This year marks the 80th anniversary of the fighting on the Kokoda Track, Milne Bay and the Northern Beachheads. 2022 should be one of the busiest years on record for Australians trekking Kokoda and visiting the Papuan battlefields. However, the return has been slow. While COVID has a large role to play, the biggest crisis facing tourism to PNG, including the Kokoda Track, comes from within.

Shortly after the reopening of international borders, a sigh of relief could be heard throughout PNG and Australia. Trekking would return and with it employment, not just for Australian trekking companies, but for the many guides, porters and villagers living along the Kokoda corridor, all of whom derive the much needed income that is brought into PNG by the tourism industry. Unfortunately, jealously, ego and self-entitlement has thrown a curveball at what should have been a windfall for all involved, including Australians wanting to make the pilgrimage to Kokoda.

Most readers will be familiar with the iconic yet outdated movie-Crocodile Dundee. The main protagonist, Mick Dundee bumbled his way through the concrete jungles of New York, wearing an Akubra hat adorned with crocodile teeth as he spun loose yarns about the Aussie Outback, all the time cracking cringeworthy jokes about the size of his knife. Three decades on surely this parody of Australia has been relegated to the annals of history.

However, it is very much alive in the jungles of PNG. One man still dons the crocodile tooth Akubra, carries a large knife, and never lets the truth get in the way of a good yarn. Charlie Lynn of Adventure Kokoda, styles himself on what seems to be a real-life version of Mick Dundee. He also fashions the uniform of his porters and guides in the red and black colours of police uniforms from the bygone Kiap era. This allegory is not lost on an astute observer. Charlie is still casting his watchful eye over the people of the Kokoda Track; he is still the colonial master-well at least in his own mind. 

Charlie recently made some astonishing claims as he played politics with the livelihoods of the people and landowners of the Kokoda Track. He openly stirs the pot by claiming that the resumption of trekking over the Anzac period in 2022 was unsafe. Here is a direct quote from Charlie:

'...no camp sites or toilets set up, the track had not been cleared, making it unsafe for visitors, and there was no rescue helicopter available nearby'.

Charlie has a long list of issues with the management of the Kokoda Track. You only have to read his blog posts to clearly see he is not happy with the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) and the Kokoda Initiative (KI). Charlie has disregarded the investment and commitment of the Kokoda Trek Operators Association (KTOA). KTOA sent two of their members, Mick O'Malley and our very own David Howell, to PNG. They trekked Kokoda, spoke to the local landowners, spoke to the helicopter companies then reported back to both the KTA and the KI so that the Kokoda Track was ready for the Anzac period. 

Not content with issues of safety, Charlie has also been stirring up trouble over the perception of non-compliance of Australian trekking companies. Stating that all Australian companies need to be foreign certified. He also claimed Kokoda Historical was operating illegally over the Anzac period. What Charlie did not consider is Australian trekking companies can partner with PNG owned and operated businesses in order to be licensed an operate legally on the Kokoda Track. Such is what we have done. But again let's not let the truth get in the way of a good yarn.

Charlie even went so far as to blame the recent track closer at Kovello on non-compliance of Australian trekking companies. Charlie also made the false connection that the closer was about a draft bill going before the PNG parliament, over the management of the Kokoda area. He even singled out the DFTA Strategic Management Advisor, Mark Nizette MBE, as being the author. Mark Nizette has stated categorically he is not the author, yet Charlie still persisted with the writing the following:

'The only person with the incentive to hijack the word ‘Kokoda’ to drive an environmental agenda far beyond the Trail as a career enhancing opportunity is Mark Nizette.

The blockade at Kovello was actually about local villagers not receiving their Ward payments from their elected officials. David Howell of Kokoda Historical and other Australian trek operators such as Mick O'Malley, Wayne Fitcher all went on the record trying to stop the misinformation of Charlie Lynn. You can listen to one one of the interviews on this topic given by David Howell by clicking here

Just like Mark Nizette, anyone who disagrees with or gets in the way of Charlie Lynn's narrative will have to deal with Charlie's abuse. When David cornered him on his misinformation, Charlie attacked David's military service. The above posts is what Charlie thinks about peacekeeping operations in the Solomon Islands and service in the Army Reserve.

However, hope is not lost. Positivity and the truth will drown out the likes of Lynn and tourism will continue to flourish in PNG.