Papua New Guinea Sept 13-19, 2023
Papua New Guinea is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia (a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia). Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world’s third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).
At the national level, after being ruled by three external powers since 1884, including nearly 60 years of Australian administration starting during World War I, Papua New Guinea established its sovereignty in 1975. It became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1975
There are 839 known languages of Papua New Guinea, one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. As of 2019, it is also the most rural, as only 13.25% of its people live in urban centres. Most of the population of more than 8 million people live in customary communities. Although government estimates have placed the country’s population at 9.4 million, it was reported in December 2022 that a yet-to-be-published study suggests the true population is close to 17 million.
The country is believed to be the home of many undocumented species of plants and animals.
The sovereign state is classified as a developing economy by the International Monetary Fund; nearly 40% of the population are subsistence farmers, living relatively independently of the cash economy.
Any investment in the country has been done mostly by corporations – Aussie mining companies and various palm oil companies. It’s not a cheap place as priced to cater to resort style tourists or foreign mining companies. Otherwise even those roads wouldn’t exist at all.
It’s a beautiful country to explore if you have ample time. Even Port Moresby has a decent amount to offer both in the city and within 1-hour drive. Port Moresby is supposedly very dangerous but most find the opposite, very good people, smiling all the time. Good people, beautiful country, amazing landscape, just be careful with the planes.
Mount Hagen region has a completely different vibe to the capital. The locals are more abrupt, they don’t mean to be offensive.
Mount Giluwe trek is tough doing it in 2 days. The landscape is raw with no pre-defined paths, vegetation, swampy bush with water above boot height, river crossings, and a tough summit on rocky terrain using steel chain railings.
New Britain is a beautiful region with plenty to see and a relaxed vibe
Bougenville. Predicted to become UN country #194 as wanting to separate from PBG. I has a huge copper mine that when developed will bring it from one of the poorest parts of PNG to the richest.
Budget Travel. It’s possible to do it the budget/backpacker way if you enter from Jayasurya, cross into Vanimo, fly from Vanimo to Madang, or a cheap boat from Wewak to Madang, without anything prebooked and just ask the locals once in place. Most of PNG is so non-touristy, most of the time invited to stay in villages and homes at no cost. Food was cheap as well and super fresh. The tourism infrastructure in PNG is not all that developed. Great time in PNG as long as you don’t expect the comforts of modern life.
Capital. Port Moresby
Currency. Kina (PGK)
Area. total: 462,840 km2; land: 452,860 km2; water: 9,980 km2
Population. 5,545,268 (July 2006 est.)
Language. English is spoken by virtually 100% in Port Morseby, but maybe 1-2% in remote areas. Tok Pisin widespread, Motu spoken in Papua region, Papua New Guinea sign language. 820 indigenous languages
Religion. Roman Catholic 22%, Lutheran 16%, Presbyterian / Methodist / London Missionary Society 8%, Anglican 5%, Evangelical Alliance 4%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1%, other Protestant 10%, indigenous beliefs 34%
GDP (PPP). Total $32.382 billion (124th). Per capita $3,764 (145th)
GDP (nominal). $21.543 billion (110th). Per capita $2,504 (129th)
Gini. 41.9 medium
HDI. 0.558 medium · 156th
Driving Side. Left
Country Code. +675
Visa. Most foreign nationals who wish to enter Papua New Guinea are required to obtain a visa. Most Western countries may obtain a free visa valid for 60 days.
VOA is not available. E-visa fast online if your passport country is on the VOA list. Just have to click on the 60-day, not 30. Need departure flight. ica.gov.pg. Download 5 documents: Health form, Passport bio page, Proof of funds (bank statement), Vaccination record, and a cover letter giving your itinerary (or the receipt from your tour company).
Alternatively, a visa (‘entry permit’) can be obtained in advance at a PNG embassy, high commission, or consulate.
My experience. On the health form, a question asked if you had been in any of the countries with COVID-19 in the last 21 days (Taiwan, South Korea, Wuhan China) and I answered yes. Then a small box appeared as a download Undefined and could not be removed. It blocked that document portion and I could not finish the payment. I changed email addresses and started over but as I didn’t know which document was causing the problem and left my visit to Taiwan in, the same Undefined box appeared. I then started all over, filled out a completely new Health form, and applied for the 60-day visa. The visa was granted in less than 30 seconds. I printed it out. Necessary to board my flight in Jakarta, and transit via Manila on Philippines Air. $35
Money. Papuan New Guinea Kina (PGK). 1 US$ = 3.61 PGK; 1€ = 3.81 PGK; 1CA$ = 2.65 PGK (xe.com Sept 2023)
ATM at the airport or in the city (the 2 ATMs at POM airport are often out of cash), 15 Kina charge. Villages won’t have them. Credit cards are accepted at larger hotels in the cities and at some of the grocery stores. Also – banks have ridiculously long lines if you are aiming to exchange money.
SIM available at the airport. BMobile 20 kina for 10 GB for 10 days.
The Internet in Wewak is very dysfunctional. Two different hotels had none even substandard internet. Cell coverage is OK but slow. Internet is expensive so most local accommodations are not online and the big tour companies have a huge monopoly on tourism.
Get around. Buses in Port Morseby are cheap and go everywhere – one kina per ride. There are also share vans but I didn’t have to use them. Taxis are 10 times the price.
Observations
1. People. As everyone in Port Moresby speaks English and are so helpful, the city is easy to get around. Everyone is easy to engage in a conversation and all are proud of their country. It was two days away from the national holiday, Independence day, the 48th anniversary. Almost everyone mentioned it as a big event not to be missed.
Papua New Guineans from the Highlands and Port Moresby are amazingly similar-looking people, despite their huge ethnic diversity with 830 “tribes”. They are clearly Negroid with black skin and very fine, kinky hair, but their facial features are quite distinct, unlike any other black ethnic group. Their forehead slopes back and their jaw protrudes forward. Their noses are large, wider, and sometimes slightly “beaked”. They tend to develop a prominent cheekfold, giving them a “rugged” look. They tend to be shorter.
Many men have beards. None of the women use hair attachments and use natural styles often with braids or corn rows. They don’t have the large bums or big boobs of African women.
PNG people are close to my heart as they all wear flip-flops.
At the festival was a tribe from Central Papua New Guinea who were lighter skinned, the forehead did not slope back, had less jaw prognathism and had smaller noses. They looked Caucasian with dark skin.
They are the most helpful people anywhere.
There are few smartphones (at least, few are visible), a welcome change. No one was walking around with earbuds.
2. Safety. Like anywhere in the world, there are unsafe areas, especially at night. But during the day, I could not believe there was an issue. Everyone warned me to not walk around exposing my smartphone.
Dangerous for women. 70 percent of women experience rape or assault according to human rights watch. so the public transport may not be good, especially at night and in less crowded areas. but the culture is fascinating.
Port Moresby. One traveler walked a few blocks away to a restaurant for lunch. On return, the manager met him and told him to really be careful and not to use any public transport in town. As an example, just a few days before, a group entered a bus and robbed everyone of everything. leaving them in their undies.
