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| New Britain | ||
| Country | Papua New Guinea | |
|---|---|---|
| The search for a province ends with the state | ||
| Residents | 513.926 (2011) | |
| height | 2,334 m | |
| Tourist info | 675 982-8697 ENB Tourist Auth. | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
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New Britain (English: New Britain, formerly: Neupommern) is in Papua New Guinea (PNG) the largest island of Bismarck Archipelagowhich is crescent-shaped about 520 kilometers long but less than thirty kilometers wide. North of the island is the Bismarcksee, south of it is the Solomon Lake. The largest city was Rabaul until it was almost completely destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1937 and again in 1994. The main town is today Kokopo, formerly Herbertshöhe, about thirty kilometers further east on the bay.
background
Traces of the Lapita culture (1500-1300 B.C.E.) found. It's also a center of 19th century cannibalism horror stories. Admittedly, up to the First World War, one or the other missionary was beaten to death, probably not without reason.
Like all of New Guinea, the island is ethnologically and linguistically very diverse. About forty languages are known. The most important and largest population group in New Britain are the Tolaiwho make up half of the population with around 120,000 souls. Immigrated from New Ireland, they live almost exclusively on the Gazelle Peninsula, the northeastern part of the island, which is named after the Prussian ship SMS Gazelle, which landed here in 1875. This region in particular is volcanically active. The Baining, Hereditary enemies of the Tolai and known for their fire dances, live in the local highlands. In addition, the Kilenge (on the coast), the Sulka (south of the Gazelle Peninsula) and the Lakalai settle in New Britain between the coast and the mountains.
The formerly important plantation-like “cash crops” copra and cocoa have been replaced, especially in the west, by environmentally damaging oil palm cultivation and logging.
Like all of New Guinea, the island came under Australian administration in 1919 as a League of Nations mandate. There was a gold rush before the war. After the Japanese pre-emptive strike in December 1941, Rabaul was occupied and fought over in 1943-44. The American invasion began with the Battle for Arawe as part of the Operation Cartwheelthat ultimately isolated the important Japanese base in Rabaul. Remnants of the war can still be seen in the surrounding area.
places
Administratively, the island is divided into an eastern and western province. They are 16,000 km² and 21,000 km², respectively, with 250,000 and 200,000 inhabitants. Of the sixteen volcanoes in the Western Province, five are considered active.
getting there
By plane
- Kokopo / Rabaul
This is one of the two airports PNGs where visa on arrival to be issued. Regular domestic flights with Air Niuguini (☎ 983 9821) PNG Air to Lae, Port Moresby and Buka as well as Kimbe. There are charter flights to Lihir Island and Kavieng.Tickets are available from the travel agency via the 1 City Pharmacy in Kokopo. PMVs (No. 9) depart from the market in Kokopo according to the flights (2 Kina).
- Kimbe
Expanded in 2015. Regular domestic flights with Air NiuguiniPNG Air to Lae, Port Moresby and Buka as well as Rabaul.Helicopter charter Niugini Helicopters (☎ 675 983 5163).
By boat
Chebu Shipping weekly connects Rabaul ↔ Buka (on Bougainville; 400 K), Kimbe and Lae. Carpooling on freighters must be inquired at the ports.
The Gazelle Bay is occasionally visited by cruise ships.
Open boats after New Ireland are 2-3 hours on the road and drive until the early afternoon from Kokopo (on the beach behind the post office) for 80 kina. Life jackets are not found in every boat.
Sailing yachts
Formalities for those coming from abroad must be done in Kimbe or Rabaul.
You can also invest in the Rapopo Plantation Resort, which organizes diving courses and tours if necessary (☎ 675 79474892).
You can also moor or anchor in the luxurious one 1 Walindi Resort, the one with the in-house boat MV FeBrina Multi-day diving tours organized. Next door is that Mahonia Na Dari-Information Center for Nature Conservation (Tel .: 675 7370 5699), the few rooms of which are preferably rented to scientists or school classes traveling through.
