Port Moresby Nature Park

Park launches Snakeastic program

The event was launched yesterday. It also includes a partnership with Capital Insurance Group Limited and Theodist.

‘Snaketastic’ is a month-long snake conservation and snakebite awareness event aimed at clearing any myths that circulate about snakes, addressing common fears of snakes, and profiling their importance in the ecosystem.

Sharing his thoughts on the importance of the event, SJA CEO Matt Cannon said snakes and humans share the environment.

“Normally snakes have no interest in humans but sometimes we come across them in our day-to-day lives,” Cannon said.

Successful Easter Celebration

Families and communities from the region came together to take part in a range of fun-filled activities, including an Easter Egg Hunt, plant sale, and free eggs for children who visited the Park.

Winners of the Egg Hunt were awarded two tickets to anywhere in PNG courtesy of PNG Air and two twin-share rooms at the Hilton Hotel in Port Moresby.

The Park’s CEO Dr. Adrian Fowler said that the Easter Long Weekend is a time for quality family bonding, and whichever way families choose to observe it, as long as it is done with joy and harmony.

Puma Fuels Park's Operations

In its goal of being a leader in supplying Papua New Guinea’s growing economy with a reliable source of fuel and lubricants, similarly, Puma Energy’s support to the Park ensures that the Park’s gensets are fueled monthly as well as ensuring general upkeep of the facility through this new partnership for a one-year period.

With the recent rise in the cost of fuel, the support received from Puma Energy PNG Ltd is timely and very much needed to maintain a large facility such as the Port Moresby Nature Park.

New truck for Park

The donated truck will especially assist Nature Park’s grounds and maintenance teams in its daily upkeep of the Park. 

The Park’s Interim CEO, Kelsey Engle, expressed great thanks to the Management of Ela Motors PNG.

“We are truly grateful for this donation and thank Ela Motors for the wonderful support in helping our team maintain the Park through this donated truck,” said Kelsey.

Park supports global research

The data recorded by Port Moresby Nature Park in the Species360 Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) enabled researchers to discover that, unlike humans and other species, turtles and tortoises defy common evolutionary theories and may reduce the rate of aging in response to improvements in environmental conditions. 

Evolutionary theories of aging predict that all living organisms weaken and deteriorate with age (a process known as senescence) – and eventually die.

Sculpture Festival Educates

This has so far seen three weekends of classic displays of sculpture created from items that would have been discarded, trash.  

Team BSP was on site at the Park over the weekend (18th-19th June), assisting customers to open accounts, and coordinating various children’s activities. 

BSP’s Public Relations and Communications Manager, Lavinia Mul said, “From this activities we’ve got accounting opening, we’ve got kids bouncy castle where kids come to play, coloring competitions here kids get to color and then they redeem some prizes for themselves.”

Themed Week Program Educates 6000 Students

The themed week programs are the biggest activities for the Park’s Education program, seeing thousands of students visit the Park every week to learn about various environmental topics.

The most recent program, ‘Environment & Me’ focused on plastic pollution and saw students from as far as the Motuan coastline participate. 

Park shares Tree4Life inistiative with schools

The response has been encouraging and the team has gone out to various schools and supporting corporate houses, planting 1,009 trees for World Environment Day on June 5, 2022. 

Port Moresby Nature Park’s horticulture team, with the supervision of its Team Leader Junior Muli, managed to successfully carry out tree planting activities throughout the week to five schools and two business houses. 

“Schools are always chosen for this particular program with the view that children are the future of the nation,” said Muli. 

Rescue centre underway for Park

Once completed, the K400,000 Tree Kangaroo Rescue and Breeding Centre will house up to eighteen individual, in addition to the thirteen tree kangaroos that already call the Nature Park home.

The Nature Park currently houses three different species of tree kangaroos including the endangered Matchies, Goodfellows and the vulnerable Doria’s Tree Kangaroo. The new tree kangaroo rescue centre would enable the Nature Park to house other species in the future.

Park prepares for Trash to Treasure Fest

The support is extended to the park’s team of volunteers who tirelessly put the sculptures together each year for the annual event.

Goodman Fielder PNG’s Brand Manager, Nancy Inai and Promotions Manager, Xenia Peni presented the donation to the Port Moresby Nature Park team and its volunteers last Friday 27 May.

Receiving the donation was Port Moresby Nature Park’s Interim CEO, Kelsey Engle.