East New Britain is not located anywhere close to Europe. It is half of an island called New Britain and is a province of Papua New Guinea. It was a colony of Germany back in the late 1800's but evidence of the Germans having occupied the area is now hard to find. The British took it over at the turn of the 20th century and after World War II, it was given to the Australians. Historically, it has played a vital part in Papua New Guinea's history as this was where the move for independence started. This was also the main trading area for the New Guinea and was a vital part of the country's economy up until the disastrous eruptions in 1994. This area is also considered to be the birthplace of the country's music industry and is where the PNG Chinese originated from.
There are plenty of things to do in ENB. I will let the pictures here speak for themselves. There are plenty of choices now too for lodging to which my favourite would be the Rapopo resort. It is a bit far from Kokopo though and you would definitely need a car to make the daily commute to town if you choose to stay there. Here is a list of things you can do here:
- snorkeling around corals of Baining
- fishing is fantastic behind the airport and over at Baining
- watch the Baining fire walkers
- attend mask festival
- spelunking around the tunnels - there are a lot of tunnels here including large tunnel systems with internal railway systems
- climb the lighthouse
- climb tavurvur if you're crazy enough and have good shoes
- look for large eggs of wild fowl by Tavurvur
- go to the old Nonga submarine base
- check out the World War II museum in Kokopo
- go up the Rabaul Volcano Observatory
- have a picnic at Blue Lagoon
- go off-roading in the sand dunes close to the volcano
- look for exotic timber such as rosewood, kwila, and walnut (I had a local furniture company fashion 2 walnut speaker stands for only K150 which took them 3 days)
- eat exotic crustaceans that would cost a fortune in other countries
- wait for mango season and try the apple mango, matupit mango, turpentine mango, rabaul long mango or the normal mango. yes! this is mango haven!
- harvest some galip nuts, sprinkle with salt & sugar and enjoy!
- have some taro delights! the volcanic soil imparts a nice flavour to it!
Here are the photos:
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| welcome to East New Britain! |
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| typical Tolai male fashion |
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| kids from Rabaul |
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| a Frangipani flower, a very hardy flowering tree |
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| the new Kokopo market |
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| so many mangoes!!! |
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| the famous Rabaul long mango! |
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| rhino beetles are plentiful there! |
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| lobsters galore!!! |
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| coconut crabs - its meat is quite sweet |
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| scenic coconut tree-lined highway from the airport to Takubar |
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| one of the many old Catholic churches - ENB is one of the largest contributors to the Roman Catholic Church in the world! |
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| Baining |
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| water so clear, you can see the corals! |
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| steam from the sea as you get close to Tavurvur |
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| the rocks become orange from the sulphur content |
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| Mount Tavurvur regularly puffs out ash |
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| sand dunes are plentiful! |
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| the volcano has killed plenty of the fauna around it |
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| sunset amongst the dead trees close to Tavurvur |
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| the view from the Rabaul Volcano Observatory |
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| the Rabaul caldera - the whole area was once a single mega volcano |
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| there are several barge tunnels there |
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| these barge tunnels are quite deep |
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| Japanese war tunnel by the Blue Lagoon |
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| inside one of the old Japanese war tunnels - it's pitch black inside! this is a 30 second exposure! |
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| some of the tunnels are tight and you have to climb through |
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| world war II wrecks are plentiful! this tank lies by the roadside close to Kokopo |
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| entrance to the Kokopo museum |
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| world war II tank |
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| empty shells from world war II |
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| world war II artillery |
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| world war II tank |
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| world war II bombs |
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| at the lighthouse - well, it's really more like a big light than a lighthouse |
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| view from the lighthouse - there's also an old world war II bunker close by |
Lastly, I leave you with a photo of the Kokopo coastline. I love its coastline!
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| what a beautiful coastline! |
If you come to Papua New Guinea, you must visit East New Britain. For me, it is the best place to be at especially if you like the outdoors!
Nice pics, congrats.
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