Mystery of Exploring in Papua New Guinea, Searching for Flying Dragons island photography by: Jonathan Whitcomb The Ropen of the Southwest Pacific My interpreter/body-guard, Luke Paina of Lae, accompanied me on the Spartan carego-passenger ship, as we sailed for Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea. We disembarked at Lab Lab, a small community on the southeast coast of Umboi, and took a banana boat to Opai Beach the next morning. After hiking up into the interior, we arrived at Gomlongon Village, where I gave out presents to key villagers. Luke and I were given the use of the best house in the area, making it our base camp. I was anxious to begin searching for the legendary ropen, a flying creature who description suggests it is a giant pterosaur. Western ideas about extinctions millions of years ago---those count for little in the remote tropical islands of Papua New Guinea. Read about my 2004 expedition. My life changed from those two weeks on that remote tropical island. I, Jonathan Whitcomb, am no longer a forensic videographer. I am now an author, a writer of nonfiction about living pterosaurs.   What is the “ropen?” What is cryptozoology? To some native islanders of Umboi, it a flying creature both physical and spiritual: “like a man” but also “like a spirit.” To American explorers who search for it, the ropen may be a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, and a giant one.  The study or pursuit of new or old animals hidden from standard classifications in zoology textbooks by their being known mostly through eyewitness accounts. Some examples include the Loch Ness “Nessie” creature, the Bigfoot of North America, and the ropen of Papua New Guinea. This is about the mystery of the ropen.