NEW! Read about the official opening.
GOROKA AREA, EASTERN HIGHLANDS, PAPUA NEW GUINEA.
By Bruce Reyburn
October 2004
In September, 2004, I attended the Goroka Show in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
One of life's really great songline experiences.
Like other budget travellers, I stayed at the National Sports Institute (N.S.I.), which is immediately adjacent to the Goroka show grounds where the big sing-sing takes place over several days.
While the N.S.I. is a really good place to stay during the Goroka Show - clean, secure, convenient, friendly - it can be noisy at nights due to the nearby showground.
Several of us wondered about the possibilities of staying somewhere relatively safe in the nearby countryside where we could better enjoy the beautiful and peaceful ambiance of these Highlands valleys.
Partly for this reason, and with an eye to returning for the next show, I took up the offer of Talson (who works in catering at the N.S.I.) to visit the newly constructed Andawayufa Resource Centre.
I only made a flying visit of an hour, so my views are very superficial.
After you locate the right P.M.V.(Public Motor Vehicle) from the market place in Goroka, the travel time is about half an hour (by a fast P.M.V). via the Highlands Highway (good road) heading towards Mt Hagen. There seemed to be a good flow of P.M.V.s. (during daylight hours only?). Talson and I did not have to wait long to get a return P.M.V. after our visit. A one way trip (Goroka - Andawayufa Centre or vice versa) cost about 2 Kina (about 80 cents Australian)
The Andawayufa Resource Centre is a local initiative which offers basic facilties for travellers wishing to make closer contact with their social and environmental surroundings.
Paul Baki, Talson's Father-in-law, appears to be the driving force behind this project. Paul made reference to the role of his brothers in helping with the building. That's Paul (with two sons?) in the photo in this page.
The main built part of the Andawayufa Resource Centre is, by local hut standards, a comparative large 'guest house'. It has been constructed entirely from traditional materials.
See below for link for more images of Andawayufa facilties and surrounds.
In addition to the basic bedrooms there is also a small area set aside for self-catering; a shower area; PNG country-style toilets (squat hole on concrete slab over pit).
I found the interior conditions in the bedrooms a bit 'close' as there are few windows (traditional style I take it) and the newly woven materials of the walls and floor were an unfamiliar smell for me. I guess you would soon get used to this, especially if you were active elsewhere during the day. The inside of the main building is quite spacious, in its own way.
As is the local Highlands style, the dwelling is all at ground level (as opposed to the coastal style I saw near Madang which is above ground.) There were raised sleeping platforms in each bedroom, and some mattresses (see images).
There is electricity, some electric lights and a phone.
Paul told me that there were local walks into the hills, for which permission had been granted by the local land owners (but double check with relevant landowners).
This is traditional country and on the trip out from Goroka by P.M.V. a local Seventh Day Adventist Pastor (Timothy) explained to me how the banana trees lying by one part of the road had been recently cut down by a group of Mother's Brothers (from elsewhere) after a young man had died. Anthropologists cut their eye-teeth on the role of Mother's Brothers as well as notions of human agency and responsibility in death.
My gut feeling is that the Andawayufa Resource Centre would be a great place for anyone prepared to slightly rough it, in return for some good contact with contemporary Highland's people and culture (a mix of modern/Western and traditional).
Paul told me that the cost was 45 Kina per person per night, which included a meal of traditional food, and that they could accommodate up to six people at a time. Depending on the exchange rate (see link below) this is less than $20 Australian.
I would take my own bedding and a mosquito net, torch, snacks, drinks, toilet paper and all the rest of a PNG budget travellers kit.
As my visit was extremely brief, I am unable to form any view on how safe it is to stay in this part of PNG. A local guide/companion is a really good investment if you are new in an area, and you learn a lot more local information in return for the extra Kina.
Contact details: Paul Baki, Andawayufa Resource Centre, P.O. Box 393, Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province. Papau New Guinea.
Phone Paul Baki (h) 675 732 1422 (w) 675 732 2430. Paul has a day job (linesman?) with the PNG Telecom.
Contact also via Talson Kuese at the National Sports Institute in Goroka.
Given the problems which people face - and will increasingly face - in PNG, some support for a local initiative like this may make all the difference in the world for people like Paul, Talson and their families.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMAGES OF ANADAWAYUFA RESOURCE CENTRE
For more info on Goroka National Sports Institute (Phone 675 732 2391 Fax 675 732 1941 P.O. Box 337, Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province, P.N.G.) do a google search and/or see:
http://www.pngbd.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-10482
Be sure to book early with N.S.I. for the Goroka Show if you intend to stay there.
Check out PNG Kina/Australian dollar exchange rate
I am interested in receiving any feedback regarding Andawa Yufa. Contact me via email [email protected] or P.O. Box 257, Thirroul, New South Wales, Australia 2515.
Original Oct 2004. Last updated 25 January 2005
