A less positive development in the past month has been with our visas. After initial talks with the PNG embassy in London, we were advised to contact the chief immigration officer in Port Moresby (PNG capital) directly. Seemed simple enough; work out the time difference, charge up our Skype credit and persuade the officer on the other end that issuing us with a 6 month visa for our expedition was a great idea. As you may expect it was not plain sailing! Waiting till 1am and only getting as far as the switchboard receptionist with a cost of £10 a call deemed our efforts futile. We contacted the embassy explaining our frustration and received support from Eva, who came up with an alternative suggestion. We have therefore lodged a special application, requesting a four month extension to the standard 2 month tourist visa, and now play the tense waiting game. If this comes through the expedition will be made financially and logistically a lot easier. We’ll keep you posted.

Information on Papua New Guinea has eclipsed the internet. We continue to research and source information on PNG, and most importantly jungle survival. The ‘previous expeditions’ section of our website details some of the research which we have completed so far- detailing past trips to the area. Mark Anstice and Bruce Parry have also attempted a crossing of New Guinea but on the Western side. Unfortunately due to multiple cases of malaria, excessively heavy bergens, visa troubles, dwindling cash and kit accidentally dropping off the side of a mountain, they were forced to stop half way, despite achieving their primary aim of climbing the unclimbed south face of Gunung Mandala. To ensure we do not succumb to the same fate as any of these past trips we have brought on knowledge from a variety of sources. These have included contacting Mark himself to get feedback from his incredible trip, getting jungle survival techniques from a former SAS soldier, and logistical recommendations from a UN security advisor who has previously worked in PNG.

We welcome all sources of information and recognise that to guarantee our success we have to learn from previous failures and execute the expedition in a different manner. As Einstein is quoted ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results’.

Thanks for following,

Richard Johnson