Papua New Guinea

Awakening the Past: Reimagining Kavieng's Ghosts of the Machines

Photogrammetry image of the wreck of a Nakajima “Kate” B5N fighter-bomber in Kavieng. Image by Sean Twomey
Photogrammetry image of the wreck of a Nakajima “Kate” B5N fighter-bomber in Kavieng, by Sean Twomey

There is a huge potential for wreck photogrammetry in Kavieng and the neighbouring large island of New Hanover in Papua New Guinea, for it is here that one can find several notable wrecks of WWII aircraft. Don Silcock shares his experience working with technical expert Sean Twomey in an initiative to capture photogrammetry imagery of the wrecks before they succumb to the ravages of time and eventually disappear.

Papua New Guinea's Kimbe Bay in West New Britain

White bonnet anemonefish in anemone at North Ema's Reef, Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. Photo by Pierre Constant
White bonnet anemonefish in anemone at North Ema's Reef, Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea

Kimbe Bay, located in the West New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, is open to visitors again after two years of pandemic restrictions. What awaits are beautiful dive sites, diverse marine life and coral reefs with great fish action. Pierre Constant shares his adventure there.

Max with Joelle Raabe at DEMA show where he tirelessly represented Papua New Guinea for many years

International dive community mourn the loss of Max Benjamin

Don Silcock:

I met Max for the first time over 20 years ago – in the domestic terminal of Port Moresby airport where we were waiting to board a flight to Kimbe Bay. The trip leader introduced him as “this is Max, he’s the owner of Walindi” which was where we were going to.

My first impressions turned out to be pretty accurate… before me was a man who would look you straight in the eye and quickly understand your intent - no BS with Max, he seemed to be able to read you like a book!

Southern New Britain: The Secret Place in Papua New Guinea

Aerial view of Linden Harbour, New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Aerial view of Linden Harbour, New Britain, Papua New Guinea

The southern coast of the large island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea is a truly remote location isolated from the northern coast by high, rugged mountain ranges with no real roads through them. There are no commercial airports here—only landing strips and old WWII airfields used for small-scale charter flights. Practically, the only way to get to the southern coast is by boat from Rabaul, on the eastern tip of New Britain.

Papua New Guinea: Tufi, New Ireland & Milne Bay

Is there another country anywhere with so much diversity? The six million inhabitants of this nation of mountains and islands are spread over 463,000km2 of mountainous tropical forests and speak over 800 different languages (12 percent of the world total). Papua New Guinea occupies half of the third largest island in the world as well as 160 other islands and 500 named cays.

Papua New Guinea: Unity in Diversity

I’ve been on the road for 36 hours now, and I’m pretty much on the other side of the world from where I started back in rain drenched England. At last, I’m approaching the final legs of the journey—just a short one-hour flight to go.

Things have gone smoothly so far, I’m thinking, as I wander up to the check-in desk for the last leg of my trip. “The flights full,” the attendant tells me, “You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.