conducting the trek that best suited their individual needs. There was no thought of conducting an independent trek of the track, so various tour operators who offered treks along the Black Cat were carefully researched. For Gary Essex, his previous experience with Port Moresby-based PNG Trekking Adventures resulted in his choice to use the same tour operator for this trek. The research conducted by the others led to the same conclusion. The trek the eight men booked for was to be conducted in September 2013.
PNG Trekking Adventures was owned and operated by expat New Zealanders Pam Christie and Mark Hitchcock. Pam was an experienced and well-respected trek leader who had led tours throughout PNG, including the Kokoda and Black Cat tracks. Mark was an efficient manager who employed well-tested and effective management procedures. PNG Trekking Adventures had two proud boasts. The first was that they employed only experienced staff, and the second was that they enjoyed a good relationship with the local people in the areas they trekked.
Having experienced staff and porters ensures the tour operator’s clients receive first-class service throughout their trekking experience. The porters’ task is to ensure the trekkers see the best the environment has to offer by the safest route, and that they enjoy the experience without the hardship of carrying their equipment and food. When working in support of a trek, porters often carry loads in excess of forty kilograms, walk barefoot and have little other than a plastic poncho for protection against the rain. They carry tentage, cooking utensils, food, first-aid equipment, and many other miscellaneous items. Some of the porters specialise as personal porters, acting as a trekker’s individual adviser and carrying the trekker’s personal backpacks.
Employment as a porter for a trek, or performing cultural ceremonies for the benefit of tourists, is for many the only way to gain additional purchasing power to buy extras that mean the difference between some comfort and the harshness of poverty. The extra money can also provide food security for a village, removing the pressure from those who must strive to provide sufficient food for their families on a daily basis.
However, in 2013 it was well known within PNG’s trekking industry that the communities along the Black Cat Track were inexperienced and untrained in dealing with tourists, and as a result provided a less-than-optimum service. To overcome this perceived failing, it had become common practice for tour operators to limit their recruitment of porters, particularly of personal porters, to men with proven experience. While this practice made perfect business sense, in a society where everything is shared it was culturally inappropriate, and was the catalyst for tension and discontent along the track. It also placed the men from various other traditional lands in the insidious position of breaking traditional law, in that they were making gain while on another local person’s land. This was by no means entirely the fault of PNG Trekking Adventures, but a situation was developing along the track which meant their claim of a good relationship with the local people was becoming questionable.
There was an additional issue related to PNG Trekking Adventures’ staffing policy claims. Pam Christie, the regular leader for the tour operator’s Black Cat treks, was unable to lead the September trek, and a new PNG Trekking Adventures employee, Christy King, had been appointed. This appointment would seem to be a direct contradiction of PNG Trekking Adventures’ staffing policy, for while Christy had considerable trekking experience and knowledge of the Black Cat Track, she had never before managed a full trek.
Christy’s other credentials, however, were impressive. Originally from Bathurst in New South Wales, thirty-eight-year-old Christy King was a registered nurse by profession. She had married into an old colonial family that had stayed on in PNG after the 1975 independence. The family operated the largest chain of pharmacies in PNG, plus a string of grocery stores in various parts of the country. By 2013, Christy, her husband Daniel and their two children had been living in Lae for ten years. During that time Christy had immersed herself in PNG culture, learning to speak pidgin English and becoming familiar with government officials and local people at all levels. In addition to the family home in Lae, the family also maintained a holiday home at Salamaua, the village at the base of the Black Cat Track.
Salamaua is seen by expats living in Lae as a place of refuge. In Lae, because of the high crime rate, they live by necessity behind barbed wire in secure compounds, an existence that can become very trying, particularly for the young. At Salamaua life was far less stressful. No-one locked their houses; children were free to roam the streets and to play with the local kids.
For Christy, Salamaua was also the place from where she began her close relationship with the Black Cat Track, walking it on several occasions and learning all she could about its history and the World War II battles that were fought on and around it. A fitness fanatic, in 2011 Christy took this relationship with the track to a level attained by few when, in preparation for a race along the Kokoda Track, she ran the length of the Black Cat in thirty-two hours.14 Supremely fit, with knowledge of the people, the terrain, the local language and local politics, she was an ideal choice for trek leader.
In spite of Christy’s undoubted ability, PNG Trekking Adventures chose not to advise the September trekkers of her appointment until their clients arrived in PNG. Regardless, the clients had freely chosen PNG Trekking Adventures based on their own research. The tour operator had every reason to believe that the coming trek would be well received along the track, and that their newly appointed trek leader would perform well. It was also reasonable to assume that while the communities along the Black Cat might grumble a bit about outside porters, they would be happy once they were paid for the trek’s visit to their traditional lands. Now was the time to begin preparations.
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1 Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, 1901–1909.
2 Shredder, ‘Lost On the Black Cat Track’, Papua New Guinea Adventure Blog, 11 August, 2012, https://shredderinpng.com/2012/08/11/lost-on-the-black-cat-track/.
3 ‘Glamping’ is a word for glamorised camping.
4 Pete Stevens, Australian Story, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2014.
5 Zoltan Maklary, Australian Story, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2014.
6 ibid.
7 Nick Bennett, email to author, 2015.
8 ibid.
9 Steve Ward, Australian Story, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2014.
10 Rod Clarke, Australian Story, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2014.
11 ibid.
12 Gary Essex, Australian Story, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2014.
13 Glen Reiss, Australian Story, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2014.
14 Most trekkers take six days to complete the Black Cat Track.
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