And a foreign reporter almost lost his hand when he refused to give up his camera. Luckily, the machete hit the camera and not his hand. He gave up the camera. This was on public transport somewhere outside of the city.
3. Betel. A huge majority of PNG people chew betel sold by multiple street vendors. It is a small oval green fruit. Usually, it is cut in half with a sharp knife or simply broken into two with the teeth. Inside is a pale brown nut with a pale center and the exterior is discarded. Usually, half the nut is consumed at once, combined with lime and mustard (just like qat) releasing the active drug and turning the product red. It stains their teeth an unsightly red. They spit long streams of red saliva that tend to cover the sidewalks and streets. Most users are men but also many women also use it.
The areca nut is the fruit of the areca palm, which grows in much of the tropical Pacific (Melanesia and Micronesia), South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of east Africa. It is commonly referred to as betel nut, not to be confused with betel leaves that are often used to wrap it. Consumption has many harmful effects on health and is carcinogenic to humans. Various compounds present in the nut, including arecoline (the primary psychoactive ingredient which is similar to nicotine), contribute to histologic changes in the oral mucosa. It is known to be a major risk factor for cancers (squamous cell carcinoma) of the mouth and esophagus. As with chewing tobacco, use is discouraged by preventive efforts. Consumption by hundreds of millions of people worldwide – mainly of South Asian or Southeast Asian origins – has been described as a “neglected global public health emergency”
The areca nut is not a true nut, but rather the seed of a fruit categorized as a berry. It is commercially available in dried, cured, and fresh forms. When the husk of the fresh fruit is green, the nut inside is soft enough to be cut with a typical knife. In the ripe fruit, the husk becomes yellow or orange, and as it dries, the fruit inside hardens to a wood-like consistency. At that stage, the areca nut can only be sliced using a special scissors-like cutter.
Usually for chewing, a few slices of the nut are wrapped in a betel leaf along with calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) and may include clove, cardamom, catechu (kattha), or other spices for extra flavouring. Betel leaf has a fresh, peppery taste, but it can also be bitter to varying degrees depending on the variety.
It is chewed for its effects as a mild stimulant, causing a warming sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness, although the effects vary from person to person.
Chewing areca nut is a cause of oral submucous fibrosis, a premalignant lesion that frequently progresses to mouth cancer. Acute effects of betel chewing include asthma exacerbation, hypertension, and tachycardia. There may additionally be a higher risk of cancers of the liver, mouth, esophagus, stomach, prostate, cervix, and lung with regular use.
Because of the mess, many places ban chewing betel nut. Notably, Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, has a ban on buai.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – CENTRAL, GULF, ORO, WEST (Port Moresby)
Port Moresby — the capital city with a general Melanesian atmosphere.
Airports: Port Moresby (POM)
Port Moresby has an unusual geography of separated neighborhoods with deforested hills separating them.
I used buses to easily and very cheaply navigate around Port Moresby. At one kina a ride, the whole day costs less than $2. They go set routes like all buses, simply get off and on different routes using large main bus centers like Waigani, Four-mile, Holoho, and Gorbano. It’s a great way to meet locals who are all to ready to give you help.
Port Moresby Nature Park – Don’t miss this great nature park. The signage is great and explanations of all the birds and animals are very good. Many walk-through aviaries allow you to see many types of birds from Victoria crowned pigeons, two types of cassowaries, parakeets, parrots, loris, mynas, and birds of paradise (the Raggura is the national bird on the flag). Literally, hundreds of fruit bats hang from the heights of trees making bird-like songs. There are tree kangaroos and a great reptile house with many kinds of pythons (I wasn’t able to find any of the poisonous snakes). This is easily the best place to see “critters” and avoid hiking hours before sunrise to ‘maybe’ catch a sighting. The many “wardens” are extremely helpful.
See locals living their lives on the weekends, there were weddings, lectures, and family gatherings. 20 kina
National Orchid Garden. Supposedly in the Nature Park, it really doesn’t exist anymore, and hasn’t for several years. There are only a few orchids along at trail closer to the entrance.
Saint Mary’s Catholic Cathedral. All the way downtown, this is a lovely rectangular church with the altar along one long side and a semicircle of pews. The tall wall at the back has 10 stained glass windows. The Ways of the Cross are unusually small plaques all together on the right-hand wall. A side door was open and no one was there.
Ela Beach Craft Market. I don’t think this exists anymore, even on Saturdays when Google Maps said it was open. There are only some informal street vendors.
Hohola Mosque. This is the only mosque in all of PNG and Port Moresby only has 2-3,000 Muslims out of the approximately 10,000 in the country. Most live in Chimbu where there are several prayer houses, but no mosques. From the outside, it has a large central dark green hexagonal dome. Inside the low roof is supported by 9 columns. The mihrab is simple wood and the arched windows on the one side let in a lot of light. I wasn’t allowed in with shorts but had a long animated discussion with the caretaker.
Leaving the mosque, a nice Muslim guy by the name of Michael Nere walked me to the Hohola bus stop a block away to find a bus to Waigani. he described himself as “very popular” and bumped fists or slapped hands with almost everyone. He got on the bus to Waigani with me and I treated him to dinner. He then walked me to my hotel on the premise that it wasn’t safe (although everything indicated otherwise). He then hit me up for a cab fare back. You are never certain what their motive is, but he did seem to be honestly helpful. He offered to pick up on my return from Goroka and stay with him in his house with his wife and three children on the 18th.
ON Waigani Lodge. The cheapest place to stay in Port Moresby, easily the most expensive city for accommodation (there are no hostels) in the world. On all the booking sites, the cheapest is the Gateway Hotel starting at US$125. This was 189 kina including a 5% charge for using a credit card. Contact them via their FB page or waiganilodge@gmail.com to make a reservation as they don’t appear on the booking sites (that I could find).
It is a very basic place with no wifi, common area or chairs outside.
I did my much-needed wash.
Day 2 Thur Sept 14
Up early, I got a bus to the Gorbano bus stop and then to the war cemetery.
Papua New Guinea War Cemeteries. The Dark Side. In Port Moseby, Bomana Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery dating from World War II. The cemetery contains the graves of those who died in the fighting in the former Territory of Papua and on Bougainville Island. The remains of 3,824 Commonwealth soldiers, 699 of them unidentified are buried in the cemetery; as well two others: a Dutch citizen and one burial not related to the war.
Over 600 Indian soldiers who fought in the Second World War are buried at the cemetery.
Notable burials include John Alexander French (1914–1942), Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, Rex Julius (1914–1944), Australian official war artist, Bruce Steel Kingsbury (1918–1942), Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross.
Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery. A good museum with well-curated displays of history, ethnography, and culture. 3 kina.
I was driven to the airport for free by the lodge at 11:15 as we were told to meet three hours before the flight.
Flight. Air Nuigini. POM to Goroka (GKA) @14:30-15:55.
