Back to Past Adventures

December 2005

Jim's Bit
The program is progressing well and the thought of extending it to include the villages which have the Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo, has been constantly on my mind. Ever since seeing the young animal last year, I have been putting out the feelers to find money to at least establish a hunting moratorium for this beautiful and also critically endangered tree kangaroo.

The Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo (or Weiman as it known locally) was first described by Dr Tim Flannery in 1992 from two female specimens found in the Sibilanga area. Very little is known about this animal but it was thought to be more endangered than Tenkile.

In mid-October we received word from Perth Zoo and Roger Martin that some money would be coming to us that could go towards the Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo. This news meant that I could patrol the suspected range of this animal and start establishing a moratorium for it.

Previously I had received a radio message that a village called Nunsi had some animals in captivity. I didn't know whether these animals were the Finsch's Tree Kangaroo (or Grizzleds), Golden-mantleds or Tenkile. I had visited Nunsi before to ask them to refrain from hunting the Golden-mantled because it was their village that had shown us an animal last year.

Once returning from Wewak (and before our friend Matt West arrived), I left Jean in Lumi (sorry Jean), caught a ride to Angugunak and started on my patrol to Sibilanga. I planned to be away for at least a week.

A letter had been sent to Weigin and Nunsi villages to let them know that I was coming. I had no idea whether these tree kangaroos were still alive but I had just received word that there were two of them, they were very young and that they were Golden-mantleds.

After one night at Angugunak, I hitched a ride to Ningal and then walked with two young lads to Weigin. At Weigin I learnt that the tree kangaroos had been taken to Aitape on the coast to be sold. A lot of stories came out and I really didn't know what to believe. I heard stories like "the animals had died on their way to Aitape and had been eaten" and "people from Nunsi had sold them to a business man in Aitape for K500 each". Whatever the case, if the animals had been taken to Aitape then there was little chance they had survived. The heat in Aitape is intense and the Golden-mantled only lives in the mountain where it is cool. I felt like giving up and going back to Lumi.

No, no, no - I had to look at the big picture! If these animals were dead, then a hunting moratorium has to be established so that the remaining Golden-mantleds have a chance of being protected. In Weigin I held a meeting with the landowners and community leaders and they agreed to sign an agreement not to hunt the Golden-mantled. This agreement would form the basis of these villages becoming a part of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance. I felt the best thing to do is to visit all villages first, have them sign an initial agreement and then officially launch the program at a central location where a justice of the peace and politicians can witness it. Representatives from each village that have the Golden-mantled on their land would attend the meeting and sign the hunting moratorium. We will plan to attract media, local level, provincial and national government representatives. Who knows, we may be able to gain some financial support from the local MP.

From Weigin I walked to Nunsi. I hired two guys from Weigin to escort me all the way to Sibilanga. It would take at least five days to walk if we were to hold meetings at each village along the way. I had to be careful not to include villages that did not have the Golden-mantled on their land. Therefore the first question I planned to ask each village was "Do you have Weiman on your land?"

At Nunsi I was keen to find out what had really happened to the tree kangaroos they had caught. I learned that one of the Golden-mantleds had already died and that some boys from the village had taken the other to Aitape without the permission of the community. I was pretty sad at this news and I had little hope for the Golden-mantled that had been taken to Aitape. The head-man of Nunsi (Nobert) was furious at the boys who had left for Aitape a week before with the young Golden-mantled. He felt that they had ruined their chances of joining our program. He was going to punish these boys when they came back to the village.

Nobert then told me the story of how they acquired these animals. Three weeks previously seven men from Nunsi had gone hunting for Flying fox (big bats) and on their journey came across six adult and four young Golden-mantleds (two of which were still in their mothers' pouches). The men thought that I would have wanted to see them. They caught one young animal and during the chase temporarily caught an adult female which threw its pouch young. The mother escaped, along with the others, but the small pouch young and other youngster were caught.

