Port Moresby Nature Park

The donation followed WWF’s participation at World Wildlife Day, which was held at the Nature Park in March with over 1,400 visitors attending the event.

Port Moresby Nature Park’s general manager, Michelle McGeorge, said: “Port Moresby Nature Park is committed to public education and conservation of PNG’s natural environment.

The event will be hosted in partnership with the National Cultural Commission, the National Museum and Art Gallery and the National Agricultural and Research Institute.

This will be the first time these organisations have all come together to showcase the connection of Papua New Guinean culture with plants and animals, whilst highlighting the diversity of cultures in PNG and the role that traditional cultural practices have and can play in species conservation.

Nature Park general manager Michelle McGeorge said they aim to showcase the park as the window to Papua New Guinea.

McGeorge stated that the park has a lot to offer in terms of PNG’s native flora and fauna and they plan to showcase these to the world through the business visitors.

Port Moresby has a high number of business travellers every year. They would like to encourage the business houses to bring their visitors who come for business conferences and meetings to make appointments to visit the park.

Tourism Minister Tobias Kulang did the ground breaking ceremony today for construction to commence.

The event was witnessed by chief executive officer of Tourism Promotion Authority Jerry Agus, few visitors at the park and PNP staff.

The picnic village will feature traditional houses from the various provinces that are significant including the famous Trobriand yam house, round house from the Highlands, tree house of Koiari and haus Tambaran from the Sepik region.

Coinciding with World Environment Day, students and teachers were taken through an ‘Environmental Journey’ where stations were set up within the Park focusing on water savings, waste reduction, clean energy usage and impacts of climate change. 

The event highlights practical steps that students can make in their own lives in order to help save the environment.

The program came to and end last Friday

Each class that participated were also given books to take back to their library, books donated by Buk Bilong Pikinini for the Environment Day Celebrations.

The Nature Park was launched on this day back in 2012 by the NCDC, with the vision of becoming PNG’s premier recreational attraction.

It took over the site that was previously run by the National Botanical Gardens.

Since opening, a number of major infrastructural changes have occurred, including building a new entry, café and souvenir shop, refurbishing a number of animal exhibit and building a number of new exhibits for animals, introducing multiple cultural displays and most recently, completing a new toilet block and building of new footpaths.

The Summit brought together representatives of government, traditional landowner groups, conservation organizations, and zoological institutions from PNG and around the world

Discussed was the plight of endangered tree kangaroos and work towards their conservation and awareness.

Participants from the summit said that tree kangaroos are the perfect ambassadors and symbol for conservation in Papua New Guinea due to their profile worldwide.

More than 50 delegates visited the park over the weekend giving ABAC dignitaries the chance to experience the uniqueness of PNGs finest flora and fauna.

The delegates were taken on a tour around the park and also had up-close encounters with the animals.

General Manager of the Nature Park, Michelle McGeorge said it was an honour to be able to show the delegates the bio-diversity of PNG’s plants and animals.

She said many of the delegates were fascinated about the different plants and animals that can be found in PNG.

General Manager of  Nature Park, Michelle McGeorge thanked SPAC for their continued support towards the development of the Park.

“As a non-profit organisation, the park continues to rely on generous organisations for their support towards building a bigger better Zoological, Recreational and Educational-based Park for all,” said McGeorge.

She added that the service, professionalism, and support from SPAC over the years had been wonderful.

The program is designed to keep kids busy and active during the school holiday period. It will run from April 19-20.

Education Supervisor, Amos Babaga said the program is for children aged 7-16 years and will be run in two groups,  one for ages 7-11yrs and the other for ages 12-16 years.

He said the aim of the program is to teach children what it takes to run a conservation-based recreational facility.

He said this will see activities such as behind the scene tours, learning about the Parks conservation programs as well as other fun games and craft activities.