GO TO HIGHLANDS – GOROKA SHOW
I didn’t see
Tentative WHS
Kikori River Basin / Great Papuan Plateau (06/06/2006)
Milne Bay Seascape (Pacific Jewels of Marine Biodiversity) (06/06/2006)
The Sublime Karsts of Papua New Guinea (06/06/2006)
Trans-Fly Complex (06/06/2006)
Islands: Fergusson Island, Goodenough Island, Normanby Island, Sideia Island, Vanatina, Woodlark Island
XL: Alotau and Environs (South-East), Bobo island, Calvados Chain
D’Entrecasteaux outer islands (Wamera, Wawiwa)
Religious Temples: Dogura (Milne Bay): Cathedral of St Peter and St P
World of Nature: Maza Wildlife Management Area, Tonda Wildlife Management Area
Varirata NP. Taxi Semion (Whatsapp +675 7952 2251) 150 kina to pick up at your hotel at 5:00 am to the gate in about 1 hour. 10 kina entry and 30 kina for the guide to see birds of paradise – many birds and the mating dance. The best time is at first light to about 7:45. Edwin James (+675 7295 4724; +675 7830 3052; edwinjyanda@gmail.com) and Tati Mitel (+675 7203 7039). The latter is based in the park and you might ask him about sleeping in the park at the ranger’s house-
Rouna Falls 5 kina, or PMV 501 for 7 kina to Gordon. PMV on route 9 to get me to Vision City Mall.
Festivals: Hiri Moale Festival, Papua New Guinea Arts & Cultural Festival
Beaches: Panasia Island
Indigenous Peoples: Western Province: Biamis
Kokoda Trail or Track. Tentative WHS. Kokoda Track and Owen Stanley Ranges (06/06/2006) is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs 96 km overland – 60 km in a straight line – through the Owen Stanley Range. The track runs from Owers’ Corner in Central Province, 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Port Moresby, across rugged and isolated terrain which is only passable on foot, to the village of Kokoda in Oro Province. It reaches a height of 2,490 metres (8,169 ft) as it passes around the peak of Mount Bellamy The track travels primarily through the land of the Mountain Koiari people.
Hot, humid days with intensely cold nights, torrential rainfall and the risk of endemic tropical diseases such as malaria make it a challenging trek. Hiking the trail normally takes between four and twelve days; the fastest recorded time is 16 hours 34 minutes.
The track was first used by European miners in the 1890s to access the Yodda Kokoda goldfields.
The track can be walked from either direction. It can take up to 12 days to complete, depending on fitness and rest time involved. Locals are renowned for being able to regularly complete it in 3 days. There are a number of guesthouses located along the way, some in villages and others at traditional rest spots. The main villages passed through (from Owers’ Corner) are Naoro, Menari, Efogi Creek 1 & 2, Kagi or Naduri (if shortcut is taken), Alolo, Isurava, Hoi, Kovolo.
The Kokoda Track Authority requires tour operators to hold a Commercial Operators Licence to lead treks along the Kokoda Track and purchase a trek permit for 150 kina.
The Kokoda Track campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 in what was then the Australian Territory of Papua. It was primarily a land battle, between the Japanese South Seas Detachment and Australian and Papuan land forces under command of New Guinea Force. The Japanese objective was to seize Port Moresby by an overland advance from the north coast, following the Kokoda Track as part of a strategy to isolate Australia from the United States.
Japanese forces landed and established beachheads near Gona and Buna on 21 July 1942. They quickly advanced and captured Kokoda and its strategically vital airfield on 29 July. Despite reinforcement, the Australian forces were continually pushed back.
The Japanese advanced to within sight of Port Moresby but withdrew on 26 September. They had outrun their supply line and had been ordered to withdraw in consequence of reverses suffered at Guadalcanal. The Australian pursuit encountered strong opposition from well-prepared positions around Templeton’s Crossing and Eora Village from 11 to 28 October. Following the unopposed recapture of Kokoda, a major battle was fought around Oivi and Gorari from 4 to 11 November, resulting in a victory for the Australians. By 16 November, two brigades of the Australian 7th Division had crossed the Kumusi River at Wairopi, and advanced on the Japanese beachheads in a joint Australian and United States operation. The Japanese forces at Buna–Gona held out until 22 January 1943.
A total of 13,500 Japanese were ultimately landed in Papua for the fighting during the campaign. Of these, about 6,000 or two regiments, were directly involved in the “forward areas” along the Track. Against this, the Allies assembled approximately 30,000 troops in New Guinea, although at any one time no more than one infantry brigade, or approximately 3,500 troops, were involved in the fighting for most of the campaign.
Casualties amongst the Australians between 22 July and 16 November 1942 625 killed and 1,055 wounded. Non-battle, or sickness, casualties are not accurately recorded but are stated to have been about two to three times the battle casualty figure. The exact number of Japanese casualties is not known, but it is estimated that of the 6,000 troops, or five infantry battalions, that were committed to the fighting, up to 75% became casualties, being either killed, wounded or ill.
The lessons learned during the course of this campaign and the subsequent battle of Buna–Gona led to widespread changes in doctrine, training, equipment and structure, with a legacy that remains until the present day. The Kokoda Track campaign has been mythologised as Australia’s Thermopylae and incorporated into the Anzac legend even though the premise of a vastly numerically superior enemy has since been shown to be incorrect.
Papua New Guinea’s fjords — fascinating scenery, great diving, and tapa cloth made from mulberry bark, in the Tufi area.
Alotau — laid-back capital of Milne Bay province and gateway to some fascinating but remote islands.
Louisiade Archipelago — beautiful island group well off-the-beaten-path; world-class diving and yachting heaven.
Trobriand Islands — referred to by the anthropologist, Malinowski, as the “Islands of Love”. Well known for their unique culture.
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA – HIGHLANDS, ENGA, SIMBU, JIWAKA (M. Hagen)
Day 3 Fri Sept 15
After landing at Goroka and leaving our stuff at our various accommodations, we drove the 16 km to the village of the Asaro people.
ASARO (MUDMEN). In 1957, the first year of the Goroka Sing-Sing, the fair asked the village to perform at the festival. 200 Asaro marched into the festival covered in white mud and wearing masks and scared everyone. Over the years, the masks evolved into the present clay masks that completely cover their head. They were considered ghosts of dead men. They walk around very slowly making menacing gestures and fake shooting arrows with their bows.
Since 2013, Christopher Bartlett, the owner of Indigo Safaris, has engaged the people of Asaro to put on a show. Over time the show has evolved into about 10 mini-shows and they have invited nearby villages to participate. Welcome money is injected into their economy.
See several Mudmen dances, see the Masalai Skeleton men from Simbu province, enjoy a traditional “mumu” (earth oven) lunch, see how Bena warriors cleanse themselves before battle, try your hand at archery, and see how their famous masks are made, learn about their history.
We entered the village and walked through a gauntlet of craft sellers lining the uphill path.
