Rabaul
- Once a significant town, and considered the “Pearl of the Pacific”, Rabaul in the east of the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea’s Bismarck Archipelago, was twice destroyed by volcanic eruptions, in 1937 and 1994, and once served as a Japanese military HQ during WWII. While much of the town of Rabaul is now gone, the area still continues to attract tourism, including dark tourists. It is a rather special destination – one that I had planned and actually booked to go to but then the domestic flight service didn’t deliver (see here) and I never made it there because of that. So, sadly, I missed out. But since I had prepared in so much detail and had a cool itinerary, I’m still giving Rabaul the full-length chapter that it definitely deserves!
More background info: The town of Rabaul was founded by Imperial Germany during its colonial stint in the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. What attracted them was primarily the large natural harbour called Simpson Harbour (“Simpsonhafen” in German). This is part of a large volcanic caldera that was partly flooded and provided for an excellent deepwater natural harbour. Sometimes the name Rabaul refers to the entire area around this caldera, not just the town proper.
At the beginning of WW1, Australian and British troops seized Rabaul from the Germans, meeting little resistance. This was the very first military engagement that Australia was involved in during WW1. Like the rest of PNG, Rabaul remained under Australian administration after the war, it even became the capital of the whole of the territory for a while.
But this “Pearl of the Pacific” has some unruly neighbours, namely several active volcanoes that form part of the larger caldera. The most dangerous proved to be Tavurvur and Vulcan, when in 1937 they simultaneously erupted causing much destruction and killing over 500 people. After this the Australian administrators moved the capital city to another location while plans for possibly rebuilding the town of Rabaul were contemplated.
Then WWII got in the way, when early in 1942, less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military of Imperial Japan arrived to take over Rabaul and the surrounding islands (as well as parts of “mainland” PNG) with strong naval landing forces. The Japanese proceeded to turn Rabaul into their main HQ and staging point for their operations in the South Pacific. It became “Fortress Rabaul” and lots of tunnels were dug deep into the volcanic mountain slopes for protection from Allied bombing. Over 100,000 Japanese troops were stationed here at the peak of the occupation.
It was from Rabaul that General Yamamoto, the mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attacks and much revered within the Japanese military, took off in a plane during an inspection tour of the region in April 1943. Unbeknown to him and his crew, American codebreakers had managed to decipher Japanese communications including details of Yamamoto’s flight itinerary. This information was then used in “Operation Vengeance”, for which a squadron of long-range fighter planes (P-38 “Lightnings”) took off from Guadalcanal and managed to shoot down Yamamoto’s planes (Mitsubishi “Bettys”) over the island of Bougainville (see under PNG and also cf. the MacArthur Museum in Brisbane). The killing of Yamamoto was a major turning point in the Pacific theatre of WWII.
When the Allies pushed the Japanese back bit by bit through the Pacific, it was decided not to attempt to capture Rabaul. Instead it was bypassed and hence soon became cut off from supplies. Still, it took until August 1945 for Rabaul to be fully recaptured.
In the post-WWII period Rabaul returned to its former glory, except that the role of capital of PNG was now given to Port Moresby. Yet Rabaul became an important trading post and also a tourist attraction.
And then disaster struck another time in 1994, when Tavurvur and Vulcan blew their tops yet again. By then a forewarning system had been installed, run by the Rabaul Volcano Observatory (RVO). Exact timings of eruptions are notoriously hard to predict, however, so in the end there was less than a 24-hour time window for evacuating the town. Still, most people did manage to get out, which kept the death toll much lower than in 1937, at “only” five fatalities, one of them caused by lightning from Tavurvur’s ash plume. From these mighty ash plumes, formed over the volcanoes up to 20km into the atmosphere, huge amounts of ash and pumice, as well as lava bombs, rained down on Rabaul. Some 80% of the buildings collapsed under the weight of the accumulating volcanic material. Even the natural harbour was for a while largely covered by deposits of pumice.
A fairly good article about the 1994 eruption and its aftermath, featuring many historical photos as well as sliding before-and-after images, can be found here (external link – opens in a new tab).
Almost the entirety of the south-eastern parts of the town was completely destroyed, and later bulldozed over to prevent squatting in the ruins. Only parts of the north-western areas were still inhabitable and people did indeed return and today there are some residences and businesses including port facilities. Apparently about 10 to 12 cruise ships a year come to Rabaul.
However, after the 1994 disaster it was decided not to try to completely rebuild the town of Rabaul – and so the regional capital was moved to Kokopo at a safer location further east and south of the volcanoes. Of these volcanoes, Tavurvur remains active and has had several smaller eruptions since, especially one larger one in 2014. The airport, also destroyed in the volcanic disaster, was likewise not rebuilt but a new one was established east of Kokopo at Tokua.
That’s the airport that in August 2024 my flight to Rabaul was supposed to take me to… but then that never happened due to airline failure – as explained in detail in this section of the general PNG chapter.