The people from Nunsi tried to raise the pouch young on milk formula they obtained from Ningal hospital but as this formula wasn't Wombaroo (or marsupial milk formula) the youngster only lived for a few days. I was impressed that the people had gone to this effort to keep the young tree kangaroo alive, as Ningal is a long walk from Nunsi.

I was exhausted and decided to take a nap before holding a meeting with Nunsi village. I had been asleep for a few hours when I was woken by people saying "Weiman, Weiman" The people who had travelled to Aitape had returned, they entered the hut I was in and handed me a young Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo. It had survived the week in Aitape and was in amazingly good condition. I was relieved, surprised and excited. The animal I had in my arms was a male, probably less than two kilograms in weight and such an affectionate little thing. He was weaned but probably only just. He was a little dehydrated but overall in very good health. I couldn't believe he was still alive. The boys who took him were sorry and claimed they only took him to Aitape to show their friends. Whatever the truth was the young Golden-mantled had survived his ordeal.

The village of Nunsi gave me this animal to look after. I told them we would take care of him in Lumi and that they would be welcome to come and see him whenever they liked. The village of Nunsi signed an agreement. I spent considerable time asking questions of their elders. The land belonging to them, is evidently one of the last strongholds for the Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo. From Nunsi I walked to Awan, Winbe, Muku, Sumil, Sibilanga and Asier; all of which agreed not to hunt the Golden-mantled and signed an agreement. There were a number of villages I visited that didn't have this species on their land. They therefore have not joined the program. The young Golden-mantled (named "Nunsi") travelled with me the whole way in a billum. He slowed me down a bit but that was okay. I didn't mind finding leaves for him to eat. He also proved valuable when talking about the hunting moratorium and asking people when they last saw one, etc. When in Sibilanga, I found out that the distribution of the Golden-mantled is considerably larger than previously thought. I had thought that perhaps eight to 10 villages had this animal on their land, but as it turns out there are 16. I didn't have time to visit all of these villages. I was also very tired, so asked a few people to pass the word to the other villages. I told the people around Sibilanga that I would return in December to visit the remaining eight villages. After eight days and nights in the bush I travelled with my new best friend, Nunsi, back to Lumi on the Cessna (small aeroplane). I felt this had been a very successful patrol. The people were nice and extremely welcoming, I thought they understood what I was saying and they are keen to start rabbit farming.
I was a very happy camper, I just needed a few days to recover.

Jean's bit
Back at Lumi, I had just finished the Teacher Training Workshop, which was fantastic (see previous update for details). Jim came home with a cheeky grin on his face and took me into the house and showed me what he had in his billum. It was the most gorgeous little tree roo. When we had the place to ourselves we had Nunsi on the verandah exploring and like all the young tree roos we have had, he licked everything for hours on end. This behaviour must be something they would do with their mothers at this age.

We experimented with different foods for him to eat and thankfully he was fond of sweet potato leaves. This is what we feed the rabbits so that made life easier. When Jim brings these animals home I often roll my eyes and think how are we going to have the time to look after this mini zoo we are building. But I didn't complain about his one until he started pooing everywhere - god it stinks! Like fresh cow pats.
Our Dutch friends also enjoyed Nunsi during their visit and fell in love with him. He really is so gentle and calm. He doesn't show any aggressive or biting behaviour like the Grizzled young we had before. He doesn't even get excitable, just very calm and relaxed which is great. We then all took off to Wewak to meet Matt West, a zoo keeper from Melbourne Zoo who will be working with us for the next few weeks. He was successful in receiving a scholarship from the Friends of the Zoo to assist the Tenkile project... so thank-you FOTZ.