1. String band. 4 guitars, a bamboo drum and a few dancers. Played tunes with a nice beat. A few got up and danced. They welcome participation.
2. Bana. Cane swallowers. A long thin piece of cane was folded in half and swallowed tithe benefit of “cleansing” the stomach. One guy fainted.
3. Chimbu “Skeleton” dancers. Three guys with great face paint and a white over black body paint moved slowly around emitting odd vocalizations. The myth is that there was a cave with a monster and many human bones. The warriors used the bones to get rid of the monster.
4. 16 kids with painted white/brown spots, high moss headdresses, and bows danced and sang for the safety of animals.
5. A large group of women danced in a circle with stick instruments. They sang a sad lovesong about a woman from another village who got married, couldn’t get pregnant and was sent back to the village.
6. A family with 4 kids (baby carried by mom). The kids were looking for food and found a wild man in the bush, brought him back to the family, fed him and then adopted him.
7. Cannibalism. Two hunters raided a village and captured a man and carried him on a bier along a trail. Six warriors from the village didn’t want them to eat their friend and tried to rescue it.
8. A man died but his spirit returned to the village making them upset and a baby cried. Boys shot a gourd with arrows trying to chase the spirit away.
9. Mudmen. 7 men and 2 boys covered with white mud and wearing grotesque head masks moved slowly as “ghosts” trying to scare away an enemy from Green Valley. The story had two origins: 1. The Asaro were attacked and many killed. The survivors went down to the river, disguised themselves with mud and returned as the “ghosts” of the men killed to scare away their enemies. 2. In the 1880s-1890s, the Asaro moved their village and disguised themselves with mud and clay masks.
Day 4 Sat Sept 16
GOROKA SHOW. The Goroka Show tour is a 5-day/4-night program, first held in 1957. From Port Moresby, fly into the Eastern Highlands to see the flamboyant and colourful people at the spectacular Goroka Cultural Show. Also known as the Goroka Highlands Festival, it is the largest Sing-Sing or tribal gathering of the year, with up to 130 groups dancing and singing for two days. With VIP passes you have privileged access to the tribes for photography in the morning,
and then enjoy the atmosphere with tens of thousands of locals in the afternoons.
Accommodation: Accommodation is in student lodging next to the showgrounds. Each room has one single bed, a few rooms with double beds are sometimes available but cannot be guaranteed in advance. Toilets and showers are at the end of each block, and there are separate male and female facilities. Showers are generally hot, but not if there has been a power cut or you arrive when everyone else has just had a shower. A basic kitchen is available for your use, a minibus can take you to the three restaurants in town, and there is a supermarket around the corner. There is a restaurant on site too, meals must be ordered 24-hours in advance.
Total cost with flights; $1240 USD per person.
Includes domestic flights, transfers, Asaro day trip, show passes.
Excludes tips, meals, items of a personal nature.
It is a truly spectacular event world famous for its colour, culture, and vibrancy, the biggest Sing-sing. The diversity of the coastal, lowland and highlands sing-sing groups at the show reflects the incredible diversity of Papua New Guinea’s landscape – an unforgettable experience. There is also a very interesting agricultural show and music festival in an adjacent field. A packed lunch is provided under a shaded area. As a VIP pass holder, you also have access to the shaded, raised seating platform where the local dignitaries sit.
I went into the grounds at 08:30 just before the groups started entering the rugby field. All with a VIP pass could enter from 8 to 12, after which the general public was let in. The tribes continued to enter until almost 12:00 when there were 157 tribes or groups there (the most ever), all in their traditional body paint, costume, headdress, and regalia. All had someone carrying a small sign telling the name of their tribe.
The Goroka Sing-Sing is non-competitive with no prizes for best whatever, unlike the Mt Hagen Festival. Christopher says Goroka is much better because of this. Mt Hagen also doesn’t let the locals in. The whole idea is to create a cultural interchange between tribes, celebrate their differences, and hopefully at least decrease some of the intertribal warfare. Most fights between tribes is based on either money, pussy or pork (stealing someone’s pig).
There were a wide variety of groups. There were small bands with just guitars, to larger bands with a full set of bamboo drums, loudspeakers, three to four guitars, and a ukulele. All sang and most had a group of dancers. One I talked to a great deal, the Bambu Band from Simbue (they were extremely proud of their band as they had played in Australia) had three sets of drums, all bamboo pipes played with flip-flops: a bass drum with 12 pipes, mid-tones with 136 pipes and the “keyboard” with 56 small pipes tied in groups of three. I joked around with them for a while, and one gave me a necklace which would have been inappropriate to refuse.
Most groups consisted of a group of dancers with small hand drums. Almost all used mud and/or oil body paint – white, red, yellow or black with yellow stripes. All had their traditional costume, some with grass skirts or skirts of long leaves. Headdresses were elaborate from feather creations, towers of “things” (one was topped with birds, others a succession of domes topped with feathers). Some had elaborate and enormous banners supported by wood frames. Many groups were all women. There was a lot of top nudity – so many were nude that it just became normal. Unfortunately, Facebook tags these types of “traditional” nudity and excludes them from your posts. I expected to have at least half excluded.
It was a tremendous, dynamic show with incredible energy and creativity, easily one of the best festivals I have ever seen in my 17 years of travel. They welcomed and even encouraged photographs. They responded to your smiles and “thumbs up”, bumped fists, and shook hands. There was as much social interaction as you wanted to put into it. They loved to talk about themselves and explain their instruments and culture. I took a lot of tremendous videos.
At 12, the public was let in. In the center of the rugby field, a group of horse riders entered and the speeches started, none in English. After a full morning in the sun, I sat in the VIP area under a tent. I left, had lunch, and returned to my room. I finished the Australian ETA – the entry permit (Aus$20) and a response was expected in one day.
Everyone had a camera and many had extensive lens systems. Some photographers had set up photographic areas with black sheet backgrounds. Groups were invited in for high-quality photographs.
I then returned to the bandstand area with two young Americans. Robbie was determined to get to the front and we worked ourselves through the tightly packed crowd until he was about 30 m from the stage. A group of guys picked him up and floated him above the crowd, then did the same to Michael and then me. It was a lot of fun but totally out of control. I felt someone get into the zipper pocket of my pants (where I had the equivalent of about US$20 in kina) and insisted on being put down. The guys carrying me tried to grab him, and punched him several times, but he was small and fast and amazingly got away. I then noticed that the zipper pocket on the outside of my shoulder bag was open and my cigarettes and phone were gone. We were escorted off the field by a concerned group of guys and eventually returned to our dorm rooms. I was abandoned by the young guys and started downtown to try to buy a new phone. I was “adopted” by a guy who took me to a bus and the two large markets downtown. Both had phones but this was clearly not the place to buy a new phone. The formal phone stores were all closed as this was Independence Day. He took me back to the bus, I gave him 20 kina for his help and returned to the dorms.
