lurk menacingly in sight, shrouded in thick cloud and dominating rain.
Epic journey so far. Thanks for the amusing messages of support via the sat phone and twitter, please keep sending them.
Patrick Hutton
[blog called in via AST Satellite Comms]
A prevailing memory from the last 12 days will be the overwhelming insanity of our journey. Attempting to traverse one of the most formidable mountain ranges located between the Himalayas and the Andes has brought challenges which neither of us had contemplated.
The communities which we are travelling through are connected by a cobweb of tracks, each trail more vertigo inducing than the one before. A large proportion of our days is spent rock climbing or as we affectionately term it, 'route finding', clambering over near vertical shingle. With our weighty bergans we are more cumbersome tortoises than agile mountain goats, and although we had anticipated rugged terrain even our combined and varied travel could not have primed us for the coarseness which PNG’s Star Mountains present.
With draping vines, livid trees and precarious mountains this organic landscape allows nothing to grow in the artificial lines which we are accustomed to. I wonder if ‘Straight’ or ‘flat’ are even part of the Papuan vocabulary. The jungle has a Jumanji mystique which is both beautiful and terrifying.
Our daily journey is by no means monotonous. River crossings are both a source of hysterical amusement, and blood curdling adrenaline. Our objective is always to find the safest method to cross, which often means deviating from the well trodden local pathways- where wading is the only option, it is impossible to fully anticipate conditions from the banks. We try to balance our way across a tightrope of gentle water, avoiding the fast flowing rapids which could sweep us away. On several occassions this week, Richard and I have found ourselves caught in a gust of unexpectedly brisk stream, forced to jump to the banks like a began laden flea. During these gusts, our legs fail to function as useful tools- it is impossible to move or balance.
Another test of our acrobatic skills comes as we tread softly over rudimentary viaducts which bridge disconcerting drops and stormy rivers below. The rotten logs which form these passageways are home to thousands of insects, thick with slime, and each cry as they crack under our burden. Both Murray and Benson are significantly slighter than us- weighing approximately 50kg and no more than 5’5” in stature, and the bridges are generally far better suited to their nimble frames. Our balance has improved over the past five weeks, but we are by no means jungle ninjas.