New Guinea, Australia

New Guinea has a pride of being the world’s second largest island. It is located in the north of Australia. During the last glacial period floods took place in the Torres Strait, thus was the reason of the separation of New Guinea from Australian mainland area. The name Papua has a long association with New Guinea. The Indonesian provinces of West Papua and Papua come together and make the western half of the New Guinea. The mainland of the country Papua New Guinea is formed by the area which is located in the eastern half region of the islands.

New Guinea has a huge biodiversity, it has huge ecological value. Around 786,000 sq.km area of the island is a tropical land. The island has about 5-10% of the total species present in the globe. The same percentage is found in Australia as well as United States. A very high percentage of the species found in Guinea are endemic that is they are found no where else in the world. Also around 1000 species present there are still unknown to the modern science as well. In New Guinea there are around 200000 kinds of insects, also the plant species varies from 11000 to 20000, there are about 650 resident birds’ species. You can find birds of all species from parrots to cassowaries. You will also come across the birds of bowerbirds and paradise. In New Guinea there are nearly about 400 amphibians as well as butterflies of around 455 species. The species shared their origin with that of the continent of Australia. New Guinea is such a big island that on the basis of its biological diversities it can truly stated as the continent.

There are 700 species of birds, which includes parrots, hornbills (kokomos), pigeons, cockatoos, cassowaries (PNG’s largest bird) and kingfishers. Papua New Guinea is known for its luminously colored birds of paradise. Thirty-eight of the forty three human known species are found in the country; this includes the rarely seen raggiana and blue varieties, attracting birdwatchers from across the whole globe.

The first inhabitants came to New Guinea from the South-east Asian peninsula and have their origin for nearly 40000 years back. The locals learnt agriculture first. Archeologists are studying the irrigation system used by the people during that time. The research is in the early stages thus it is a bit to tell what crops they grew. It is said that sugar was first originated in New Guinea around 6000 BC.

The gardens in the city are very old and are adapted to high population densities, earthquakes, occasional frost, hilly land as well as high rainfall. Western agronomists find the practices native gardeners quite difficult to understand and thus they are more successful than the scientific farmers in raising certain crops. There are many proofs that states crop rotation was discovered by New Guneia before the west and the European countries.

In the proper geographical terms New Guineas is a part of Australasia and not Indomalayan realm. The flora of Asia and New Guinea are very much similar. But the fauna’s differ drastically. The flora of New Guinea has a unique mixture of tropical rainforest species with their origins in Asia; together they become typical Australasian flora.

Major cities in Papua New Guinea are Port Moresby, Mount Hagen and Lae. Accommodations are easily available in these cities. Also the hotels does arrange for the guided tours.

Papua New Guinea, have always witnessed very serious crime, mostly in the city centres of Mt Hagen, Port Moresby and Lae. Travellers should travel safely and try to avoid as much possible trouble. It is advisable that don’t travel alone, particularly at night and late-night house. Listen as well as respect safety advices provided by the locals. Remember to check with the travel advisories and news services before traveling.

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