My mistakes were simply going into the crowd and also bringing my phone as I really didn’t need it. And I should have put it in the secret pocket inside my pants or even inside my shoulder bag. The crowd was so huge that it was an obvious red flag for pickpockets. I certainly never expected to be carried along by the crowd and lose control of my shoulder bag which in a normal situation would have been very difficult to pickpocket.
I thankfully had finished the Australia travel permit and only needed to print it out. I thought it best to wait till I was back in Port Moresby to buy a new phone or even to wait till I was in Australia.
Day 5 Sat Sept 17
Because the second day of Goroka was to be essentially a repeat of the first day, I had considered going to Mt Hagen for the day with the two young Americans. However, we heard that the 3-hour drive was virtually always subject be being held up by armed bandits. We abandoned the idea of going.
After a good sleep-in, we went into the festival grounds to see essentially a repeat of day one. Before the locals were let in at noon, I walked to the store, bought coffee and soup for dinner, returned, read and napped, and taught the Robbie and Michael Yanif, an Israeli card game that is a lot of fun (they are both Jews have been in Israel several times).
Day 6 Sun Sept 18
We were driven to the airport by the Sports Institute at 07:30.
Flight. Goroka to POM. Air Niugini @10:35-11:35.
I was picked up by Waigani Lodge promptly on arrival.
ON Waigani Lodge. My second night here.
Day 7 Mon Sept 19
Flight. Qantas Airlines. POM to Brisbane Australia @13:25-14:40.
I was driven to the airport at 11:00.
I didn’t see
Kuk Early Agricultural Site WHS 116 ha of swamps in the western highlands of New Guinea 1,500 metres above sea level. Archaeological excavation has revealed the landscape to be one of wetland reclamation worked almost continuously for 7,000, and possibly for 10,000 years. It contains well-preserved archaeological remains demonstrating the technological leap that transformed plant exploitation into agriculture around 6,500 years ago based on the vegetative propagation of bananas, taro, and yam. It is an excellent example of the transformation of agricultural practices over time, from cultivation mounds to draining the wetlands through the digging of ditches with wooden tools. Kuk is one of the few places in the world where archaeological evidence suggests independent agricultural development and changes in agricultural practice over such a long period of time.
The Sublime Karsts of Papua New Guinea. Tentative WHS: (06/06/2006)
Nakanai. The Nakanai Mountains is an area of outstanding natural beauty on the Island of New Britain. To the north, the mountain range is dominated by a group of spectacular volcanoes. It is bounded on the east by the Kol Mountains and to the west the Kapiura – Ania Divide which divides the Nakanai Mountains from the Whiteman Range.
Muller Plateau. The surface terrain of the Muller Plateau is extremely inhospitable and difficult to traverse. The area being proposed for inclusion here is in fact virtually uninhabited.
The Hindenburg Wall. The geological and geomorphic history is probably even more complex than that of the Muller Range. The Darai limestones are extremely variable and interbedded with shales and siltstones. Chert nodules and distinctive “fossil” forms of uncertain origin are common. There are a number of faults and anticlines from tectonic change. The giant scarps of the Hindenberg wall and the Bahrman Range give rise to unique patterns of air movement that in turn have sculpted the rock surface. Various phases of tectonic change and of valley glaciation caused major changes in hydrological patterns and cave morphology. Meanwhile, the surface was shaped by erosion into tower karst, then collapsed in successive phases of tower karst.
Nakanai. The ranges and plateau have only a very sparse human population, with only small villages generally on the lower lands. Various areas of flat or near-flat land are used for cultivation, but then once harvested are left to lie fallow until secondary forest is re-established. Some natural disturbance results from such causes as earthquakes or landslides. Thus, one can say that the natural forest has remained very much in its original but nevertheless, is in a dynamic and constantly changing state.
Muller Plateau. The Plateau remains uninhabited and is undergoing little change other than that which is natural and endemic to the geological instability of the country.
The Hindenburg Wall. Much of the area is uninhabited; most of the caves have only been entered by a single expedition. It is in a less disturbed state than virtually any other part of the country
Festivals are the most popular activities for tourists – the Sing-Sing performances at the annual Goroka and Mt. Hagen shows. More than fifty ensembles compete and helps the locals financially. Also the Enga Cultural Show and the Kutubu Festival
Mt. Hagen — the ‘wild-west’ frontier town in the Highlands, which will introduce you to the cool, crisp Highlands weather and Highlands culture. Mount Hagen Market. Mount Hagen Airport (HGU)
Goroka — an attractive highland town with pleasant climate and the annual Goroka Show. Centre of the country’s coffee industry. Goroka Airport (GKA)
Mt Wilhelm. Mount Wilhelm NP. In the Chimbu (Simbu) Province is Mount Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea’s highest mountain (14,880 feet). Climbing Wilhelm is relatively easy; but three or four days are recommended to allow for sightseeing. Do not try it by yourself. There are views of both the north and south coasts of New Guinea from the peak.
Wahgi River whitewater rafting, one of the best rafting destinations in the world.
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA – MADANG, MOROBE, SEPIK (Vanimo)
Sepik River is not recommended. I wasted a lot of time as transport is horrible.
Very dangerous. When returning from Pagwi to Maprik the bus that left 5 minutes before us was held up, backed up and turned around. Waited for another truck and then continued in a convoy. Bandits come in numbers up to 40 people. Hold ups once or twice per week and the police are of little help. The most dangerous is the transport returning from Pagwi to Maprik as they believe they are traveling with money to buy goods at the market.
Safer, to visit the lower part of Sepik starting from Angoram. Our trick to drive in the Sepik area was to go early morning on Sunday. The ‘rascals’ (bandits) are still too drunk and sleeping or not drunk but ready to visit the church instead of robbing you.
Sepik River dugout canoe transport (outboard motor) but original hand-crafted boat. 3 days, 2 nights on the Middle Sepik River, 2 nights in guest houses on the river – different village each night. Local village activities arranged by your river guide including dancing, sing-sing etc and all meals
The villages we visited were through Tufi Lodge. Garewa guest house. Fabian and Mildred +675 79 4206 37. Fabian and Mildred can arrange to meet you at the airport and take you straight to the village. They can set you up to go to stay with Lancelot and Jackson in other nearby villages. Their Facebook page is active, but expect long waits for interaction. Internet access doesn’t happen every day. But their guest book was filled with messages from many guests in 2022.
Garewa guest house Facebook
Peter John has the Fjord View Guest House across the bay from Tufi Lodge. We kayaked over and hiked up to his house, but didn’t stay there. He doesn’t check internet every day or even every week. Patience will be rewarded with a very local experience!
Guide Joseph Kone (based in Ambunti, WA +675 7121 4829, joseph.kone6@gmail.com). Sangra Guesthouse 50 kina with holes in the mosquito net and very shabby. Switched to Ruth, daughter of Joseph- contact information from Joseph.
