09/05/2025
EPISODE 1: “The Green Playground - Moitaka Wildlife Research Centre”
Dedicated to Mr. John Genolagani ❤️
In the heart of Papua New Guinea, where the sun is mostly hot, sudden rainfall occurs and the air sings with birdsong, my story begins.
It was 2002. I was five years old and my playground? The legendary Old Moitaka Wildlife Research Centre.
They say some children grow up in parks. I grew up in a conservation sanctuary, a green area of wild magic, The Old Moitaka Wildlife Research Centre was located in Moitaka, a semi-rural area on the outskirts of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Every corner of Moitaka was alive - wallabies hopping under the trees, birds of paradise dancing in the canopy, crocodiles sunbathing under the careful watch of their handlers.
And there I was… A curious little girl in a sunhat or my Dad’s oversized cowboy hat, forever wandering behind the footsteps of the man I called Dad, Mr. John Genolagani, then the Senior Ecologist Officer.
I didn’t know how to sit still. I wasn’t supposed to touch the snakes… but I did - with a ranger nearby, of course. I wasn’t part of the team… but in my heart, I already was.
Oh, and the crocodile shows those were the highlight of my little world. The crowds cheered. I watched with wide eyes as the handlers coaxed these ancient giants out of the water.
Sometimes, I’d go missing during research walks causing panic. But I wasn’t lost... not really. I was exploring. Learning. Smelling the earth, listening to calls of birds, counting lizards on the rocks.
Moitaka was more than just land. It was living science breeding programs for bird species, snakes, lizards, fish, possums, wallabies, tree kangaroos, rabbits, goats and even bandicoots.
A home for Papua New Guinea’s rarest and most curious creatures.
I remember the hardworking-dedicated officers with their wonderful families under the Department of Environment and Conservation, once buzzing inside the Somare Foundation Building, a building now condemned but forever imprinted in my memory as the heart of PNG’s wildlife conservation.
We didn’t have access to internet. Just Konica film cameras and handheld recorders. And love, so much love from the park rangers, the aunties and uncles of Moitaka, who I still call by those names today.
They taught me more than taxonomy and scientific names I could never pronounce they taught me passion. Patience. Respect for nature and all.
Today, as I flip through faded family photos, my heart breaks a little seeing the faces of those no longer with us. But their legacy lives on…
In every bird call I still recognize…
In the smell of eucalyptus bark and sun-warmed soil…
And most of all, in the beating heart of a daughter who once followed her father around a wildlife research centre… hoping to be just like him.
This first episode is dedicated to you, Dad, Mr. John Genolagani.
Mentor. Conservationist.
And the first person who showed me that adventure and science can live side by side.
“To adventure, to conservation, and to Moitaka Wildlife Research Center - my childhood sanctuary.” 💁🏻♀️
