Lodge Owner slums “sensationalized story” on Kokoda Tourist Attack

A lodge owner has slummed the reports on the recent Kokoda Track tourist attack.  Sogeri Lodge owner Warren Barlett commented on pngfacts.com that the two journalist trekkers walked the Kokoda Trail to write sensational stories and make a fortune out of selling their unfortunate unavoidable incident. 

He said  the two tourists did not take properly guided tour  and also  refused to take advice from the lodge management. 

“The trekkers have only themselves to blame for the incident to have occurred. If they had been part of a properly guided trek, the incident would have been less likely to have occurred”. Barlett said. 

“The British male and US female who walked the Kokoda Trail starting at noon on Friday 8 January, visited the Kokoda Track Authority office in Boroko on Thursday 7 January and obtained a permit to trek Kokoda Trail on the basis that they were accompanied by a licenced tour operator guide and porters. They stayed at Sogeri Lodge on Thursday night and when the Lodge management spoke to them on Friday morning, before they departed, they revealed that they did not require a guide or porters as the man had done wilderness trekking before and did not want the expense of paying for local guides. They had no camping equipment and we offered them two sleeping bags and two small tarpaulins. They had minimum food of snacks and said they would purchase food along the way. 

They expected to sleep in village guest houses, have beds to sleep in and food provided! The lodge management explained to them this was not the case and they would have sleep at basic campsites where they would pay K20 each to the campsite landowner. They had no map of the Kokoda Trail and they could have got lost, like an English trekker did over 10 years ago which created great inconvenience for the British and Australian consulates who bore the cost of the search and rescue.

We explained that it was the wet season, the track would be overgrown in many places and some creeks could be flooded making safe crossing difficult and dangerous without ropes and assistance from the guides and porters (of which they had none). They could also get lost. They had no VHF or satellite phone but a mobile phone which would only work from a very limited number of locations if they had an experienced guide with them” 

Mr. Barlett said the two journalist trekkers walked the Kokoda Trail to write sensational stories and make a fortune out of selling their unfortunate unavoidable incident.  They should be sued for the damage they have done to the PNG trekking industry and reimburse the Governments of PNG, Britain and Australia, including Kokoda Track Authority, for the inconvenience and costs they have caused through their lies and unsafe activities.

Picture source: www.thesun.co.uk