THE KOKODA TRACK IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA – DAY FIVE - SUNDAY 28 MAY 2023

VILLAGES: Efogi 2, Manari, Agulogo

SITES: Efogi War Museum, Mission Hill, Brigade Hill

DISTANCE: 16.7km

UPS & DOWNS: 833m + 1490m = 2323m

ELEAVTION GAIN: 1378m to 733m

TREKKING TIME: 5hrs 37min

ELASPED TIME: 10hrs

AVERAGE SPEED: 3.0km/h

 

It absolutely poured last night. Non-stop. By the time we woke up at 5am there was still light rain and cloud and mist everywhere. Disappointing, since our porters were expecting a blue cloudless morning so that I could send up my drone and get spectacular views of the surrounding valleys and villages through which the Kokoda track cuts. Efogi 2 village is close but it takes a very steep descent down followed by a small rise up to reach it. The town itself is very neat and tidy - most houses are on stilts to avoid the floods and it has a terrific little museum like Aloli but with many more artefacts in it. Efogi is significant because nearby is Mission Hill and Brigade Hill. Mission Hill is the site of the first Seventh Day Adventist mission, which came to PNG in the early 1920s. That mission was also used as a headquarters by the Australians in order to mount the attack at Brigade Hill. Mission Hill is very close to Efogi and Brigade Hill is not too far after. Brigade Hill is the sight of the fiercest battle between the Australians and Japanese, which took place 6-9 September 1942. It is where the Japanese suffered the most deaths and injuries in any single battle of the Kokoda Campaign. 100+ Australians and locals died during that battle and were buried on Brigade Hill with a stick marking their grave. Shortly after World War 2 their bones were moved to the Bomana War Cemetery that we visited on our last day. Our historian Gibson led us in a service dedicated to the memory of the fallen, which you shall see in the film. The low cloud and mist robbed us of the beautiful and spectacular views from Brigade Hill but the mist just created the right mood for the memorial service. The trek to Manari from here is a long and steep - a descent full of mud from the continuous rain the night before. The forest is thick with vegetation almost like a tropical jungle and we realised the only animals here are birds and insects. There are very few land animals here apart from the occasional wild pig. Manari is nestled in a valley on the other side of Brigade Hill and is also a very tidy and neat town. We had lunch in what looked like a public park - full of local people and children. After lunch, I taught all the children the famous bag dance - they picked it up instantly and loved it !!! The trek to Agulogo involved a steep but short uphill climb followed by a very long and muddy and slippery descent and finished off with a very long flat walk through thick forest and a final river crossing up to our waists. Our campsite here was clearly the best - large huts with plenty of space for our mosquito net tents and the rapid running brown river to wash up in. We also had the best kitchen and dining huts - set up with a fantastic fire dedicated to us so that we could dry our clothes. After our fettuccini Napolitana dinner we listened to our two usual choir songs and retired early. It was also warm enough tonight to sleep on top of our sleeping bags instead of inside them. A good day of trekking history and a great camping spot to boot.