As of early 2009, no other American ropen-searcher has explored Papua New Guinea as many times as Paul Nation. He accompanied Carl Baugh, in 1994, interviewing natives on Umboi Island. Paul videotaped some of the interviews of eyewitnesses of a strange flying creature called "ropen." Paul returned, with his son, to Umboi, in 2000. He also explored deep in the interior of the mainland of Papua New Guinea, in 2006 and 2007. All these expeditions were for learning about the ropen, which investigators believe is a modern pterosaur (commonly called "pterodactyl").
He also assisted in the preparations of the two ropen expeditions of 2004, although he was not able to go himself. But these two expeditions brought about the publication of the nonfiction book Searching for Ropens, which eventually brought about additional funding for Paul to go on an expedition to a new area of interest in Papua New Guinea (late 2006).
Paul's late-2006 expedition, to an area around Tawa Village (in remote mountains of the mainland), was of historical significance. He videotaped about thirteen seconds of the glow of what the natives call "indava," a flying creature that American investigators believe is closely related to the ropen. This video footage was later analyzed by the missile defense physicist Cliff Paiva.
About the time Cliff Paiva was analyzing the video footage, Paul went on another expedition (2007) to the same area near Tawa. He had more sightings of indavas but got a bad infection. Back in the United States, he recovered, but is not known to have gone on any more expeditions as of early 2009.
Paul Nation was originally chosen for an expedition to Papua New Guinea, to search for living pterosaurs, because of his experiences with ratites (like the ostrich). Carl Baugh may have hoped to recover ropen eggs in the 1990's.
A number of weeks after Nation's 2006 expedition, the Destination Truth team searched for a similar creature.
Die kritik der Idee, dass pterosaurs lebendig sind - Antworten
Village of Opai on Umboi Island in Papua New Guinea
One kilometer west of Gomlongon Village, Umboi Island, peaceful villagers live near the flight path of a giant long-tailed modern pterosaur. |