Local guide Mathew. He subcontracts with one tour company, but works for himself too. He is a good guide who wants to give the best experience of the Sepik River. He lives in the Upper Sepik and travels to meet up in Wewak. wagulake@googlemail.com +675 7418 2747
Other contacts: Wewak- Clement Mono $50 kina home stay +675 7079 3181; Maprik- Joseph’ daughter +675 7924 3844; Pagwi: Berry +675 7108 7789; Yentchen- Benny Sua $50 kina home stay and $30 kina to guide +675 7207 2092; Kanganaman- Luke $50 kina home stay and he also wishes to be your guide WhatsApp +675 7058 0830; Kanganaman- David +675 7048 5180.
Pagwi– paid 45 kina total. Not hygienic, the rooms very basic, the climate hot and without electricity. Trouble sleeping, mosquitoes bathe in the river.
Maprik. Kwarajimbi Lodge (+675 7389 9011, +675 7064 5607, kjimbilodhe@gmail.com) 150 kina AC
Wewak. Paradise New Wewak Hotel (+675 72183949) 200 kina/night with breakfast, air & private bathroom). Price was 330 kina per night, 2 nights for 400.
LAE
The country’s second city, main commercial centre and gateway to the Highlands.
Airports: Lae (LAE)
Aseki smoked mummies: Drive from Lae airport to Aseki 8-10 hour drive each way on really bad roads in a 4WD (expensive). Stay over at a guest house (see below). Drive another hour to Kokea village. Hike for 15 minutes up to the mummies. Need permission from the custodians of the mummies first. Aseki smoked mummies are quite expensive.
80-200 years old. The Anga / Kukukuku tribe used the smoking ritual for important people, most of their chiefs, who died and wanted to be mummified. They first poked the body with a thorn all over to let the liquid out during the smoking process. They bound the body with ribbons of tree bark to keep the skin from falling off. Then they smoked the body for 2-3 months and covered it with red clay to help preserve it. Finally, they carried the mummy to the top of the mountain and placed him so that he was overlooking their village – so that the ancestors would always protect them. Missionaries put a stop to this practice decades ago.
I was the first visitor they have had since 2019. This site is Fragile on a narrow cliff, and one false step or movement could bring the whole thing down. The Hangapena site was destroyed in 2019 by a tourist helicopter getting too close.
Driver: Ako (+675.7368.4524 mobile only, no WhatsApp). From Aseki Station, he drives a PMV to and from Lae every other day. 8-10 hour drive, bumpy 4WD. Ako tried to get more money from my guide after taking me to the mummies and back. 1500 kina per day for the car (Lae to Aseki – Aseki to mummies – back to Lae). Negotiated it down to 500 kina per day. A group can hire a 10-seater covered land cruiser. As tourism to the mummies is rare, there are probably no set prices for anything. At the base of the mummy mountain, the tribe wanted more money. 500 kina to to up the mountain. Guesthouse in Aseki Station – Danny Mengisa (+675.7300.6802 mobile only). Basic guesthouse (the family also lives there) – 50 kina per night. He is also a driver, very good, and probably a better choice over Ako. Also – some guides will tell you that you need a security escort on this route. Ako has been held up at gunpoint by raskols several times near Bulolo on this route. Traveling at night is not recommended.
MADANG
A beautiful city with breathtaking flights of bats in the evening (it is illegal to hurt them), and even more breathtaking scuba diving of all levels with rare fish and underwater wrecks of Japanese fighter planes. There are still active volcanoes for trekkers to hike up not far from Madang. Madang is a thriving community renowned for its traditional artists, world-class diving opportunities, and the richness of its surrounding forests.
Madang Lodge Hotel (160 kina for a budget room with shared bathroom). restaurant quite expensive. PMV from in front of the lodge to the town for 1 kina
Supreme Kaibar Supermarket inexpensive meal.
Kranget Island banana boat for 1 kina, walk across, swam/snorkeled along the way.
WEWAK is the gateway to the Sepik River region with a fascinating culture distinct from that of the Highlands. Take long canoe rides up the river and its tributaries to visit the impressive Haus Tambaran’s. The Crocodile Festival (Pukpuk Show) in early August in Ambunti on the Sepik river is a good and less crowded alternative to the Goroka and Hagen shows. Elaborate carvings typical of the region.
Wewak Boutique Hotel was very comfortable and had great food!! Pricy, but interesting, well-cooked food! After all the days in villages eating cassava and fried sweet potatoes, it was great to have some variety.
Paradise New Wewak Hotel (+675 72183949) 200 kina/night with breakfast, air & private bathroom). Price was 330 kina per night, 2 nights for 400.
Wewak Airport (WWK)
VANIMO — the border town if you want to make you way to or from the province of Papua in neighbouring Indonesia. Popular surfing destination.
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ISLANDS
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – NEW BRITAIN (Rabaul)
Excellent swimming and snorkeling, day hikes, and treks through the rainforest. Baining people in the northeastern area create ephemeral art forms, best demonstrated by their fire dance. A dramatic and beautifully made mask is constructed from bark for this ceremony and thrown away as worthless immediately afterward.
Get in. You normally fly to New Britain and connect there.
Boat there is exclusively commercial traffic. Rabaul, there are motor boats leaving early to New Ireland (across the strait) from a bit south of the city – before Kokopo – it takes about 3 hours
Transportation was a huge pain as no buses (besides the palm oil corporation ones), paid hitchhiking or renting an expensive car (over $100 a day). From the airport hitched.
Rabaul — The city at the foot of an active volcano that was evacuated and severely damaged by a major eruption in 1994.
Rabaul Airport( RAB)
Fly into Tokua/ Kokopo/ Rabaul on East New Britain. PMV from the airport to Kokopo for 2.5 kina. PMV to Rabaul 6 kina
Gsirulech Guest House (Mrs. January WhatsApp at +675 7159 6746)- 150 kina AC and shared bathroom, kitchen, and laundry for free.
Hike up the active Tavurvur volcano. 50 for guide plus 5 kina entry fee.
Matupit Point – walked up to the Volcano Observatory on own. I took a PMV to
Japanese WW II Barge Tunnel (15 kina) bring a torch. PMV
Japanese WW II Underground Hospital (10 kina).
Scuba dived with Dive Kokopo Water Adventures
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA – NEW IRELAND (Kavieng)
From Rabul, take a boat across to New Ireland 2-3 hours, then a bus across to Namantanai. From there it was another bus and 5-6 hours up to Kavieng. Resort on an island off Kavieng which was popular for scuba divers. There are no direct flights and need to take 2 domestic flights, and they’re $$. Diving $100 per dive as it’s just you the captain and the dive master – there’s no one else traveling there.
Fly to Kavieng – directly from Port Moresby, stops at Rabaul.From Kavieng, fly back to POM via Kokopo. It’s a beautiful flight flying over the islands and volcanos.
M@P:
Nukumanu Islands
St Matthias islands
Islands
New Hanover
New Ireland
XL
New Ireland outlying eastern islands
St Matthias Group
Airports: Kavieng (KVG)
Beaches: Nemto Island
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA – NORTH SOLOMONS (Bougainville)
The far east, world-class diving, dramatic treks, World War II Japanese relics, and a pristine island paradise. 1 hour later than PNG. Only cold showers.
