In June 1998 I was asked by Moyang Okira, a young man who owns the Keki-Lodge north of Madang, whether I could help him to test the tourist potential of the Keki Trek through the Adelbert Range, which he wants to establish as a new tourist activity.
The Adelbert Range is northwest of Madang, located between the coast and the Gogol/Ramu-valley with the highest peak 1554m. Although the areas along the North Coast highway marked by logging activities, the mountain itself is still characterized by its virgin rain forest.
We started at Salemben, where the Keki lodge is located, and marched for more than one week, until we had crossed the mountain completely and came down into the Gogol valley to the first pioneer road where we were picked up by our car.
To give a brief impression of this amazing experience here are some clippings from my diary:
After breakfast, we take off for our first day’s trekking.
The narrow path goes through the shadow of the rain forest and climbs slowly but constantly into the hills. After two hours we pass a quiet, green village in the sun, overlooking a large valley. We cross some flowering gardens on the slopes and pass around noon a big village on top of a hill. It was a quarter to twelve but no break for us yet. After half an hour, we reach a fast running stream in the valley, where we take off our back-packs and have the longed-for lunch break.
Now comes a strenuous part of the walk. The slippery path goes straight up a steep slope. The roots of the trees give the only foothold but due to their varying distances it is sometimes like climbing stairs where every second step is missing. Everybody is out of breath. After 2 hours of pure climbing we reach the mountain ridge.
It is already late in the afternoon and we can see the first gardens when Moyang stops at a small stream for drinking and washing. My T-shirt and my shorts are soaked with sweat, my legs are smeared with mud, my hands are dirty and sticky. To be honest, I have had enough for today. We have been on our feet for almost 7 hours now. But nevertheless, I notice some children from the village, who spy us and run away as if they have wings on their feet.
When we arrive, the entrance to the village is blocked by a thick wall made of twigs and leaves. Then the door opens and an old man with a long grey beard bows and greets me with official words. At the same time about twenty dancers and drummers start singing to welcome us. I am so amazed that I forget my aching legs and the weight of the rucksack on my back. After this exhausting walk I am actually on the verge of tears.
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I’ve been given a room in the big house of the village elder and in addition a blanket. Our village is located on the mountain at an altitude of about 1000m. So, it becomes chilly at night. The main room has an open fire place in the middle where everybody meets in the evening. Later I am offered a mug of coffee and a big bowl of food. I’m happy about the wide variety of leafy vegetables and the potatoes. In the middle, there is a good piece of dark-smoked meat from a small animal. I ask, whether it is bandicoot, which I have already tasted. But it turns out to be one of the beautiful Wallabies. Obviously, as a special honor they have put the whole, little head on the plate, which is now grinning at me out of the soup.
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My legs are not hurting but seem to be made of lead this morning. We walk uphill and I am shown the new airstrip on top of the hill. The village people are very proud of it because they have done all the work with shovel and wheelbarrow. In a little house at the side there is already a radio installed, powered by a solar panel. One of the village men, who accompanies us with bow and arrow and the usual worn-out clothes, switches it on and I’m surprised to hear this guy call several radio stations in experienced clear commands. ‘Land of the Unexpected’, I think. It is very true. The same man shows me, an hour later, stones at a little stream in the bush, where his grandfather still collected the material for his stone ax!
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To walk this morning is a pleasure. It is cool in the forest and the morning sunlight sends single beams down through the tree tops. Fortunately, the path is well maintained and doesn’t have steep ups and downs because it follows mostly the mountain ridge. It is one of the old routes of the German missionaries of the fifties and sixties. We are all in a very good mood and we are chatting and joking. I am reminded of the old German time, when students and young craftsmen got on the road to enjoy a vagrant life till next winter came. And parts of old songs flash across my mind suddenly, almost forgotten for an eternity. The boys with us must feel the same because they start singing occasionally at the top of their voices.
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As I recognized the day before, this village is at the end of a small but very steep mountain ridge that stretches out into a wide valley. We are surrounded by much higher mountains. Very far away on the next ridge I can see two thatched roofs of other village houses. Except for these I feel like lost forever in another world. All cars, TV-sets and newspapers seem to be not days but centuries away from here and remarkably superfluous. Even the fact that the bed I’d been offered yesterday in this remote house in the middle of nowhere has no mattress, no longer seems important. I have slept like in heaven. I couldn’t believe what has happened to me.
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When we climb down the very steep slope close to the last house I don’t expect very much. I’ve seen enough rain forest with all its rivers the last days. But what I am to discover within the next few hours is simply incredible. The slope falls away into sharp gorges, where rivers crash onto gigantic boulders, disappear into holes and jump out again as waterfalls. Such untouched, untamed nature, I’ve never seen before. The guys from the village take me along dangerous slopes on the top of the gorges, one or two always close to me, ready to hold me if necessary. Already now I can’t remember if we dived into three or four or five of these gorges. I must have seen seven or eight waterfalls, each one more spectacular than the next. It is simply breath-taking.
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We leave the valley half an hour before noon next day. The road is easy to walk because it follows the ridge almost all the way and presents us with beautiful views into the valleys and over the whole mountain. With several short stops on the way, it takes us about 5 hours to reach Wanuma, our destination that day. Wanuma is one of the old German missionary stations, built directly on the edge of the mountain with an incredible view into the Gogol/Ramu valley. What I feel today cannot be described. In front of me I see the wide valley, bordered on the horizon by the far, blue mountain massive of Mt. Wilhelm, and behind me the Adelbert mountain with its steep gorges and untouched rain forest, that I have passed on foot. I’ve finally made it! I have endured these whole-day marches, the steep slopes, the slippery footpaths. I have to admit, I feel enormously proud of myself at this moment. But I should keep this to myself.