Manus: Preparations, Sea and Rats!

"Aiya, lukim lek mit blo Simbu ya, maaahn! traipla steret na han blo mi hat lo raunim olgeta!"

(look at the size of this  Simbu lady's calves, so big I can't wrap my hands around it!) and the villagers sitting next to me roared in laughter. My face cast a shade of red I'd never seen before. Nine year old Ben very innocently blurted his thoughts out for the world to hear about the size of my calves! He among other kids had been fascinated by my built and always trailed behind me when we first hit their shores. He had never seen a Highlander or maybe a traipla skin meri before. That was the welcome I received in Manus (and for the record, I think my built is average).


I was in the North coast of Manus, with the Tulu 2 and the Lehewa communities. It took about an hour and forty five minutes by boat to come here, about K45 for a one-way trip in an open banana boat. Most of the people here have never been outside of Manus as it is one of the furthest and most expensive places to travel to or from, with about K900 for a one-way airplane ticket from Port Moresby or Lae.

All aboard from Lorengau to Tulu 2 in the Northcoast of Manus with my assistant, Susan and our skipper

 Prior to my arrival, I was losing sleep and was very anxious about my three weeks trip to Manus. Preparations can be smooth sailing if you spread your tasks out over a few months. But if you're anything like me, I tried to prepare in one month whilst writing my thesis so I caused myself some unnecessary stress (operation brukim tulait is never a good practice, kids).

Field trip preparation looks a little something like this: reviewing the methods you want to use in field, testing them out and readjusting them, listing the equipment needed, rummaging through a storage room to fork up anything you can find, and browsing hardware stores online and physically for quotes,  emailing contacts and borrowing other equipment you can't afford (like an extra GPS or bat detectors). I am talking 40 or more camera traps, cages for wallabies, cages for rats, tags, ropes, rulers, scales, camping gear (flashlights, headlamps,tarps, sleeping bags, etc) and print outs of your survey forms ensuring you don't miss anything. Budgeting for the trip from food, local assitants, transport from plane to car to boat to carriers. Then pack and haul everything form Brisbane to Port Moresby and then to Manus and then onto a boat. The whole way, I've learnt to bargain my way out of excess baggage payments, make random friends at airport terminals and hotel concierges as well as arguing at terminals about flight delays and being put on waiting lists.

The hardest part of this trip was that I hadn't seen my daughter for about three months and I only had about two days between the transits to spend with her. Studying abroad full time with little time to spend with a new family is a such a sacrifice a lot of us have had to make, but at the same time gives that extra boost needed to give nothing but the best to studying. 

The purpose of my trip was to detect small to medium mammals and understand better what conservation practices are in place and how best to improve them if need be. In Manus, the largest endemic mammal and primary terrestrial meat source is the Admiralty cuscus (Spilocuscus kraemeri) and there were several rats I anticipated, the newly described Rattus detentus named after the Manus detainees by Tim Flannery and a cute little orange rat scientifically called the Melomys matambuai. I also wanted to find bandicoots Echymipera kalubu. We successfully did, with many adventures in between.

Our expedition always had 3 or more kids trailing behind us. P.s the calf sizer, Ben is the one in blue.

Susan Good my research assistant plans packing with our Community Facilitator Misu Nick and Driver, Joe under the Manus Wildlife Conservation Society office with half our luggage.

I was fortunate to find a brilliant and enthusiastic research assistant, Susan Good. She was thankfully a very versatile lad ready to wake up early at 5 am for bird counts, walk under uncomfortably humid and wet forest floors, sometimes walk bare feet, collect kina shells, and even be a skipper on our banana boat! Together, we made the local community hall our home for the next few weeks, sleeping on thin yoga mats placed on canvas over the hard concrete floor (my body fat came into good use then).

 I found Manus people to be very inquisitive and at time blunt with no amount of sugar coating when they wanted to say something. I also learnt to appreciate the level of respect and order they had in the village in terms of chiefs, elders and councilors.  For example, if we wanted to look for rats in Charle's gardens, we had to seek approval from an overall 'paramount chief' and then the local chief and then the clan chief and family members. I appreciated that this system ensured that any activity, be it economical, social or in my case, scientific, benefited the community and not just an individual. 

This trip was my most challenging as it was the first time I was pushed outside my comfort zone. My career began and continued in the Highlands between Chimbu and Eastern Highlands where I understood the culture and language and was seen as part of the communities I worked with. So, I was pretty much comfortable. But this time, I was an "outsider". This made it difficult for me to conduct interviews and gain people's trust in a matter of three weeks. And that's where I met a man called Misu Nick, a local community facilitator who worked with the Wildlife Conservation Society and very well respected. Misu is the man you would need to handle everything from the get go and to be honest I would have failed my field trip if it weren't for him. Behind every successful scientific expedition, a cleverly written journal, a completed Master's or PhD thesis, there are people like Misu who work tirelessly behind the scenes to get the job done and they should be acknowledged. 

Misu Nick, a key community facilitator with immense knowledge on community engagement, field methods, bird watcher and simply a jack of all trades!

Although the cages I set did not catch any rats or bandicoots as I hoped, my cameras caught some pretty amazing life of the Manus mammals and some birds. 

Melanesian scrub fowls (Megapodius eramita) commonly referred to as 'wel faul' in Manus.

Spot the critter? a bandicoot that could be the Common echymipera (Echymipera kalubu) or the New Guinea Spiny bandicoot (genus Echymipera)

I miss the clear white sandy beaches of Manus where it became a routine to lie in the water after a long day in the forests. All the kids would beckon us for a game of soccer. Manusians can play soccer alright! At the end of the trip, it was heartbreaking to say goodbye as we took the boat back to Lorengau. Susan and I came back with a lot of the famous Manus baskets. I also returned with Malaria and Dengue that crippled me for the month that followed. But that story best wait for another article!

A farewell photo with the Wildlife Conservation Society team Manus managed by a powerhouse of a woman, Sylvia Noble (second from left)