An adventure to remember surrounding Komba Festival

Into the thick jungles of the hundred mountains of Bundi. Photo by Zorric Olangi

Engulfed in the midst of the heavy mountain dew. Freezing rain penetrating through my bones with my foot and hands shivering cold and stiff. We walked for another five hours trapped in the thick jungles at the foot of PNG’s highest mountain crossing boarders from Yandera in Madang into Simbu province. Reaching Mondia Pass at an altitude of 2,895 meters above sea level without a torch, the foot of Mt. Wilhelm could not allow us to walk any further to our desired location. 

Our legs and hands became numb to the marrow of our bones as the cold wind kept blowing icy showers over us all soaked up with my barefoot stucked in the muddy road slowing down pace as the evening dark shadowed our long and endless path. Strange thoughts came into my mind to that of the ‘Sactum’ film where lost divers have to find their way out of the deepest dark water in the cave with little or no light and in their struggle to reach a single dotted light, which paved their way to surface with little oxygen remaining.

This was my experience ending the Komba Festival on Thursday 4 April 2019 together with Zorric Olangi, a specialist doctor from Kundiawa General Hospital, David Kibeto, Director for Simbu’s Radio NBC and Andrew Ya McCarthy, Simbu Provincial Coordinator for Kumura Foundation.

Prior to the extreme adventure, we were all invited by the Kumura Foundation to witness the first-ever Komba Festival, which was held on April 3, 2019 at Emigari village in the upper Bundi District of Madang province. The head of tourism department Theresia Kau and I represented Divine Word University as invited guests. Among others were our three key visitors from PNG Tourism Promotion Authority Stanley Relson, PNGTPA’s Product Development Officer, Hudson Lavani, Videographer and Libert Kirakar, PNGTPA’s Internet Marketing Officer. Also present at the event was Simbu Children’s Foundation president and founder, Jimmy Drekorie and a French expatriate Brice Kotopi from PNG Tribal Lands Tours including Elvis Gende from Tekpiksa Pasifika Pixel. 

The Simbu Bikers’ Association were also invited to a night at Snow Pass Ecolodge but were unable to make it further to the event site at Emigari village due to no road accessibility and toughest steep mountain terrains that could not allow the bikers. Instead, the bikers entertained the crowd at Karizokra village with sounds of engines ramming aloud the once quiet village of Snow Pass as the villagers watched with eagerness seeing skillful stunts made by the bikers zooming to and from leaving skid marks in the mud. To most of the villagers, it was something they have never seen in their entire life. The whole community was engrossed by the scene-witnessing motorcade of skillful bikers entertaining the crowd. The bikers dashed with their motor bikes showing stunts lifting legs and hands high and zooming to and from over the blockade and into the air, landing with more skid marks as children, men and women yelled in excitement watching cheerfully!

I had the chance to interview the President of Simbu Biker’s Association Mr. Mark Dewe who founded the association since 2010. I asked Mark if he would be interested in participating in the opening of the Liklik Diwai Tourism Expo in putting up stunts as part of the float for the upcoming event in September, he paused, laughed and said “that would be something new for the association and we would definitely love to be part of the event as some of my experienced bikers would love to travel to Madang and see a little beauty of Madang province.”

Photo: Aibigal Kaupa, the lone female rider among the male bikers

The bikers comprise of mostly public servants and few from the private sector who share the common interest in motorbikes and the sounds of the engine. The youngest among all the bikers is a 27 year old Peter Kee with the oldest as 64 years old. Among all the male bikers is a one and only female biker Aibigal Kaupa whom we had the chance to meet and see her doing stunts among all the male riders. 

The association’s main motive is to provide show and entertainment for the crowd as well as escorts for political rally or other bigger events in the highlands as well as the Morobe Show. The Simbu Biker’s Association also looks into promoting Out-door Dirt-Biking within South to North Simbu covering the Northern Corridors to Madang province as a way forward to giving awareness to our respective governments to building proper roads and bridges to connect rural parts of Simbu and Madang in the upper Bundi District.  

Photo from left to right: Liebert Kirakar, Internet Marketing Officer from PNGTPA, myself, Marme and Mr. Ya McCarthy on one of the walks from Yandera to Emigari Village in the Upper Bundi District of Madang province. Photograph by Hudson Lavani of PNG Tourism Promotion Authority

The festival location is inaccessible by road with over 5hours walking distance from Yandera to Emigari village. The long walk crosses some of the magnificent cascading waterfalls and creeks along some of the steepest terrain and cliff, which proved to be difficult for the bikers to travel to Emigari with their motorbikes. Most of the bikers returned to Kundiawa from Yandera on the next day due to the long distance and limited fuel to return.

