We have visited a village called Menebonbon outside of Kokopo.
The village is 45 minuets away from kokopo on the hill side towards the tip of Gazelle Peninsula and have living with substitant agriculture with Copra/Cacao as cash crop.
When we visited, villagers were busy cutting the Copra (dried Coconut). The cut Copra is dried in an oven in the village and later sold to the Copra factory in town before being exported to overseas.
After the "factory inspection", we have moved to a nearby house. The ladies were already preparing the today's lunch called "Aigir."
Aigir is traditional dish in Rabaul area and it is similar to the "Mumu" in a way that they use heated stone for steaming the food, but it is unique in its own way and ingredients.
The biggest difference from Highlands "Mumu" is Aigir use full of Coconut Milk.
Heated stones are placed on top of the Banana leaves and coconut milk is boiling up.
Then you add Taro, Chicken, Aibika, etc... and cover it up with the Banana leaves.
After 30 minutes or so, delicious Aigir is done !!
Sweet taste of Coconut milk is absorbed in all the ingredients and all I could say was "Oh, its beautiful !"
The village is situated on the hill looking down Warangoi Bay (on the other side on Tokua Airport) and blessed with nature. When I carefully look around, I could see Avocado, Paw paw, Cacao, Star Fruit, Coconut... everything was there.
Village visit experience is something you should not miss in Papua New Guinea, and I can say that Menebonbon is one of the "secret treasures" of Rabaul/Kokopo.
