AN UNFORGETABLE JOURNEY BY SEA TO KIKORI

 

Kerema Bay in Gulf of Papua.

KEREMA, YU NO SAVE, YU YET KAM NA LUKIM!

By MEGAN FIU RA’VU

The song by famous Gulf band Hollie Maea still rings bells.

The jingle featuring Robert still pulls heart strings.

‘Kerema Yu No Save, Yu yet Kam Na Lukim, and so, with the melody still ringing in my ears, I packed my bags last week and returned to the world famous Kei Taun, home of buai, mud crabs, sago and the odd isapea komara pukpuk.

Six hours on the bumpy road of the famous 600 ways Hiritano Highway to Kerema wasn’t the worst, the other six hours by sea to Kikori was one of the scariest trips of my life.

The 23-foot dinghy we were on tried to dodge waves as high up six foot. The raging Kerema waves tried to devour the flimsy banana boat, however the 60 horsepower engine would not allow. After five excruciating hours of travel, we arrived at the mouth of the mighty Kikori River. What a relief?

Our trip to Kikori, a riverport in Papua New Guinea's Gulf Province was confirmed for Monday, May 29, however due to some last minute changes and delays; we traveled on two days later.

We left on a blue land cruiser at around 10 am. I was over the moon because this was my first time to travel along the Hiritano highway, the famous 600 ways route.

A few kilometers out of Port Moresby and I was already enjoying the ride, the view was awesome, seeing people along the roadside selling stuff; it was so much fun until we reached the bumpy road with a thousand potholes.

Bumpy Hiritano Highway. Route 600.

I felt like I was flying around in the vehicle. The bumpy ride gave me tummy discomfort as it was a while traveling along the highway, the Magi Highway which I always travel to go to my village Wairavanua along the Aroma coast.

I didn’t want to eat nor drink anything due to the road situation because I did not want to feel uncomfortable so I had just snacks. We passed places like Mekeo and Kairuku in the Central province along the Hiritano highway.

Some youths were on the roadsides filling up potholes with gravel and stone and asking vehicles passing by for money. I was wondering why these kids were doing that instead of being in school.

The mountains and plains reminded me of my trip from Madang to Lae when I was at Divine Word University. This made me reminisce on the familiar scene of vehicles climbing up the mountains or driving down the valley, and then onto plains, beneath canopies and over bridges.

Looking out the window, I spotted banana gardens, pine trees, fir and bamboo trees. The traditionally built houses along the highway made of sago stalk and sago leaves reminded me of the villages in Milne Bay province.

I checked the time on my phone and it was nearly 4 pm. I asked the others in the vehicle and they said we were already heading into Kerema.

I sat in the vehicle for too long, I could not feel my legs. I actually could not wait to arrive. The ride was too long; I was getting impatient as time went by.

Author Megan at a stopover at one of the coastal villages to stretch and refresh.

After five long hours we reached Kerema and the road was better than the past five hours. The town area was packed with people selling on the field as a gospel band played at the stage getting ready for a crusade at night.

We got dropped off, finally! I was relieved. We settled in at Kerema hotel for the night, then went to the market to buy some food and I was amazed at everything. Betelnut as cheap as 20 toea, cooked sago, prawns and crabs, fish you name it. The cooked prawns and crabs made my mouth water so I bought a big parcel of prawns and crabs and some sago dough to go with it for dinner. Yum!

I hit the sack early as I was exhausted from the five hour trip. I woke up bright and early in another place, Kerema town. The sun was up and it was time to get ready for my next trip, this time by sea. We got to the market and I bought some fruits and so many betelnuts. The prices were better, K4 to K5 for a big bunch, way cheaper than in Port Moresby.

As I walked around the market, lime and buai in my hand, attracting lot of stares from so many people in the market, I don’t know if it was because I was a new face or just light skinned. 

I felt quite uncomfortable too. Anyway at around 11 am, we loaded our stuff on the 23 footer and 60 horse power engine that we were going to get in. It was quite over loaded, there were about 12 people onboard including the dinghy operator.

We left Kerema town and were a few kilometers out when the operator stopped the dinghy and had to turn back because we were overloaded water was coming into the dinghy. We went back to the shore and some people had to get off. Then we took off again.

The sea was not looking good; the waves were actually smiling at us, more like welcoming us but in a sarcastic way. It was not my first time to see such a sight as I am a coastal girl and have always traveled in rough weather. The waves got bigger and bigger, as we traveled further out. 

Sago, a local favourite.

I actually thought it was just two to three hours travel before we reached the mighty Kikori River but it took longer than I expected.

The dinghy would run on top of the huge waves and then disappear for a few minutes and reappear. When the dinghy was in-between the waves, I could not see anything but just water surrounding me and then the dinghy would appear and slide on top of the waves which was like six to 12 feet high.

I was not scared or nervous. It wasn’t something new to me so I just sat there watching the waves come and go, the dinghy go up and down, side by side, waves splashing here and there. 

It was a pity, I could not capture this moment with the camera because it was inside my bag and it wasn’t a good idea to risk wetting the camera so I had to just watch the waves and captured it in my head so I could write this feature article. 

I believe if it was someone else, they would be crying all the way to Kikori and when I say this, I admit it was scary, the waves were humongous and I was already having crazy thoughts of the dinghy capsizing. 

Good thing I knew how to swim, funny thing I didn’t want that to happen as I didn’t want the camera drowning. We were lucky the dinghy operator was experienced in operating in very rough seas.

The weather and the waves rising as the journey by sea continued.

Anyway three to four hours on sea and it started raining. I hate traveling on sea in the rain because I get cold so quickly. We had to pass like six to seven big river mouths and the waves were bigger where the river mouths were because of the rain and flood.

I kept counting the river mouths as we passed, the waves going back and forth and even the seagulls that were flying over us.

I was so relieved when we reached the mighty Kikori River mouth where we stopped to take a break on the sand bank. After a five minute break, we traveled up the Kikori River. How wonderful to relax as the dinghy smoothly ran on the river. It took us about an hour traveling up the river. 

I admired the trees along the riverside, houses built on the swamplands, and villagers on their dugout canoes fishing for catch for dinner.

After an hour of traveling, I spotted the two big LNG Pipelines located just outside of Kikori town and knew we had arrived.

As the dinghy came to dock beside the river, I breathed a sigh of relief. We had arrived in Kikori.

 

The author Megan (centre) on an earlier trip to Kikori last year.
On that visit she flew in by air.