So I haven’t managed to see Rabaul with my own eyes, which is a great shame! Ever since I had learned about this place it has been a kind of distant dream destination for me. So when I planned my long 2024 Australia trip with an add-on of Nauru, I also looked into the possibility of adding on a short side trip to Rabaul. And I did indeed find a splendid looking package tour offered by an Australian operator specializing in remote and on-the-edge places (contact me if you want to know the name of the outfit). It was supposed to be quite an intense and comprehensive two-day itinerary, as indicated in the next section. But since the national airline failed to get me there, I missed out. It’s one of my greatest regrets in my whole long travel history. But there was nothing that could be done about it. And whether I’ll now ever make it back to those faraway parts is not especially likely.
What there is to see: I was supposed to see quite a lot over two full days of guided touring. But since, due to airline failure, I did not make it to Rabaul in the end (see above and here), I can only go by the itinerary plan the tour operator had compiled to give an indication and rough overview, without any first-hand experiences to report (and no photos to post either, of course):
The first item on the itinerary would have been a climb of Mt Tavurvur, i.e. the very volcano responsible for the 1994 destruction of most of the town of Rabaul. At only 200-300m high the climb was said to be not too difficult. Along the way some steam vents and hot springs were supposedly to be seen.
The hike was supposed to be followed by a comprehensive tour of the area, including Kokopo (“Herbertshöhe” during the German colonial era – see above) and the Kokopo Museum, which is said to feature a wide range of WWII relics and also covers colonial and natural history. A visit to a historic German cemetery would also have been part of the tour as would have been the war cemetery at Bita Paka, where over a thousand Australian and Allied soldiers are buried. Nearby is the landing site of the first Australian troops to become involved in WWI when they captured the German radio station at Bita Paka.
On the second day, the first port of call would have been the Malmaluan lookout over Rabaul and the caldera, plus a visit to the volcanological observatory (RVO). Then what’s left of the town of Rabaul itself would have been the next item on the itinerary, including a visit to the formerly fabled New Guinea Club, which now houses an exhibition by the Rabaul Historical Society.
A highlight of the tour would have been a visit to General Yamamoto’s HQ bunker, which still features etched ceiling maps, followed by a visit to the tunnels of a Japanese underground hospital. A visit to the Chinese cemetery would have provided an opportunity to learn about the Chinese parts of Rabaul’s history.
What would possibly have been the top highlight of the tour was left for last: a visit to the Japanese barge tunnels at Blanche Bay. These enormous tunnels dug deep into the soft tuff rock were used to shelter landing barges that hauled shipping cargo ashore during the Japanese occupation. And: there are even some such WWII-era barges still in situ inside the tunnels!
It should have been a great two days. It’s such a pity it didn’t work out …
Location: in the easternmost part of New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago of PNG, a ca. two-hour flight east from Port Moresby.
Google Maps locators:
Mt Tavurvur volcano: [-4.2373, 152.2086]
Kokopo War Museum: [-4.3358, 152.2627]
Bita Paka war cemetery: [-4.4072, 152.2993]
RVO and lookout: [-4.1910, 152.1636]
New Guinea Club & General Yamamoto’s bunker: [-4.2037, 152.1814]
Japanese underground hospital: [-4.2823, 152.1551]
Japanese barge tunnels: [-4.2845, 152.1533]
Tokua airport: [-4.3428, 152.3769]
Access and costs: ideally by guided tour package; quite expensive.
Details: Unless you have your own boat or come as part of a cruise, flying in from Port Moresby is the only way of getting here … if the flights go, that is, which in my case they didn’t (see above and here).
The package I had booked (see above for itinerary details) would have included one overnight stay at an airport hotel in Port Moresby, three nights’ B&B accommodation at a nice resort near Kokopo, two days’ full-day private guided touring with an English-speaking guide and private vehicle, all entry fees, all transfers and domestic flights between Port Moresby and Rabaul. The total price for the package was just under 4300 AUD (ca. 2700 EUR) per person – excluding international flights from Brisbane to Port Moresby and back. So not exactly cheap, especially when the main destination isn’t even reached and travel insurance refuses to cover any of the losses (see details here). This was the biggest loss of money in my entire travel history.
Time required: My tour would have included an overnight stay in Port Moresby before the flight and then three nights, and two full days touring in the Rabaul area. Since both days would have featured fully packed itineraries I would say that amount of time is the bare minimum. If you want a more leisurely experience, add more nights – also as a buffer in case the airline keeps failing (see here) …
Combinations with other dark destinations: The closest other dark place would be the island of Bougainville further to the east, but that’s not yet a regularly (and safely) reachable tourist destination (although there are a couple of companies who now venture out there – but it requires lots of security and is adventurous and volatile).
Combinations with non-dark destinations: The resort near Kokopo that we were supposed to stay at as part of the tour that never happened due to airline failure (see here) looked very inviting on the photos I found online. Some of the food looked stunning, especially the seafood delivered by local fishermen straight from the waters that the resort overlooks.
If you prefer your fish and seafood alive, you can go on snorkelling and/or diving tours that the resort (and various local businesses) offer. Those who like catching their own fish can do so on spearfishing trips. A more peaceful activity on offer is swimming with local wild dolphins.
See also under PNG in general.