Jim's bit
It was great having Matt over. Talking to someone else who gets excited about conservation is like a breath of fresh air.
We had been invited to go to the islands near Wewak. Unfortunately, I had to finish off writing a grant application (fingers crossed we get it), so didn't go on the boat trip to the islands with the others. When writing grant applications, it's sort of like studying for a test. You have a deadline so are usually doing a hell of a lot of work at the last minute. It's a challenge but is a very important part of our work. If we can't find the money then we can't do the work.
I organised transport back to Lumi. The weather had been fine so hopefully the road was going to be dry enough to get back to Lumi without a hitch. We purchased the usual supplies plus a few items to add the finishing touches to our new bedroom and bathroom.
We drove back to Lumi. Jean travelled in the luxurious passenger seat of the 4WD ute and Matt and I sat in the back getting very sore bottoms. Matt was pretty blown away by the scenery from the Sepik Highway. Dollarbirds, Rainbow Bee-eaters and Black Kites were the highlights - wildlife wise.

Jean's bit
Back in Lumi, we got ourselves organised for the next patrol. We went up to Wabute, which is in the Fatima area. While Jim was at Miwaute giving them the distance sampling gear and making sure they were organised, Matt and I got our beds set up and had a wash. Matt was the new kid in town so it was good to sit back and watch the locals interact with Matt who was struggling to understand every word they were saying. It was very amusing but Matt didn't take long to pick up a few phrases the first being "me no save" which means " I don't understand ".
Once Jim came back, we had our dinner - sago jelly and greens (the usual). This was Matt's first attempt at real PNG style food. He wasn't keen on the sago like most new comers to PNG but enjoyed the greens, which was good. He was going to be eating that every day for the next week, so he'd better get to like it. Jim also introduced him to tinned fish - cold from the can the way Jim eats it after a long walk when he is starving. Matt too liked this - perhaps he was just being polite. Weirdo's!!! The next day when the guys went bush, I moved camp to stay with the headmaster (Canesius Sai) and his family. This was luxury. Canesius is an absolute legend in that he has been teaching for 40 odd years and has saved his pennies to build a house for himself and his family. As he said, this was the best way to share his wealth with his family and it would mean he would have a nice place to live when he is old.
The house is a three-bedroom house with floorboards throughout, louvre windows and a kitchen attached complete with combustion stove and the kitchen sink. The shower area has a cement floor, tin walls and roof. It has a laundry area and shower with a shower rose that has great pressure. Still had the composting toilet, but the house was a total surprise and I felt privileged to stay there. Many local people had not been inside the house.
I then held a meeting with the village. We first had a general chat about TCA's work and then discussed the rabbit project. I organised a full day of training the next day because people clearly need it. A few stories had come up - politics and complaints - but overall the rabbit project seems to be going well and the village is relatively happy with TCA's work.
The next day I held the rabbit training and visited all the rabbit cages that had been distributed throughout the village. One clan is doing really well and has raised 17 rabbits already. Another clan was also doing well raising only three rabbits but these had gone out to individuals who now own them privately. This is what the ultimate aim is for TCA - each family has their own rabbits - preferably 3 females, which has the potential to provide the family with one rabbit to eat each week.
The next day I had a talk to the Wabute Elementary School children about animals and conservation. The elementary schools in PNG all use the local language and the curriculum focuses on custom and culture. So I thought I'd try and use some of the local language in my talk and I surprised myself as to how much I could use.
I then tried to meet with Sarporte village to discuss the conservation area but they were not organised or ready for me. So I came back to Wabute and hid from the huge downpour of rain that persisted for hours. My thoughts were with Matt and Jim.
The next day Jim and Matt came back to Wabute.

Jim's bit
Matt, myself and fellas from Miwaute and Wabute walked up to Amnenbe. This site is the closest to any village - only about three hours walk. Once there we had a huge downpour. I was used to this sort of thing - it's sort of standard procedure now but it was a totally new experience for Matt. I think he was happy to have the rain as this meant there would be more frogs for him to catch that evening.
The Distance Sampling work was completed within the scheduled time, however we did not find many scats. This was mainly due to the rain. Rain causes them to disappear within 12 hours. Another thing - this site is close to the Somoro foot track which people use all the time to walk to Aitape. As a result of constant traffic there is also constant hunting which means fewer Tenkile. Even though the number of scats and signs of Tenkile is low here, I think it is important to keep studying this site.
The landowners, Miwaute, are keen to restrict the traffic along this road. They have also recently formed (with the help of TCA) a "Clean up the World" group - the first of its kind in PNG.
They plan to do regular rubbish collecting days along this track as well as only allowing people to walk along it during the day.
It was a great few days in the mountains.

