Tregaron author Ian Tillotson’s latest book chronicles his times in Papua New Guinea.

Ian is well-known to Cambrian News readers, having read about his previous publications such as Any Bus in a Storm and Ten Thousand Miles for Rosy, From Minsk to the Sea of Japan.

Turning his attention to his latest book, Let’s Go 2 The BOP, he said: “For lovers of wildlife, and in particular those with a passion for birdwatching, the vast island of New Guinea, with its birds of paradise, its evolutionary eccentricities, and the mysterious quality of the unknown, is the ultimate destination.

“For budget travellers, Papua New Guinea, in the eastern half of the island, imposes an intolerable burden upon a limited piggy bank. The Indonesian territory of West Papua occupies the other half of New Guinea Island, and it was a tentative enquiry that drew our small but intrepid band of wanderers in that direction.

“Perchance, our contact was not a mere provider of spectacle for air conditioned whirrs and clicks, but a naturalist and conservationist who had dedicated his life and endeavour to the future of the wildlife and the indigenous people of his adopted West Papua.

“That simple tentative enquiry quickly evolved into a journey along untrodden paths, among unfamiliar wildlife and birds of this unique paradise, into indigenous communities where none had gone before, and where the most generous and lovely people on the planet made us welcome and permitted us an equal share of their daily way of life.

“So rewarding had been this experience that we vowed, and promised a second visit, if time and opportunity should permit. Twelve years later we fulfilled that promise and made our return, perhaps in the naïve expectation that our visit locations would have remained as we had left them. Inevitably they had not.

“Intrusion and incursion in the ever-present quest for the wealth of natural resources had imposed a destructive evolution from which there could be no return.

“The people were no less welcoming. Those that remembered our earlier visit were overcome by emotion. They remained the most generous and loveliest people on the planet, and though their absorption into the destructive benefits of another world had become clearly apparent, the kindness and hospitality that accompanied our visits will remain in memory for so long as memory prevails.

“Let’s Go 2 The BOP chronicles both of these adventures. They were unique and can never be repeated.”