IDYLLIC TANGA ISLES of NEW IRELAND

 

TALES OF TANGA

STORY & PICTURES by ITA KEMBA

Most city slickers pine for places of solitude and quite respite – a place to let down their hair, put up their feet and get back to basics.

Simple fire cooked food, fresh air, a dip in the pristine turquoise waters, walking leisurely along the beach just before the early morning sunrise or at evening twilight just before the sun dips below the horizon would work wonders for any jaded spirit.

Or, how about just getting out on the reefs in the wee hours of the morning and letting down the line and waiting patiently to see if something’ bites’. Failing that one could always go long-line fishing, trawling or spear fishing at night.

Well if you are salivating for just such an experience and that such a place is not just a figment of one’s imagination then maybe you might consider taking a trip to Tanga group of Islands way out in the Solomon Sea.

The Islanders recently sought the help of Pacific Adventist University Information and Library specialist to help them set up a community Library and Information Center. They got AUSAID to fund the initiative. The Head Librarian of PAU accepted the service request and took this trip with some trepidation.

The trip involved all the three main modes of transportation found in PNG – air, road and sea.

To get to Tanga , one takes a 2 hour plane trip to sleepy Kavieng, capital of New Ireland province, then make a four hour bus ride to Namatanai on the scenic Bulminski highway, stopping at frequent intervals to tank up with cooked food, kulaus and the good old buai of course at road side markets that dot the highway.

The cost of the one way PMV trip is K60 per person. Namatanai, a pit-stop of a rural backwater town services all the outlying Islands of Lihir, Tabar, Anir, Tanga and west coast New Ireland from where one could island hop to Duke of York and Kokopo.

Walk down to the little pier and beach and one sees rows and rows of public marine vessels (PMV’s) otherwise commonly known as motorized dinghies waiting for their passengers and hear the skipper and the crew of each vessels call out for passengers. The scene is reminiscent of Gordon’s PMV bus stop in PNG's rowdy capital Port Moresby except that you are looking at sea going vessel. One way trip to Tanga is K100 per head.

The trip takes 4 hours on a calm day and longer when the weather is frightful.

For landlubbers the prospect of going out without a chart or a compass and finding a little dot out in the trackless sea and making landfall safely can be a little daunting. Whether day or night, it makes little difference to these sea-faring folks.

The not too comforting knowledge is that Tangans have often found themselves in places other than their home Island once too often – one instance floating all the way to Kiribati!

The Tanga groups of Islands are in fact 4 Islands, Moang, Big Tanga, Anir and Tefa. For a remote community the Islands a pretty well endowed with good level of services. One High School, three primary schools,  7 elementary schools, a fully staffed rural health centre with outpatient wing, male and female wards, maternity ward and children’s  ward and 6 qualified health professional could be considered ‘rich’ by anyone’s standard in PNG.

But they also boast satellite phone communication, internet access and incredibly - permanent public toilets which is septic! All high school teachers’ accommodation has water tanks plus septic toilets. Primary teacher’s accommodations are also reasonably good, have Tuffa water tanks  but lack the septic toilet facilities.

The whole community’s law and order issues are handled by one lone policeman on the Island. If its sounds like a holiday camp – you be the judge. They also have several guest houses on the Island with conference facilities; the guest rooms are all self-contained.

The community’s main source of income is fish usually bound for Lihir, failing that the Islanders take their catch to Namatanai or Kavieng. The Islander’s good fortune could be put down to having a supportive son in Governor Sir Julius Chan.  Lihir mine royalties could also be a contributing factor for the Islands having a decent and perhaps above average services. The communities have resisted the overtures of mining companies wishing to take up mine lease on the Island

Tanga is quiet with little evidence of problems afflicting other communities around PNG. Homebrew, marijuana use and consumption, drunkenness relating to alcohol consumption are not visible, perhaps due in part to the enduring chiefly system and also as a result of their remoteness.

While many elements of Tanga Island life and environment could stick out in the minds of those who have the means and the fortitude to make the trip, for this visitor at least, it was the hospitality and service of a certain host called Scollie that lingers on long after the trip. Each morning Scollie would get out to the reef, throw a baited line, bring the catch home and within an hour would present her guest with a charcoal cooked fish and taro Kongkong all piping hot and before 8:00am!

Ah, that is called ‘sterling service’ and for that alone one would be happy to make the return trip for a repeat service.

All good things must come to end and so after conducting a series of workshops on how to set up community libraries with five willing female participants, the facilitator had to reluctantly bid adios and make her way back to “civilization”. Sometimes one wonders who really leads a civilized life; those residents in Tanga or those residents in the suburbs of Port Moresby. My pick by a country mile would be Tanga Islanders!

 Adieu Tanga!