By the author, Jonathan Whitcomb
When I started preparing for my jungle expedition in 2004, I had no thought of writing a book. After all, I was a videographer, not a writer: I wanted to videotape a ropen, then make a documentary about it. But once I got into the "bush," on Umboi Island, I learned how challenging it is to find a rare nocturnal creature in a tropical rain forest. The best I could do was to videotape eyewitnesses. But what I learned from those eyewitnesses seemed critical to publish to the world: The ropen seems to be a living animal, even a giant flying Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur.
The first edition of Searching for Ropens I wrote from mid-2005 through mid-2006. The second edition was published in mid-2007. It is not just about the ropen of Umboi Island, but living pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific. This book also has much information about searches for the indava, a cryptid believed to be similar to the ropen. There is also a brief reference to the dragon called "wawanar."
Here is part of the Table of Contents of Searching for Ropens:
Chapter 1: Awakenings
Prelude to an expedition
Chapter 2: Eyewitnesses on Video
Earlier expeditions to Umboi Island
" 3: World War II Sighting
Giant "pterodactyl," 1944
" 4: Australian Sighting
The Perth Creature, 1997
" 5: Deciding To Go
Spiritual Purpose
" 6: Going Alone
Unexpected setback
" 7: To Umboi Island
Faith; new friendships
" 8: Opai and Gomlongon
Welcome to the wilderness
" 9: Two Nights on a Hilltop
Ropen bait; rumor of bandits
" 10: Eyewitnesses in Opai
Grave robbery; strange lights
" 11: Village Court
Unexpected proceedings in Gomlongon
" 12: Terrified Boys
Daylight encounter with the ropen
" 13: Getting Home
Low on food and money
" 14: More Explorers
Guessman and Woetzel
" 15: Controversy
Is the ropen a Rhamphorhynchoid?
" 16: More Eyewitnesses
More pterosaur candidates
" 17: Confirmations
Ropen-lights videotaped
Steven Cottingham Ropen Sighting on Umboi Island
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