Jean's bit
Back in Lumi, I organised all our gear again and did some paper work. I also spent some time at the Lumi High school conducting the education program for about 60 grade 9 students. The year 10 students were busy with their exams so I could only teach for two days because the school was going to close as grade 10 was finishing up. This seems to happen a lot at this school.

Jim's bit
We spent a few days recovering in Lumi. Matt did some renovations to our tree kangaroo and cuscus enclosures. I think he was having a good time. When I asked him what he thought he would always reply "It's crazy".
Our next excursion was to Wai'eli and Maiwetum. Two guys from Maiwetem were coming to Lumi to look after our pad in Lumi. They were running late, so Jean, Matt and the carriers from Wai'eli left Lumi while I waited for them. I waited a few hours and then walked to Karaitem by myself. On the way I met some guys who had a young Striped Possum. They had only just caught it and so was still in good health. I swapped a can of fish for it. As Jean said previously, our collection of animals is growing, but when you see a beautiful and helpless possum that has been taken from its mother you can't ignore it. I placed it in my billum and walked on to meet Jean and Matt.

Jean's bit
Wai'eli is the smallest of all the villages that we work with - only 86 people. They have had a water problem for ages and have been trying to get some kind of water supply for 17 years. They were very excited about receiving their water tank and are the first village to set up their tank, so we had been invited to attend the official opening of their water tank.
Matt and I headed off from Lumi around 9 am and we got to Karaitem and waited for Jim. He had to wait for the security to turn up before he could leave. We waited for about 2 hours and Jim eventually showed up, with yet another animal. I didn't complain about this one either because it one of my favourites - a striped possum. They are so adorable.
We quickly went to Wai'eli and were greeted by about 300 people. Many neighbouring villages had come to have a look. A group of young kids performed a sing-sing, which was very cool, and then a group of women sang in their high pitched voices chanting "Mrs, Masta, Tenkile, Tibe (Water)". It was very moving and I could feel myself getting emotional.
There was a PA system set up using a generator, which was very impressive, they had obviously put a lot of thought into this day and organised themselves well. There were various speeches made, Jim and Matt included. They put Matt on the spot a bit but he just said thank-you for allowing him to stay in their village, which was great. Jim was then invited to open the tank by cutting a bush rope decorated by big orange fruits.
We had lunch and came back to the ceremony area for more speeches. I was given a good 20 minutes to give general conservation awareness so I was rapt. I threw on about bio-diversity, showing pictures of all the tree kangaroos, and had question and answer time. It was great. I didn't expect to do this so I made the most of the opportunity to educate some of the neighbouring villages about what we do and why we are here.
It was a great day. We went to bed and slept to the sounds of the villagers singing through the night until dawn. The community also made a traditional mumu, which is a pig and vegetables cooked underground using hot rocks covered by leaves.

Jim's bit
This ceremony was very special and it was really what Jean and I needed. Hearing people say thank-you means so much. Supplying villages with water tanks makes a huge difference to peoples' lives, especially the women. The leaders of Wai'eli said that they would never forget us for the services we have provided them. It's gunna be hard to leave this place!

Jean's bit
The next day while Matt took off with some locals to see a bat cave, I gave a spiel on the rabbits but people were very tired from their all night singing. This village has had the least success with the rabbits. Unfortunately, they couldn't make it to the rabbit training we held last year, so I think this is why the program has collapsed here. But the village has not shown a lot of interest in rabbit farming since the beginning. People have said to us they are scared of the rabbits because they have big ears and they were worried to eat them for fear their children will end up with big ears!
Nevertheless, I conducted some training and tried to help motivate the community to give it another go. They admitted they were at fault and will try again, which was good. Better than giving up altogether.

