Finding Perfect Waves In Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, a country marked by dense jungles, perfect waves, and tribal violence, medevac pilot Mark Palm tries to balance lifesaving with a fanatical surfing life.

- Kimball Taylor

From the sky above, the water of Papua New Guinea’s Chambri Lakes took on the dark translucence of black tea even as the winds of an approaching storm whipped its surface into a thousand wakes. This deceivingly rough water complicated the landing for pilot Mark Palm. A wheeled plane is governed “strictly by wind,” he said, but the pilot of a seaplane has to consider the velocity of river and ocean currents, the possibility of submerged objects, as well as changing surface conditions. Wind shear, water in the sky, water below—this particular flight already brought on the feeling of bobbing in a violent eddy. But now conditions on the “ground” proved problematic too.

“I have to dip down and make sure it’s not too rough,” Palm said, banking the plane into a low loop over the lake. If a safe landing were not possible, we would be forced to return to the coast. And this would come as unwelcome news for the patient in the village who was, at that moment, in desperate need of medical airlift.

As Palm brought the float plane level over the lake, I noticed 50 to 60 villagers gathered on the shore. Behind them, their thatch homes perched on stilts. Beyond the village, a green hill rose into a conical jungle peak. This feature dwarfed the settlement, making man’s mark on the landscape seem that much smaller. I couldn’t hear anything above the roar of the engine, but the waiting crowd exuded a stillness I took for silence.