Kokopo and Rabaul
Dynamic cards1 Kokopo was still a village with two and a half thousand inhabitants in 1980. After the devastating eruption of the Tavurvur volcano on September 19, 1994, most of Rabaul's residents fled here and stayed permanently. All the authorities are here too. The population increased tenfold. 2 Vunapope and 3 Takubar are now districts. In 2009 there were fewer than 7,000 people in Rabaul, instead of 22,000 in the past.
mobility
Car rental companies are at the airport, four-wheel drive is essential. Roads and PMVs are only around the two cities that are not connected in the countryside.
PMVs to / from Kokobo (market); No. 1 Rabaul (depending on route 2-4 Kina), No. 2 Warangoi (3 Kina), No. 3 Vunadidir and Toma (3-5 Kina), No. 9 Tokau Airport.
Only a few PMVs drive on Sundays.
There are (bad) cul-de-sac roads between the north and south coast:
- Kimbe ↔ 4 Gasmata
- Kimbe ↔ Hoskins (Airport) ↔ 5 Uvol ↔ 6 Bairaman
- 7 Nutanavua ↔ 8 Waku ↔ 9 Kandrian
- 10 Say say ↔ 11 Gloucesterto Mt. Talawe (1824 m).
Between other villages on the south coast you have to rely on boats. A road construction project to 12 Pomio better to connect started at the end of 2017.
Tourist Attractions
_(15716376852)_(cropped).jpg/220px-MacKinlay’s_Cuckoo-Dove_(Macropygia_mackinlayi)_(15716376852)_(cropped).jpg)
- Rabaul
1 Japanese Peace Park
- Kokopo
activities
The better hotels organize half and full day tours in the Rabaul / Kokopo area. Depending on the size of the group, they cost 250-400 Kina (2017).
In addition to "war tourism" like the tunnels of the submarine station, especially diving, e.g. at the wrecks in the port of Rabaul (George's Wreck and Manko Maru) and the coral coasts of the Gazelle Peninsula. The suitable seasons for this are mid-August to New Years and mid-February to the end of May. There is a tremendous wealth of coral species in the Bay of Kimbe in particular. However, the really beautiful dive sites are 30-40 minutes away by boat.
The Varvagira-Mask Festival shows them for a week at the end of July in Kokopo. Local tribes perform dances after sunset.
shop
ATMs in the guarded areas of the banks are only accessible until 7 p.m. during the day.
nightlife
accommodation
- Rabaul
- Kokopo
- 3 Vavagil Guest House
- 4 Gazelle International Hotel. Tel.: 675 982 5600. Harbor and fishing tours, dives with the Rabaul Dive Adventures. Next door are the Ralum Country Club (Restaurant 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.) and a golf course. They are nearby Queen Emma Steps Where Emma Kolbe their hotel had.Price: NS (until March): Deluxe 545 Kina, Premium 618 K.
- Kokopo Beach Bungalow Resort, 1 Kurur Place, Kokopo 631. Bungalows for 3-8 peoplePrice: luxury, expensive food.
- Kokopo-Takubar
- 5 Kokopo Backpackers Inn
- 6 Chauka Lodge. Small pool.
- 7 Lilibe Beach Lodge (At the beach). Fan rooms, shared showers. Car rental next door.
- North Coast Road
- 8 Kabaira Beach Hideaway (PMV No. 5 from Rabaul market, 32 km. Airport transfer 100 kina p.p.). Tel.: 675 7191 1107. Price: Guesthouse 250 Kina (shared bathroom), bungalow (4-5 people) from 300 Kina p.p.
A Chinese cemetery was laid out in the hills beyond in 1946. When the Australians evacuated the population from the approaching Japanese, the Chinese were not considered worthy of this protection. Many of them perished as workers for the Japanese or as a result of the massive US bombing.
