Finding a Village Zoo (4 Min Read)

I was traveling on a medical ship up the uncharted rivers of Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea. At the time I was filling the role of the photographer which gave me ample opportunities to witness all the great things that the ship is able to accomplish. I spent my days following different teams as they perform their different tasks. The dental team would take patients on-board the ship; pulling teeth, filling cavities, and making sure everyone went home with a toothbrush and toothpaste. The Community development team would lead teachings on proper hygiene practices; washing hands, brushing teeth with bush materials, waste disposal and more. The primary healthcare team would set up in the village and see an assortment of patients and do what they could to; bandage wounds, give out antibiotics, as well as family planning strategies and vaccines. They even had a team of engineers who would bring all their tools into the village and help fix generators and boat motors. After spending some time documenting what was happening I would make my way around the village to meet new friends and get photos of the village life. This usually included enjoying a cup of tea or coffee and some light snacks, but in this particular village, I made a very interesting friend! His name was John, and he had an assortment of local animals and was very interested in the wildlife around him. As a lover of animals and growing up watching Steve Irwin, I was very intrigued and spent most of my afternoons sharing stories with him at his hut.

In my first visit, he showed me his pet saltwater crocodile, which was kept in a small tank under the hut. I have always dreamed of catching a saltwater crocodile and promptly offered to catch it out of the tank and show it to my friends.

The next exhibit was a young and playful cassowary, only a few months old. He was kept in a small cage or could be found bouncing around the fenced-in property.

Just next to the hut where the family lived was a smaller hut with the next exhibit, a fully grown Cassowary. The Cassowary is a very dangerous and territorial bird that can be found throughout the Pacific. They can reach up to 6 and a half feet tall and weigh over 130 pounds. I was promptly warned not to get to close to any openings in the hut and was told a story of a previous visitor who had their camera lens cracked by this particular bird.

Once done admiring the different animals he had, we went to his porch for a cup of tea. I saw he had some cats, kittens, and dogs running around as well, and as we were chatting away I witnessed something quite unexpected. As the kittens were drinking milk from the mother cat, John’s parakeet jumped down from its post and joined in! Baffled in awe, I stopped whatever we were talking about to point out what I was seeing. He chuckled and told me a story that the parakeet flew onto his porch and stopped flying around the time the kittens were born. The parakeet, curious about this food source, would try to join the kittens at feeding time, John told me. At first, the mother cat would slap the bird away, but eventually folded and let the bird join in. As the photographer, I snapped some shots so people would believe me.

While in this village I was also given a very decorative Bow and set of large engraved Arrows from this man after trading him some fillet knives and other useful tools. After the trade he took me to his hut where he showed me some incredible woven ceremonial tribal artifacts.

Before we sailed away from his village I was able to print off some pictures for him of the snakes in his area, which were venomous and non-venomous, and I was also able to gift him a snake catching hook so he could continue his venture. Just another day in the land of the unexpected.