Arawa (Kieta) is a better home base than Buka if you are planning on exploring the whole island. April, the Kieta airport runway was under construction, so I had to fly into Buka – which was fine but added an additional 3-4 hours on unsealed road to my drive each way.
Bougainville Experience Tours is owned by Bosco (Whatsapp +675.7365.6050).
Togarau, Upe men’s initiation village visit, Buin to see Yamamoto’s plane crash site (May rain++ (mud, walking through rivers). 1.5 hours each way – easy, flat walking, just through lots of mud and forest), Kangu Beach, Panguna mine, Loloho, Arawa, Topinang village, Pokpok Island, and Buka.
Exodus Guest House (Maggie WA +675 7271 1183) in Buka (150 kina) AC, shared bathroom. Many power cuts. economical meals (15 kina breakfast). Free airport pickup, 10 kina taxi back to the airport.
Sohano Island. banana boat to for 2 kina each way
Arawa- PMV 2 kina to cross river and 70 to Arawa. Freddy & Moii (WA +675 71371617 or +675 71107650 or manufreddy00@gmail.com (very good).
Namatoa Crater Lake, Panguna Mine, viewed Pok Pok but you can pay about 250 kina for boat trip to a nice beach on the island, Kieta and Topinang (living vine bridge).,
SIM cards are available. Only place that I heard of that has wifi on the island is a guesthouse in Arawa called “Coaldust”.
Islands
Bougainville Island
Buka
Airports: Buka (BUA)
Caves: Kilu Cave
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA – MANUS (Admiralty Islands)
Islands: Manus
XL: Pelleluhu Islands
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DO
Scuba Diving. Some of the very best tropical reef diving anywhere in the world.
Birdwatching. 700 species including birds of paradise. Definitely bring binoculars.
Flightseeing. The remote airstrips are an adventure in itself, some are impossibly short, end with a mountain, strips where if you don’t take off in time you will plunge into a ravine, and airstrips surrounded on three sides by water. There are flights to villages on the Kokoda trail and others in the Owen Stanley mountain range in Central Province and you can fly a scheduled circuit or “milk run” in one morning, although you will have to be at the airport by 5:00 a.m. Check with Airlines PNG for schedules. Fane, Ononge and Tapini strips are particularly scary. Remember your life insurance.
UNDERSTAND
History. There is evidence of human settlement as long ago as 35,000 years in what is now Papua New Guinea. This comes from an archaeological site at Matenkupkum, just south of Namatanai in New Ireland province. Other archaeological digs at several locations in New Ireland have discovered tools and food residue dating back 20,000 years.
In more modern times, Papua New Guinea (known popularly as ‘PNG’), the eastern half of the island of New Guinea (which is the second largest island in the world), was divided between Germany (‘German New Guinea’) and Great Britain (‘British Papua’) in 1884. The Dutch had West Papua, now the Indonesian territory of Papua. The southeast part of the island, also known as Papua, was owned by the UK but administered by Australia, and thus a colony of a colony, until Australian independence in 1901, when it became an Australian colony. In 1914, the Australians did their part in the Allied war effort and took control of German New Guinea, and continued to administer it as a Trust Territory under the League of Nations and (later) the United Nations. However, it was not just disinterested colonialism. Gold had been discovered in several places and was rapidly exploited. Remnants of vast gold dredges can still be seen in the Bulolo and Wau area.
During World War II, New Guinea was the site of fierce fighting on land (at Buin and on the Kokoda Track) and sea (at the Battle of the Coral Sea). It was the first place in the war where the Japanese advance was checked and then reversed. After the war, both New Guinea and Papua were administered from the government centre of Port Moresby on the south coast, in Papua. In 1975, the country, now united as ‘Papua New Guinea’, achieved independence from Australia. Today Papua New Guinea continues to be the foremost country in Melanesia. The country struggles to fulfil the dreams of independence as economic stagnation, corruption, law and order problems, and a nine-year secessionist revolt on the island of Bougainville all conspire to make the country somewhat less than a tropical paradise.
The attempts by Bougainville to break away at the time of Independence led to a decision to offer the regions of the country a certain amount of political autonomy. Decentralization led to the establishment of nineteen provincial governments and the process of dividing up the country into unviable administrative units seems to be continuing, with a decision in 2009 to split both Southern Highlands and Western Highlands provinces into three new provinces.
In 2009, Papua New Guinea received 125,000 visitors, but only around 20% of these declared themselves as tourists. The country offers the traveler a true paradox. With little tourist infrastructure outside the main tourist areas, getting around can be tough. But Papua New Guineans themselves are wonderfully welcoming people who will go to great lengths to accommodate strangers. Tourism is well-developed and growing in a handful of locations. Beyond these, the country is mainly adventure travel and not for the inexperienced or faint of heart.
For people who can make it out here, the experience is unforgettable. The incredible natural beauty is simply indescribable. Its unique flora and fauna include enormous radiations of marsupials and birds, including the Raggiana bird-of-paradise (the national symbol) and several species of tree kangaroos. Untouched coral reefs compete with spectacular World War II wrecks for the attention of divers, and the hiking is out of this world.
With rugged terrain, inter-tribal mistrust, and diverse languages, intermarriage between the peoples has, until recently, been very limited. Physical and facial appearance varies significantly throughout the country; from those who look almost Polynesian in some coastal areas, through the short, stocky Highlanders, to the tall and statuesque people of the area around Rabaul in New Britain and the dark-skinned inhabitants of Bougainville, who could almost come from Africa.
The central highlands of Papua New Guinea were not mapped until the 1930s and not effectively brought under government control until the late 1960s. As a result, the people are as interesting as the geography, flora, and fauna. Papua New Guinea is a place that often markets itself as ‘the Last Unknown’ or a place where you can still find ‘Stone Age People’. Of course, telling a Papua New Guinean that you consider them a Stone Age savage is incredibly rude. While you can, if you try hard enough, find old men who remember the first time they or anyone in their society saw metal, you’ll also have trouble finding anyone who has not seen Titanic. Indeed, what makes Papua New Guinea so interesting today is not the fact that it is some sort of living museum, but its incredible dynamism. In the hundred-year shift from stone to steel to silicon, Papua New Guineans have turned the shortest learning curve in human history into one of the most colourful, and often idiosyncratic, experiments in modernity ever produced by human beings. Featuring ritual garb made of human hair and rolled-up Instant Noodle wrappers, rap in Pidgin English, or tribal warriors named ‘Rambo’ for their valour in combat, Papua New Guinea’s collision with global culture has been intense and fascinating. So don’t worry about the fate of ‘traditional culture’: in the bar room brawl between Papua New Guinea and the global culture industry the biggest worry is keeping Papua New Guinea from pummelling global culture to a pulp.
Climate. Papua New Guinea is just to the south of the equator and has a tropical climate. In the highlands, though, temperatures are distinctly cool. The (very) wet season runs from about December to March. The best months for trekking are June to September.
