Indava and Ropen of Papua New Guinea

A new name, for what investigators believe is the same kind of giant flying creature called “ropen”

on Umboi Island, is “indava.” A colony of the apparent-pterosaurs is near a remote Village, north-by-northwest of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: an almost inaccessible location in the mainland interior. (expeditions: November of 2006 and March of 2007)

Paul Nation, one of the pioneer American ropen investigators, was guided to the remote area by Jacob Kepas and the local villagers. They watched for night after night as the glowing creatures flew to and from their caves or cliff resting-spots.

One of Paul’s seven sightings was of two indavas above the Village; he was able to videotape the creatures for a few seconds. Although the resulting image shows no form, it documents the intense bioluminescence of the creatures. The villagers confirmed that what Paul saw were the indavas.

The general pattern of the movements of most of the lights was consistant with flying creatures that keep just above the forest canopy. Indavas leave for the coast early in the evening and return to the remote inland areas before sunrise, according to the local natives.

Unlike individualistic Umboi Island ropens, the indavas, at times, fly in small groups. But how does the indava resemble the ropen? In the (glow of) bioluminescence, at least in some aspects. And both creatures appear to be "living fossils" like the Coelacanth fish.

For news about these pterodactyl-like creatures on the mainland of Papua New Guinea, see the "news" page of the site "Pterosaurs Still Living."

What a marvelous discovery! What a marvelous opportunity for more discoveries!

Both ropens and indavas appear to fly to and from a coast, or reef, apparently to feed at night. Both have solid reputations for living in “caves.” Both are said to be large, some extremely large.

The indava is said to have carried away the villagers’ animals and children in the past (no recent tragedies, though). This resembles the accounts of other areas of Papua New Guinea,

for people are said to be carried away by giant flying creatures.

Something else about the lights—that’s the flickering of the indava-light as it begins to get started. This may relate to the “pulsating” light seen by Jim Blume, years earlier, near Manus Island and to the “shimmering” light seen by David Woetzel, in 2004, on Umboi Island.

Investigators, including Jonathan Whitcomb and Paul Nation, believe that both the ropen and the indava are living Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs, with populations in Papua New Guinea.

Paul Nation’s short video of the two indavas was examined by Cliff Paiva, a missile defense physicist, who declared that the images of the two lights were not of meteors, camp fires, auto headlights, a paste-on-the-background hoax, or other common things. Although he was not able to verify any features that would prove the lights were created by pterosaurs, his report is welcome verification that the lights are real.

Significant are the Hodgkinson and Hennessy sightings of live pterosaurs, in 1944 and 1971, in separate areas of Papua New Guinea.

A nonfiction book, "Live Pterosaurs in America,"

(published in mid-2009) is sold on Amazon. The author is Jonathan Whitcomb. The ropen sightings examined in this book are of what some persons could call the "American pterodactyls," including the "South Carolina pterosaur." Another (related) book is "Searching for Ropens."

Umboi Island

Texas Marfa Lights

Cryptozoology and Pterosaurs

Paul Nation

Cryptozoologist

and explorer

Jacob Kepas

National of Piugini

(Papua New Guinea)

and Baptist minister

Jim Blume

Missionary in Papua