Community Tourism At Its Best

THE Asaro Valley in Eastern Highlands Province stretches for miles towards the blue mountains of Lufa in the south and the Finisterre Range and Madang in the north. The cool highlands climate and fertile soil provides idle conditions for a thriving coffee industry, while other cash crops can also easily be grown here.

The Highlands Highway cuts through the heart of the valley at Kabiufa and the nearby Mimanalo community, which has embarked on a major community initiative to revive their cultural heritage. The local community believes that through culture, not only can they reap benefits from tourism but more importantly help save their young generation from the dreaded HIV/AIDS.

These they believe can be achieved by encouraging and teaching traditional cultural values of courtship and marriage among others in order to discourage promiscuous behaviour and the spread of AIDS. As a first step, they have revived the Galegepauko Cultural Group, which was formed by fathers and forefathers in 1974 but faded away in the mid-80s due to lack of support from relevant authorities. Galegepauko was in fact the first cultural group to be formed in the Eastern Highlands and since its revival two years ago, the group has done well by taking out the first prize from 70 other cultural groups from across PNG at last year’s Morobe Show.


Last weekend, the community decided to add more value to their aspirations by opening the Mimanalo Cultural Centre – built in the typical Highlands round house style. Arts and crafts will be made and sold as well as giving quick lessons for curious tourists and visitors in the art of bilum making and other art forms. National Cultural Commission executive director Dr Jacob Simet, who was in town last weekend for the launch of the 1st National Bilasim Skin Festival, which coincided with the Goroka Coffee Festival, was guest of honor at the opening of the Mimanalo Cultural Centre. Mimanalo cultural chairman Jonah Buka said they were honored by Dr Simet’s presence as numerous calls to the provincial administration for support had only fallen on deaf ears. Buka said apart their unique culture; tourists can walk the Sir Peter Lus Track from Mimanalo which takes three-days and nights through Brahman and onto Madang.

Women and children in the highlands....

The area which is home to former Governor General Sir Silas Atopare has neat villages set among carefully lined coffee plots and fish ponds flowing with orange colored trout. The communities own several guest houses and would be more than willing to provide village stay for visitors. Dr Simet was impressed at the community initiative saying not many communities these days, unite to promote such a worthy community project. He told the people of Mimanalo that hopefully the cultural centre will lure tourists to enjoy and appreciate the local culture as well as the traditional village lifestyle.
Currently, locally based Yaukove Tours operator Pato Matane (Tel: (675) 732 2269) runs treks from Mimanalo to Brahman passing through the remote villages of Wande, Gebekufia and Teri. Bird watching enthusiasts will see the majestic Birds of Paradise in their natural habitat and enjoy nature at it very best. The peoples along this track also have a common history of trade in the old days with ties still maintained to this day.
Back at the Bilasim Skin Festival and Coffee Festival at the Raun Raun Theatre, more than 20,000 people – most of them school children - passed through the gates over the three days (May 5 – 7). This year’s festival, which was easily the biggest and best since its inception five years ago, saw more participation by statutory and corporate bodies such as POSF, NASFUND, Post PNG, Internal Revenue Commission, Bank South Pacific and others. Festival chairman Norman Carver described it as clearly the best show so far with indications already that 2006 will be even bigger and better. While the Coffee Festival is the main focus here, the Bilasim Skin is a new initiative by the NCC and aims to preserve the art of body decorations and paintings for sing sings or important traditional rituals. It becomes one of NCC’s national themed events including the Mask Festival (Rabaul) and the Kundu & Canoe Festival (Alotau). Dr Simet said the onus now was on the provincial administration to take ownership of the Bilasim Skin Festival as has happened with the other themed events in the other regions. The Coffee Festival was also given a ‘heart and soul’ with the launch of an arts exhibition at the University of Goroka library on Saturday evening featuring works from various PNG artists old and new. The arts exhibition opened by Dr Simet will now become an annual feature of the festival. Special mention to Air Niugini, Pacific Village Hotel, Goroka Coffee Festival organizers, NCC, UOG and the people of Mimanalo for making our trip a successful one.

Ends//

Village Band up in the highlands...