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Yesterday I heard the story about two swedish backpackers a man and a woman who headed out by themselves on the Kokoda Trail. They may have hired a local guide but did not walk through a registered trekking company.
The end result…the woman developed hip problems and wanted to be airlifted off….but who….who can take care of this as they were not the responsibility of any company.
So who did they contact via a two way radio in a village….you probably guessed it, the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA).
It is not the job of KTA to airlift you off the trail, they are the police of the trail, its up to us, people like ourselves to do the groundwork to have you flown out, this is after all part of where your money goes. If anything goes wrong you rely on our experience and know how to do whatever it takes to get you back into town quickly and as safely as possible. Turned out she had travel insurance but it was a swedish policy and the helicopter wanted a credit card or cash.
Are you all waiting to hear the end result…..nothing was done and the pair had to turn around and struggle back into Port Moresby. I believe the female has since returned home and the male in question flew out to Kokoda this time round and is out there at the moment trying to complete the track.
At the moment it is the wet season and its blowing a gale on the trail and houses have been blown down and homes have suffered damage, trees falling down and so on.
The cyclist from England is also on the Kokoda Trail at the moment in the hands of John Derrick Eroro and Tom. John has trekked over 400 times before in all kinds of weather so I am quite relaxed in the knowledge that he will keep him as safe as possible….but can you imagine being out there without any experienced person in these conditions with you?
Food for thought, in case you too are planning to walk on your own without going through a trekking company. We are not selling ourselves here, just plain common sense. If you want to save money and trek by yourselves, make sure you have a plan and have someone back in Port Moresby who can send a helicopter to pick you up if the need arose. Remember your mobile phones do not work on the trail and you only have two way radios to communicate, that is if you have one. If you havent you have to make it to a village where one is situated that is working.
If not, and you have only paid for one guide, he would have to leave you there to go and get help. How could he then communicate to the level required to get you off the trail. Most of them would simply run off coz it would get all too hard for them.
The moral of the story is to walk with a recognised trekking company whose job it is to take care of anything that could go wrong. It is their responsibility to make sure your needs are taken care of not the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA).
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