As a kid growing up in rural PNG I was constantly surround by biodiversity and a rich indigenous culture. I remember the walks in the New Britain rainforests, listening to hunters convey stories of deer hunting in the Gulf Province, hunting king fisher birds in the Kerema mangrove swamps (peles blo pukpuk/crocodiles), watching leatherback turtles lay their eggs in the black sandy beaches of Nonga in Rabaul, and of course being chased by raskols in Port Moresby. Later, as a school kid in the provinces of Solomon Islands an unceasing curiosity to know what was in the rainforests saw me taking extended walks beyond the boundaries of the station and villages were we once lived in.
School holidays were spent back on my home islands of Vangunu and Choiseul in the Solomons, hunting, fishing, and trekking the forests with my father. The best times were listening to my great grandfather talk about the animals of the forests....telling us (my cousins and I) custom stories, and recounting his younger days hunting deep in the forests.
One thing led to another...someone taught me geography (tenkiu tumus Randy), and the rest is history. Although my focus and passion is for doing what I can to preserve the Melanesian environment as well as photographing its people; I’ve been able to visit other parts of the world…..it is an amazing world, so diverse, so different from my simple islands, yet one thing remains consistent throughout my experience. And that is, the world is changing so very fast! Makes me wonder what my corner of the world in Melanesia will be like, and how (with all these changes) the impact will be like on my people.