By Aloysius Laukai

More than 50 American Tourists visited PORORAN island in North Bougainville aboard the Tourist vessel OCEANIC DISCOVERER (7  March) .

This was the first time for a Tourist boat to visit the island which is on the North West Coast of Buka island and surrounded by other smaller islands.

Since the end of the conflict Tourist boats have  been visiting Bougainville since 2009 and the number of vessels have increased.

The Oceanic Discoverer  berthed just off the main Pororan island and tourists had to get on a smaller ferry to take them about five minutes boat ride to the island where the whole village including those from nearby YAPARU and YITOU villages were waiting with displays of both sea shells, artifacts and dancing and singing.

Tour Organizer LAWRENCE BELLEH was very happy that his people had done well to welcome the visitors and this included ground preparation to prepare the village for the visitors.BELLEH said that he was satisfied that the people of Pororan had created history by getting a tourist boat to their island and that the team leader on the vessel had promised that PORORAN would be included ss one of their destinations in the future.

According to the visitors who were Americans this was their first time in the South Pacific and that they really enjoyed coming to Bougainville.

The Oceanic Explorer  arrived at Pororan island just after 11 am yesterday and left Pororan after 9pm last night which is also one of the longest visits by a Tourist boat to Bougainville so far.

Other Boats that have visited Bougainville are Clipper Odyssey and the Orion.

A TV Crew from the PNG TV Station EMTV flew in from Port Moresby to cover the visit for their weekly TOK PIKSA program.

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