- 9 Tokunar Resort
- Kimbe
- Walindi Plantation Resort
- 11 Kimbe Bay Hotel, New Britain Hwy. 3 *, Bugalows.
- Liamo Reef Resort - Kimbe International Hotel, Section 20, Lot 5,. Tel.: 675 7391 1918.
security
There are gangsters, so-called “raskools”, but less than in the big cities of PNG. Robberies and thefts are still common.
health
Snakes like to hide under piles of coconut shells. Often are too Centipede (Scolopendra sp.) whose poison, which sits in the first pair of legs, is extremely painful for days when touched. To Venomous snakes in PNG and treatment (engl.)
"Safe" from tsunamis, which are to be expected as a result of frequent earthquakes, is ten meters above sea level, which should be considered when choosing accommodation.
2 Vunapope Hospital (Kokopo)
climate
Tropical and humid all year round, daytime temperatures ø 31-2 ° C. Tropical cyclones can occur November through March. The amount of precipitation is around 2000 mm, but reaches almost 6500 mm in the Pomio and Jacquinot Bay with the surrounding mountains.
Practical advice
Mobile communications in the Rabaul region has been expanded to 4G / LTE since 2014.
trips
Entry to many of the remains of Japanese activities during the war (tunnels, wrecks) costs 5 kina kastom-Entrance to the traditional landowner.
Matupit
As 13 "Matupit Island" referred to, actually a peninsula that was not affected by the ash rains in 1994 due to prevailing wind conditions. There is a homestay.
The hot springs, where the locals steal the eggs of the numerous big foot fowls (Megapodiidae) Cook. A steep path up the Tavuvur begins here, if you take a guide it costs 50 kina.
Duke of York Islands
4 Duke of York Island can be reached by “banana boat” from Kokopo. Here you will find pleasant sandy beaches for swimming.
The early dropout and "Kokovorist" lived on the nearby island of Kabakon August Engelhardt.
literature
See also general travel guides too Papua New Guinea. Due to the colonial past, most German ethnological museums have appropriate exhibitions and information.
- Heermann, Ingrid; Form - color - fantasy: South Sea art from New Britain; Stuttgart 2001; [Exhibition catalog: Linden Museum Stuttgart, May 23 - October 28, 2001]; ISBN 3897901595
- Huebner, Herbert; Music in the Bismarck Archipelago: Music-ethnological studies on culture and race research; Berlin 1938 (Hahnefeld) [with notes]
- Jebens, Holger; After the cult: perceptions of other and self in West New Britain (Papua New Guinea); New York 2010 (Berghan); ISBN 9780857457981 ; [Cargo cults; German u.d.T .: Kago and kastom: on the relationship between cultural perception of others and of self in West New Britain (Papua New Guinea)]
- Mayr, Ernst; Diamond, Jared M .; Birds of northern Melanesia: speciation, ecology & biogeography; Oxford 2001 (Oxford University Press); ISBN 0195141709
- Powell, Wilfred; Schröter, F. M .; Among the cannibals of New Britain: three years of wandering through a wild country; Leipzig 1884 (shepherd)
- Rossi, Milène C .; Blood, pageantry, ritual: clubs and their function in the societies of Oceania; Vienna 2015 (IVA-ICRA); ISBN 9783900265311
- UN Habitat; Papua New Guinea: Kokopo City profile, 2010
- Maps
- Sapper, Karl; Moisel, Max; Path profiles from the Bismarck Archipelago; Berlin 1910 (Mittler), 1: 100000, 20 profiles on 1 sheet; Leaf size 79 x 94 cm
- US Army map sheets 1960s, 1: 500 ': SB 55-3 Vitu Islands, SB 55-4 Kikori, SB 56-1 Kimbe Bay, SB 56-2 St. Georges Channel (Rabaul)
Web links
- Volcanic activities around Gazelle Bay (engl.)
- Mahonia Na Dari Nature Conservation and Information Center for Kimbe Bay and Region
