Dr Haydee Paiva triumphantly waves PNG and Solomon Island flags at Mt Everest base camp

A Solomon Islands doctor has given her PNG ‘tambus’ a sneak peek of Mount Everest.

Dr Haydee Paiva, a keen hiker and budding mountaineer, reached the base camp of Mt Everest on April 15 from the Nepal side.

Dr Paiva works at the Paradise Hospital in Port Moresby as an anaesthetist or dokta blo slipim man na meri as she puts it on her FB page (doctor who puts people to sleep).

The South Base Camp is in Nepal at an altitude of 5364 metres, over 1000 metres higher than Papua New Guinea’s highest peak, Mt Wilhelm. Base camps are rudimentary campsites on Mt Everest that are used by mountain climbers during their ascent and descent.

Mt Everest is 8848m in Nepal while Mt Wilhelm is 4509m in PNG’s Chimbu Province. Dr Paiva, the wife of Dr Marlon Paiva, trekked from Lukla and reached the base camp on Monday. She left on Tuesday for the return leg to Lukla which she should reach by April 18.

A triumphant Dr Paiva victoriously waved the PNG and Solomon Island flags on the waist of Everest. Together, Dr Marlon and Dr Haydee have crested Mt Wilhelm 4 times and marched across the Kokoda Track on numerous occasions.

Information with thanks to Post Courier 17 April 2019

Photo: Dr Haydee Paiva at Mt Everest Base Camp with PNG flag – photo courtesy Janet Roland Sios