The Port Moresby Adventure Park and War Cemetery not your typical tourist attraction that people expect to see when visiting Papua New Guinea. In recent times, the countries infrastructure is starting to improve. This means locals now have access to malls, bowling alleys, movie theatres and now an adventure park.
Port Moresby Adventure Park
The Port Moresby Adventure Park is split into two sections: wildlife viewing and a botanical garden. Truthfully, I didn’t bother visiting the botanical garden side because my friend said it’s only for people that likes looking at flowers. So we decided to spend majority of our time exploring the wildlife habitat in the park.
Random ferris wheel in the Port Moresby Adventure Park
One surprising thing about the park is how the animals are roaming free! Instead of cages, many wildlife are wandering around in the open.
The vast majority of the animals in the park were the many specifies of tree Kangaroos. It was neat seeing all the different specifies living in Papua New Guinea.
I also checked out the bird sanctuary and even accidentally entered one of the enclosures we weren’t suppose to enter (which my friend and I got kicked out from).
We also took the chance to explore the park itself after checking out the wildlife. The Port Moresby Adventure Park is also an inexpensive (entrance fee is 20 Kina or $8.50 CAD) place for locals to bring their friends and families to have picnics and a relaxing afternoon. There are many barbecue pits, picnic tables and open areas to play frisbee or football. For kids, they can look at the many dinosaur statues and random constructs that populate the place.
After spending sometime in the Port Moresby Adventure Park, it’s time to say goodbye.
Port Moresby War Cemetery
My friend Daniel and I head over to the war cemetery after visiting the Port Moresby Adventure Park. Here, many soldiers who died in World War 2 are buried. The vast majority of the soldiers buried here are Australians but there are also some Americans, Indians, local Papua New Guineans and Europeans.
Walking around the cemetery truly brings to reality the horror of wars. We hear about statistics of the number of people that lost their lives during World War 2; but, it is not the same as seeing the number of tombstones right in front of you. This really gave me a chilling perspective of the number of lives lost during a terrible time in human history.
The Australian government is actually funding the cemetery and they’ve done a great job keeping it well-kept to honour the brave soldiers.
If you ever visit Port Moresby, do spend a day to visit both the Adventure Park and War Cemetery. This will give you a small glimpse of Papua New Guinea. Enjoy your stay in this amazing country and I personally look forward to coming back again in the future!
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5 thoughts on “Papua New Guinea: Visiting the Port Moresby Adventure Park and War Cemetery”
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What other interesting things to do and see there apart from Port Moresby to go back to or wotrh exploring? Just curious since you have a local friend for info.
Tons! You can go to the highlands to do some trekking and visit the highland tribes. You can go to the city of Rabaul to see half the city destroyed by a volcanic eruption. The city allows you to visit nearby volcanoes and go on dives to see World War 2 wreckage.
When I go back, those would the areas I would like to see. I’m sure there’s more but those were what my friend’s family told me that is a must see in Papua New Guinea.
If you ever want to go there, I can connect you with my friend, he rents his rooms for quite cheap on Air Bnb and they include airport pickup and can even help you arrange how to go to the highlands or Rabaul.
I’ll be writing about it in a future article but in general, you want to stay in an Air BnB your first few nights in Papua New Guinea because your host will be able to help you go to all the must see places. (hotels in Port Moresby are also ridiculously expensive compared to Air Bnbs)
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