Taking a rest after a long hike into the hundred mountains of Bundi from Yandera to Emigari.
Seated in the center is the Director for Simbu NBC Radio, David Kibeto and in the far center is
Dr. Zorric Olangi and myself with the locals.
Photography by Vincent Kumura

One of the youngest cultural performers at the Komba Festival
Photography by Zorric Olangi

During the festival on the 3^rd April, there were a total seven cultural groups involved from the nearby villages consisting of the famous Kanam Dancers of Emigari, Wizewei kengeru of Emigari, Koikoiya of Snow Pass, Kaima Miri of Yandera, Gerigeri of Emigari, Kaima Nakai Narawa of Mendi Village in Bundi and the famous Imurei Fire Dancers of Bundi. The cultural performers involved both young and old with the youngest performers as young as four and seven years old taking pride in their cultural performances.

The National Broadcasting Radio represented by Simbu Director David Kibeto was humbled to see and experience the kind of leadership and the diversity of the cultures portrayed during the festival. Theresia Kau and I were given the opportunity to be interviewed on the NBC’s Raunraun program and I was interviewed live on air sharing my experiences and how I felt about the significance of the Komba festival and its prestigious destination in a remote and epic location.

Vincent Kumura presenting a draft MoU to DWU's Tourism
Department HoD, Ms. Theresia Kau
Photograph by Theodore Baworo

During the speeches, the President of the Kumura Foundation Vincent Kumura presented a draft MoU to further enhance the foundation’s partnership with Divine Word University’s tourism and hospitality department as a way forward to strengthening capacity development for rural tourism development. 

The Product Development Officer for PNGTPA, Stanley Relson was given the opportunity to talk on behalf of his team from PNG Tourism Promotion Authority. Stanley stated that it was very challenging for him to walk such a long distance and to reach such a beautiful location witnessing some of the rare and unique cultures of PNG in this remote part of the world at Emigari Village. He further stated that even though the accessibility is challenging, events such as the Komba Festival encourages and promotes our diverse cultures through staging of festivals. He was also pleased to announce the pledging of K30,000 which was made earlier to Kumura Foundation on behalf of the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Hon. Emil Tamur and the CEO of PNG Tourism Promotion Authority, Mr. Jerry Agus for supporting the initiative of the foundation in successfully staging the Komba Festival.

Komba in local Gende language of Bundi refers to a pandanus fruit plant that is also commonly known as ‘marita’ in the highlands region of Papua New Guinea. The fruit is cylindrical in shape, up to a meter long and usually red in color but sometimes yellow. The outer layer of the fruit is rich in oil. The fruit is cut into pieces then boiled, roasted or cooked in a stone oven. The pulp and seeds are filtered and removed from the core, mashed with water and strained to produce a thick, rich red sauce of an oily texture used to flavor other foods such as sweet potato, banana and green vegetables and used as butter for starchy foods. 

A domestic tourist posing in front of the Komba gathered
during the festival at Emigari village.Photograph by Theodore Baworo

Komba or marita is also commonly found in other parts of PNG and grows at the altitude between 500m and 1700m above sea level. For the people at Emigari village, it is an important food because of the intermediate altitude location where coconut does not bear well and vegetable oil or animal fat in villagers’ diet is limited. Traditionally, komba fruits are traded chiefly by barter system but rarely for cash and are used as a commodity to pay for bride price or exchange of other goods from the people in the lower lands or the nearby bordering provinces. Komba grows best in moist locations, often under shade, and tolerates waterlogged soils. For the people of Emigari, the fruiting season begins from January to April as the fruit ripens over a four-month period.

Komba, packed in bamboo and cooked with greens and other protein

There is huge potential for tourism in the remote areas of PNG but there is also greater challenges in connecting these beautiful places for visitor accessibility where there is lack of infrastructural services from the government. With such location as in Emigari Village, it is very difficult for accessibility where one has to walk over hundreds of mountains and into the thick jungles before reaching the destination. The government has to prioritize building proper roads and bridges or opening up of nearby airstrips to connect such rural places and to promote cultural festivals and food tourism in such a remote setting that has so much to offer for rural tourism in Papua New Guinea!

Getting bogged on one of the toughest roads at Mondia Pass from Simbu.
Photograph by Theodore Baworo

One of the many exotic and beautiful traditional cultural dancers at the Komba Festival.
Photograph by Liebert Kirakar | PNG Tourism Promotion Authority