Morobe Province

Papua New Guinea

Morobe Province, with a population of about half a million, includes the highlands of the northeast area of the mainland of Papua New Guinea. But it also includes remote islands rarely visited by foreigners. Morobe Province gets its name from the former German capital Morobe, southeast of Lae.

 

Lae, the second largest city in Papua New Guinea, is the provincial capital of Morobe Province. Lae has a population of about 90,000 and has an airport a few kilometers outside the city. Crime has been a problem in Lae, but for visitors there is safety in the Lae International Hotel, where a guardhouse keeps unwelcome locals out and a high fence with barbed wire surrounds the grounds.

Tourists might consider taking a ship from Lae to Umboi Island (west of New Britain Island). But this is not a popular cruise for foreign tourists as the two ships which make the voyage are not comfortable. The main attraction to Umboi Island is the legendary ropen, a giant flying creature that is said to live in a cave on one of the volcanic mountains. You will not read about this animal in textbooks, however: The ropen lives in cryptozoology studies and one has not yet been captured.

 

Another part of Morobe Province where strange flying creatures are reported is Salamaua, south of Lae. Here, early in 2007, several Americans explored the jungles, looking for the glowing ropen.

An Introduction to Morobe Province, Piugini