Late afternoon, October 25, 2018. My son and I are landing in Kokopo, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, after a week in Papua’s highlands. As usual in PNG, we have no idea where we stay overnight and how to get there. Surprisingly, when I reopen my mobile I have Internet connection(!), and even more surprisingly I have a response on my Couchsurfing request: Someone from the small fishermen village Matupit invites us to a village stay, for a minimal cost.
Obviously there was no information on how to get from the airport to the village, nor how much time it would take - 10 minutes? 10 hours? Everything is possible in PNG. No Google Maps information on public transportation is available here, as if we are living in the 90’s.
To make a long story short - we managed to get to Coniah Gorona’s place and stayed there for 2 days, which were amazing. They included canoe sailing, natural hot springs, climbing on a live volcano (!), collecting wild bird eggs and in general fresh food based on fresh fish caught from our canoe. Not to mention participating in a genuine village ceremony dedicated to their ancestors.
If even a fraction of this was available in Europe, or the USA, or even here in Israel - it would have been jammed with tourists, queueing in order to enjoy these amazing experiences. However, in New Britain / Papua - we were the only foreigners. More than that, the initiative to start this touristic venture was of a 20-year old village boy, trying to help his family and at the same time promote their proud heritage.
Obviously I wanted to help him, and to help others discover this amazing place. Luckily, being a Local Guide level 6 I was able to: in less than a day “Matupit Homestay” was on the map, and up to now it’s still the only place in a radius of 10 km around it. I’m sure this helped a young entrepreneur with his vision, together with his family and village people. And this genuinely feels me with happiness.
As I travel often, time and again I stumble upon such cases. May it be a small food stall with excellent empanadas in Antigua, A delikatessen shop in the Arab village Jisr az-Zarqa, or a forgotten bookstore in Jerusalem.In all these cases, I feel that I can make a real difference in the success of small or emerging
businesses. And, obviously this will also improve the journeys of Google Map users!
I’m doing it already for years but it’s only becoming more and more fun over time. What will be the next thing? A falafel stall? A new flower shop? An elderly tourist guide in a remote village? Can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