Jim's bit
The next day Matt and I went to Maiwetem whilst Jean went to Karaitem school. It is a great walk from Wai'eli to Maiwetem. Matt took many photos and also disturbed a wasp nest. He received a few bites but it was so funny seeing him run for his life. I shouldn't laugh.I guess you had to be there. At Maiwetem we had a meeting with the community and organised our trip into the mountains. Wamourou, the distance sampling site, is a good six to seven hour walk from the village. We were absolutely exhausted on arrival but Matt still had energy to look for frogs. I think Matt was a bit frustrated from searching around the camp because the most interesting frog landed on my sleeping bag.
This site is definitely a stronghold for Tenkile. We collected more scats, that we deemed Tenkile, than had been found here previously. Fantastic news.

Jean's bit
I went to Karaitem school and taught the grade 6 students. This is a good school with great teachers. The kids were great but not a good turn-out on the Monday (people still recovering from the festivities on the week-end) but there were more kids the next day. After teaching at the school I walked to Maiwetum on the worst walking track. There were fresh landslides everywhere, which made the walk a bit treacherous and slippery. I didn't fall down which was good. Don't know how the kids do it day after day - poor little things.
At Maiwetem I had a great wash in fresh running "bungal" water which I was looking forward to. Set up camp and slept like a log with our baby Striped Possum.
The next day was spent conducting a meeting with the community and working with the drama group. The drama went well but we were washed out by rain, which made the activities difficult. We managed though and the group were left to practise for the big performance when Jim and Matt returned.
Like Wai'eli, this village is also not interested in rabbit farming but the few that are, are really keen. Unfortunately, a dog has killed 3 rabbits in this village, so the community has put the rabbit program on hold until they build new enclosures.
We also held a meeting to discuss the conservation area. This village has already done a lot of work on establishing their rules and penalties, which was great. Mathew Akon the TCA rep. here is quite motivated to get the conservation area going because they are very keen to promote tourism in the area. It is also important because there are still many people hunting and others are not happy about that.
When Matt and Jim came back, we conducted the drama performance the next day. It was great for Matt to be a part of it. As usual, I was all teary, firstly because the song they sang was great - very moving and a couple of women started their mourning cries, which always gets to me. This village is particularly proud of "their Tenkile" and it showed in the drama performance. Maiwetem had not conducted a sing-sing since 1996 (almost 10 years ago), so it was great to see the community working together and preserving their culture. This also meant I didn't mind hearing them all singing through the night until dawn.
Jim left for Lumi to meet up with the Nunsi crew and the next day Matt and I also returned to Lumi.

Jim's bit
I had previously asked some people from Weigin and Nunsi to come to Lumi to see for themselves what our program is all about. I also wanted to show them that we were looking after their Golden-mantled.
I trundled into Lumi late in the afternoon and the fellas from Weigin and Nunsi had just arrived. I really liked these guys. They listened well to everything we had to say and asked some really good questions. We were supplying them with wire, nails and some rabbits.

Jean's bit
Back in Lumi, we conducted some rabbit training with the Nunsi guys and they are as keen as mustard and very happy with the support from TCA. The only problem was finding transport to get them back to their villages. A very long way to walk - a good 2 days.
Unfortunately, Matt experienced a break-in while staying in Lumi. Since we have built up the base in Lumi we seem to be more vulnerable to theft. Matt had seen a flash light in the room next door and sang out "what's going on", the thief ran out and by the time Matt got up it was too late. We suspect it could have been the security. The side door was unlocked so it was easy for them to enter. They managed to steal an old backpack with a few bits and pieces in it including my favourite kitchen knife.

Jim's bit
Another break and enter. We are going to have to get a dog, preferably a great big one that makes a lot of noise.
The Weigin and Nunsi guys stayed for five days because we could not get transport for them. We need to get a car too. They decided they would walk home and we told them that we would have their rabbits dropped off (via MAF) at Angugunak airstrip the following Friday.
Matt and I flew to Vanimo. Matt was leaving us now so I thought I'd give him a present - a nice bout of malaria. Poor guy got malaria two days before leaving PNG. I hope this doesn't scare him from coming back again.
I had to stay in Vanimo to send off another grant application that was due and to see if we could attend a Tree Kangaroo conference, which was taking place in Cairns at the end of November. Our budget is tight and we really couldn't afford to fly to Cairns and back again. I was trying to find a way for us to attend. After many e-mails to and fro it seemed it could be possible for one of us to attend.

