Hold-up at Tawali

[billt4sf]

This was posted Jan 3, 2016 on Trip Advisor:

Tawali Resort (Alotau, Papua New Guinea) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor

As resorts go it is paradise! the view is wonderful, the cooks and guides are great BUT there is a sheer lack of security. We planned to be there for a week, but on November 26th, at noon, the resort was held up by 10 armed gunmen, with homemade guns,two of them escaped prisoners from the Alotau jail one pointing his gun at my husbands head and others pointing axes,marchetes and guns on the other two guests that were there. We endured 4 hours of agony as hostages before any help came. Luckily my second mobile was not stolen so I could call for help from the embassies and our travel agent. Money and cell phones were stolen, fuel lines cut at the jetties, folks injured as they were beaten by the rascal intruders. Lots of interrogations and discussions followed by the police and the dept. of tourism, but we have not heard from the Resort management after we left. We are glad that we came out alive. The divers were gone for the day, they came back to a broken and disheveled environment, we had stayed on at the resort choosing to take the village walk that day. The next day we all left to go and stay in town. This is a great diving/snorkling place, BUT good security needs to be put in place.

Room Tip: all rooms have a great view but can be vulnerable to intruders

Tawali R, Director of Sales at Tawali Resort, responded to this review, 4 weeks ago
Thank you for taking to the time to comment.
Our sincerest apologies that you were present during this incident. It was a huge shock to all involved.

For those guests who chose to relocated for the remainder of their stay the Resort Owners' representative immediately flew up to meet with those guests and discuss any concerns they may have. He then travelled on to the Resort to meet with other guests and our staff.

We are very grateful with how quickly the Alotau police responded to our request for help and for their on going assistance. We have been able to provide trauma counselling for our staff to ensure that they feel secure and comfortable continuing to work with us.

The safety and wellbeing of our staff and guest is a high priority for us at Tawali. There has always been security onsite at the Resort. We now have two police who (discretely) remain at the Resort on a full time basis.

If you wish to discuss this incident any further feel free to contact myself sales@tawali.com or the Manager, manager@tawali.com and we will be more than happy to assist you.

 

[WetPup]

As I posted on the thread on the Indo forum...

I don't know what else you can realistically expect the resort to do? They have security at Tawali. All resorts in PNG have security. They are not infallible though. I have been held up multiple times, once in PNG by paramilitary up in the highlands on the way to a minesite (something that is not uncommon, and this is precisely why I always tell people to stay away from the highlands), once in La Paz, and once in Johannesburg.

Travel is not a risk free exercise. You can take all the precautions, and despite all of your efforts, **** still happens. Is it unfortunate? Of course it is. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But given the frequency of these events in PNG is so low, you're at far more risk of being mugged on the subway in NYC before even leaving home.

If this puts you off wanting to travel to PNG, then so be it, I do understand. I just think it's such an isolated incident that it doesn't concern me.

I will be at Tawali in 2 weeks.

Finally...Just remember, the divers didn't get caught up in this - the non-divers who stayed at the resort did. Moral of the story? Go diving.

 

[mmmbelows]

rascal intruders

Really? Rascals? That's a bit of a bizarre description considering the injured and beat people, some people must take beatings and injuries better than others.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Rascals is the term given to PNG gangs who cause various problems. It is certainly well known what this means in Australia.

 

[Wingy]

Rascals or Raskols are a known problem in PNG mainly in Moresby and the Highlands...Tawali and every resort in PNG does the best they can. As Wpup said, if it scares you stay out of PNG. It's not a weekly occurrence and it certainly won't put me off PNG.

 

[mmmbelows]

Rascals is the term given to PNG gangs who cause various problems. It is certainly well known what this means in Australia.

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

 

[billt4sf]

For my part, the issue is whether this is a one-off or a pattern.

If it's a one-off, then as said, you can get hit by a bus crossing down the street.

If it's a pattern, then that's a different matter. I have no information that leads me to believe it is, OTOH I have no information that it's a one-off either.

At this point, we're planning to go in August.

- Bill & Emily

 

[WetPup]

As I have pointed out to others on this forum, this kind of thing is really only a "pattern" in Port Moresby and in the Highlands.

Quick PNG safety induction:

This is why I suggest people make every effort to arrange flights such that they don't require overnight layovers in Port Moresby. Personally I fly in to Port Moresby in the morning and get the lunchtime connecting flight to wherever I'm going. The same on the way home - early morning flight into Port Moresby and then the late afternoon flight home. I never overnight there (flight delays notwithstanding), and with the new international airport terminal renovations finally completed, there is no longer any reason to even leave the airport. We used to go sit at a cafe at a hotel down the road on the way back home because it always ended up being a 5-6 hour layover between flights - and even though the hotel is visible and only about 5-7 minutes walking distance from the airport terminal, we still wouldn't walk it, and would call the hotel's shuttle bus to come get us.

IF, and that's a really big IF, you find that an overnight layover in Port Moresby is unavoidable, you will find that there are very few hotels that people will recommend. And you will find that they are all obscenely priced. This is where all the expats stay - for a reason. I know people balk at the prices (which start at about $350 per night), but it's worth it for your safety. I personally recommend the Airways Hotel - IF absolutely necessary.

When people talk about PNG being "unsafe", they are by and large referring to Port Moresby. I don't disagree with them. Port Moresby has a ~60% unemployment rate. People leave the highlands and move to the city looking for work - when there isn't really much work there. Predictably they turn to crime. Additionally, you need to remember that PNG is still largely a tribal nation, and tribal conflicts that originate "back home" spill into the city when you've got that many people who've relocated there trying to find a job.

To a lesser extent people are referring to the Highlands when they talk about PNG being "unsafe", where the problems are more or less about tribal conflict, and westerners inadvertently get caught up in it rather than being direct targets. Gangs occasionally try to have a go at mine sites operated by foreign companies, but are rarely successful - you don't want to know how much of their budget has to get spent on security. Those who have to go into the Highlands for work will have undergone appropriate training by security experts. But as a diver, you wouldn't be going anywhere near the Highlands in the first place, so please don't worry about it.

 

[baitballer]

This is not the first time this has happened at Tawali, I stayed there about 6 years ago and a few weeks after I left I happened for the first time. The managers who were there at the time left after to go back working as cruise directors on one of the Aggressor boats since they were so shook up about it. I do not know if this is why the original owners/developers sold it but I think it had something to do with it.

I love PNG and have been many times and would go again in a heart beat BUT not back to Tawali since they do seem have a security problem.

 

[billt4sf]

This is not the first time this has happened at Tawali, I stayed there about 6 years ago and a few weeks after I left I happened for the first time. The managers who were there at the time left after to go back working as cruise directors on one of the Aggressor boats since they were so shook up about it. I do not know if this is why the original owners/developers sold it but I think it had something to do with it.

I love PNG and have been many times and would go again in a heart beat BUT not back to Tawali since they do seem have a security problem.

Then where would you go? I will check it out before we make our reservations.

- Bill & Emily