Papua Highlands 8 The trail was wet

Then we headed down the steep slope, and slippery and difficult it certainly was. The trail was still wet and with lots of loose rocks with a steep grade. It was a constant balancing act as you skidded down the trail. Penius actually outpaced me a bit here for once as he deftly made his way down with naught but flip-flops. I had my trail shoes.
We got to the bottom past some more traditional homes to a rickety looking bridge. It did use steel cables but the supports holding the cables were random tree branches/trunks propped up. Quantity over quality. Many of the boards were rotting and already broken through. Thankfully however there was a cable thorough the middle and the sides as well as hand rails.
After having reached the bottom, inevitably we had to go back up the other side of the valley (from top to bottom is about 800m elevation). So back up we went as the heat was in full force pounding on us. Vegetation was scarce and resembled a dry meadow and shade 

or a breeze were occasional.
Ralf Kreuze

(to be continued)