Jean's bit
Jim and Matt left on the Friday flight to Vanimo. I stayed back in Lumi and started doing the report writing. The two security guys stayed throughout the night and in the morning I noticed some corn missing from the verandah, I was suspicious of the security from the break-in before so I asked one of the security if I could look in his bag. Sure enough it was full of corn. I felt sick in my stomach, firstly because we have known this man for nearly three years and thought they were our friends and secondly because I was on my own and had to deal with this without Jim. I tried to remain very calm, but the man lied which made me furious and in the end I had to yell "just get out and leave". I sacked them both on the spot and then had the hassle of finding new security who I could trust. I got the advice of a big woman in the area and she recommended and organised two new security for me. Phew - all went well.
I spent the week-end looking after the animals including the new Bandicoot which really really stinks. We have never had much luck with handraising bandicoots and one of them died but the other survived. This was good in one way but bad in another because it meant I have to clean up after him and geeze it stinks. You have no idea. The smell is like a combination of vomit, diarrhoea and baby poo. It makes you dry-reach.

Jim's bit
I came back to Lumi to be given the job of cleaning the bandicoot enclosure.
I also got the news of more theft. I was livid. This was the second chance we had given this guy - he will not get another one.
On an extremely positive note we had a visit from two fellas from Yomoum village. This village joined our program in 2003 and at the time we had reservations about them coming on board because they didn't have Tenkile on their land. These guys told us that they had recently seen two Tenkile on their land and that they had not seen one for about 20 years. This is a huge result and really shows us that the hunting moratorium is working. Yomoum village is extremely proud having Tenkile on their land. They had a community meeting which resulted in them all saying how important it is that Tenkile remain on their land and increase in numbers.
In terms of in-situ conservation this is a huge accomplishment. This is probably the biggest achievement for the Tenkile Conservation Alliance.
Following this result we flew to Vanimo and then Wewak. We checked e-mails and found out that the organisers of the Tree Kangaroo conference were able to cover both of our costs. This was a real shame as we only brought my passport with us. I went to Cairns whilst Jean stayed in Wewak. We really need a good tele-communications system in Lumi. The satellite phone we have has had its system down for the last six weeks. Oh well, at least one of us could attend the conference.
The Tree Kangaroo conference was fantastic. I met a lot of great people who share a passion for tree kangaroos and conservation. Our presentations went well and were well received. We now have many more contacts and hopefully will have more visitors to Lumi in the future. Special thanks to Karen Coombes, Lee Curtis and the Tree Kangaroo and Mammal Group for arranging funds for me to attend the conference.

Jean's bit
In Wewak I managed to get all the computer work done, and organise our plans for next year. This was a relief because it has been something I have wanted to do for a long time. Difficult to do in Lumi with only solar (batteries to be checked) and a generator (fuel levels to be checked). Having power 24-hours a day makes life so much more productive.
We plan on going back into Lumi for a couple of weeks to conduct the TCA meetings and then head back into Wewak for Christmas break. In the new year we plan to stay in Lumi conducting lots of patrols until I head back to Australia in April. So this will be our last update for 2005.

THANK-YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR YOUR VALUED SUPPORT OVER THE PAST YEAR, PARTICULARLY TO MELBOURNE ZOO, PERTH ZOO, RUFFORD SMALL, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SCHEME, PNG GOVERNMENT, ROGER MARTIN AND AUSTRALIAN VOLUNTEERS INTERNATIONAL.

Without your financial and technical support, TCA would not exist and the Scott's tree kangaroo would no doubt be extinct by now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND ALL THE BEST FOR THE NEW YEAR.

Jim and Jean Thomas
Tenkile Conservation Alliance