- This topic has 15,356 voices and 23 replies.
- Posts
hi
i'm walking kokoda in late september and heard the toilets are really bad and that at some point your going to get "the runs"is any of this true?
and is it worse for females or males?thanks
yes, the toilets are awful, only a few have seats, and then you wouldn't sit on them. the rest are sqat holes in the ground. The smell defies description.
Hygene isn't the natives strong point! I took plenty of anti-bacterial wipes, and the detol hand wash that you don't need water with. I have since found in the travel shop, disposable anti-bacterial toilet seat covers, and although there are not many you can use these on, the few you can, I would. As for the runs, if you are careful, use the detol hand wash before eating and after, only drink clean water, and take some 'lomotal' (from the chemist) with you, you should be right. A bit of vicks under the nose helps!
I am going back in 2010 and this is one aspect of the track I am not looking forward to.Hi Dani,
Yes the toilets are very bad and would be more difficult for females. Provided all your group exercise basic hygeine there should be no risk of the "runs". Our party of 21 had no such problems.
You query has prompted me to expand on a aspect that has concerned me since I started viewing this forum 12 months ago.
It appears to me,(I would love to be corrected) from queries raised in this forum , that trekking Kokoda will be for many, their very first experience of overnight hiking. Someone embarking upon walking Kokoda without some overnight hiking experience ,as a minimum in the Australian outdoors, is very much running the risk of failing to complete the track and/or make what is otherwise a wonderful experience most uncomfortable.
I have emphasised in some of my past posts the absolute necessity for all such persons to include overnight hiking in their track preparation. If this advice is followed, the tioleting experience on the Kokoda Track will be bearable.
It is my strong view that all trekking companies should insist upon this as a minimum requirement from all intending trekkers, not just advice on the preparation needed. We are however all adults and ultimely must be responsible for our own decisions.
Best wishes for your preparation and I do hope your experience will be as memorable as our crossing in August last.Cheers, Geoff Hardie
Hi Dani and others
I have been bush camping on and off most of my life but the "Toilets" on Kokoda would appear to be worse than anything that I have experienced in the past but all a learning experience and like others before us who are still alive and kicking I am sure that we will manage.
I am going for 13 days 9 walking and 3 after at Kokoda in September and am really looking forward to it, at 70 it will be one of the great expereinces of my life I hope that it is also yours.
Fortunately I have not found any similar toilets here to "train" on although some of those "Pit" ones around some camping locations must come close as far as the smell is concerned, get in and out in one hell of a hurry.
Enjoy Kokoda
BrianLol – Yep, the facilities are pretty shocking on the trek. The gag factor is high.
Doubtful you will get the runs though.
Pictures are worth a thousand words………..
Owers___Corner__Small_.jpg
Village_Toilet__Small_.jpg
Village_Toilet_2__Small_.jpg
Village_Toilet_3__Small_.jpg
lovely pictures
Thanks for the pictures it's hard to think of "the worlds worst toilets" (as some would put it) when in Australia hygiene is a big thing.
and i thought public toilets where badthanks to all.
QUOTE(39thdecendant @ 27 Jun 2008, 10:16 AM) [snapback]7111[/snapback]yes, the toilets are awful, only a few have seats, and then you wouldn't sit on them. the rest are sqat holes in the ground. The smell defies description.
Hygene isn't the natives strong point! I took plenty of anti-bacterial wipes, and the detol hand wash that you don't need water with. I have since found in the travel shop, disposable anti-bacterial toilet seat covers, and although there are not many you can use these on, the few you can, I would. As for the runs, if you are careful, use the detol hand wash before eating and after, only drink clean water, and take some 'lomotal' (from the chemist) with you, you should be right. A bit of vicks under the nose helps! I am going back in 2010 and this is one aspect of the track I am not looking forward to.so you think it is the responsibility of 'the natives', as you put it, to keep a clean toilet for you on your trek? maybe you could ask yourself who made the mess in the toilets? maybe you could ask yourself how much the company you trek with, puts back into the resource it charges you to access. i.e maintaining the said toilets. i find it sad that 'the natives' are forced to live the way they do, due to the corruption that exists within the governments that are involved, with the development of PNG's natural resources.
btw,,, well said KarenT.Yeah the toilets are all part of the experience.. i got the runs for 3 days on it.. not much fun… The toilets should be the last thing you worry about!
Introducing our 'new toilet' at our camp 'Orohaven' in Kokoda…it flushes and has a wash basin!
Flushing_Toilet_Orohaven_Kokoda_Retreat.jpgI didn't think the toilets were THAT bad. I took several packs of anti-bacterial wipes which I bought in Coles. I used these instead of toilet paper, and if I felt I had to sit on an unclean seat, I cleaned it thoroughly with my wipes first. I did not suffer any problems.
We all agreed that the pit toilets were preferable. Smell was not good, but no worse than many toilets at camping grounds in Australia.
However the thing that bothered me most about the toilets was walking up the hill to them at 3:00am in my crocs! (They are invariable built on the sides of steep hills).
Yep….the toilets are bad, but nothing that a big inhalation before you get in there – and a quick visit can't fix. I know it is bad practice but try to go only once you know you are ready to go as they are not a place you want to hang around in (of course you need to assess how far (and how slippery) the trip to the toilet is and factor that into your time to get there 🙂
Nothing you won't be able to handle and neither myself nor my best friend (we are both girls) got the runs at all. BUT…take your stoppers with you just in case !!
Have a blast – it is an amazing trip and from someone who was freaking out before I went…..I can't wait to go again !!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.