Terrain. The country is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the point of collision of several tectonic plates. There are a number of active volcanoes, and eruptions are frequent. Earthquakes are relatively common, sometimes accompanied by tsunamis.
The country’s geography is diverse and, in places, extremely rugged. A spine of mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, runs the length of the island of New Guinea, forming a populous highlands region mostly covered with tropical rainforest. Dense rainforests can be found in the lowland and coastal areas as well as very large wetland areas surrounding the Sepik and Fly rivers. This terrain has made it difficult for the country to develop transport infrastructure. In some areas, airplanes are the only mode of transport. The highest peak is Mount Wilhelm at 4,509m (14,793 ft). Papua New Guinea is surrounded by coral reefs which are under close watch to preserve them.
Read. There are many great books about Papua New Guinea, including great fiction as well as non-fiction. An excellent book for the general reader about Papua New Guinea is Sean Dorney’s Papua New Guinea: People, Politics, and History Since 1975. The third edition is the best, but it is pretty hard to find outside of Australia (and is not that easy to find there).
John Laurel Ryan, a former employee of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), also wrote an excellent book, “The Hot Land” which was published about 1970. Among other fascinating historical information it contains accounts of various manifestations of cargo cult, John Teosin’s “baby garden” on Buka Island, and eye-witness reports that have been rigidly suppressed in other media about the Indonesian takeover of what was formerly Dutch West Papua. This excellent and at times disturbing book will also be hard to find, and sadly its author even harder!
There is also a lot of anthropological work that has been done in Papua New Guinea (leading some to term the area an “anthropologist’s laboratory”), which can contribute greatly to an understanding of the different groups in the region. Some of the more accessible volumes include Malinowski’s “Argonauts of the Western Pacific”, centred on the Trobriand Islanders, living just north of Papua New Guinea itself; Reading the skin – Michael O’Hanlon; Coaxing the spirits to dance – Welsch, Webb et al; The Art of Kula – SF Campbell; Inalienable Possessions – AB Weiner.
GET IN
By plane. Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby is the nation’s main international airport. Air Niugini is the national airline of Papua New Guinea, and flies to and from Bali, Brisbane, Cairns, Hong Kong, Honiara, Manila, Nadi, Port-Vila, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo-Narita.
Philippine Airlines flies to and from Manila 3x/week. Qantas flies to and from Brisbane daily. Virgin Australia connects Port Moresby to Brisbane four times a week.
By boat. The ports include Madang, Lae, and Port Moresby on the mainland, Kieta on Bougainville, and Rabaul and Kimbe on New Britain. However, they are only internal ferries. International ferries are unavailable.
Cruise to PNG with five stops. Paul Gauguin cruise Fiji-Vanuatu-Solomons-PNG-Australia, but it was cheap as a one-off repositioning cruise on the way to Singapore for drydock. Stopped in Bougainville island, Samarai island and Port Moresby.
Few travellers travel between Buin in Bougainville and Shortland Island in the Solomon Islands by a banana boat. There are flights between Shortland Island and Gizo or Chiusel in the Solomon Islands (alternatively banana boats on very rough seas). This route has been described on a few blogs and older editions of the Lonely Planet.
By land. The only land border crossing between Papua and Papua New Guinea open to foreigners is on the north coast between Jayapura and Vanimo (PNG), called the Skouw – Wutung border crossing. There is no visa on arrival issued for PNG at the crossing, you need a valid visa in your home country or for free at the PNG consulate general in Entrop, close to Jayapura.
There is no public transport from Jayapura to the border,
GET AROUND
By car. Papua New Guinea is a strange place when it comes to travel. The tropical conditions, fierce geography, and lack of government capacity means there are very few paved roads in the country. With the exception of a brief span of road connecting it to the immediate hinterland and a road that will enable you to follow the coast southeast for a few hours, there are no major roads linking Port Moresby to anywhere else. Traffic moves on the left.
On the north coast, a tenuous highway runs from Madang to Wewak only in theory.
The big exception to this is the Highlands Highway, which begins in Lae (the country’s main port) and runs up into the highlands through Goroka to Mt. Hagen with a fork going back to the coast and Madang. Shortly outside Mt. Hagen the road branches, with southern line going through the Southern Highlands to Tari while the northern line runs through Enga province and ends in Porgera.
By bus. Uncommon. There are only a limited amount of real roads in the country – on the mainland it’s defacto 2 – one for 30km and one for like 200 or so.
By public motor vehicles (PMV). The most common way to travel between Lae, Madang, Goroka, Tari, and Mount Hagen. Share trucks common and what is used by most people.
Hitchhiking. Possible but need to pay.
By plane. Papua New Guinea has historically been heavily reliant on aviation and still features some of the most spectacular flying in the world. In the 1920s, Lae was the busiest airport in the world – it was there that aviators in the gold mining industry first proved that it was commercially feasible to ship cargo (and not just people) by air. In fact, Lae was where Amelia Earhart set off on her last journey.
Always check in online and get a seat assignment and boarding pass. If not checked in online, get to airport 2-3 hours early as seats just disappear and you’re bumped.
Air transport is still the most common way to get around between major settlements – indeed, pretty much every major settlement is built around an airstrip. In fact, the main drag of Mt. Hagen is the old airstrip! Travel from the coast into the Highlands is particularly spectacular (don’t take your eyes off the window for a second!) and pilots from Australia, New Zealand, America and other countries work here just for the great flying experience. If you do not like small planes (or even smaller helicopters) however, flying to more remote locations here may not be the best option for you.
The two major domestic airlines are: Air Niugini connects Port Moresby and, to a lesser extent, Lae with most of the provincial capitals, but does not offer much of a service between the smaller towns. PNGAir connects a large number of smaller centres on the mainland and does not serve the main outer islands. Travel Air (aka Mangi belong ples) is usually cheaper. Book at their office or agent.
Air Niugini for all domestic flights to and from both Mount Hagen and New Britain. Cancel planes everyday, if is not full take the next and sometimes the next is in 24 hours.
Plane tickets not cheap – basic flights $150 one way for short distances and you need several to see a lot. Recommend booking all the flights ahead of time, they only get more expensive as time gets closer. Can miss days of your scheduled, prepaid, activities because of flight cancellations and overbooking by Air Niugini, which is virtually the only domestic airline.
Air Niugini –possibility of multiple flight changes (dates/times) – book early because the domestic flights do sell out. I booked a few months ahead and got about 15 texts between booking and leaving that my flights had changed. Most were non-issues (an hour change here or there), but one was a date change, and I had to change my international flights. The flight from Singapore was pretty empty, but domestic flights were all full.
Twice the daily flight from Bougainville to POM was cancelled. The airline can then move the next day’s flight up for early departure, or sometimes, the airline boots people scheduled for the next flight to the following day. Check with your guide or the airline the day before your flight to confirm everything. They tried to boot me to the next day when I was trying to leave Buka, but my guide got me the last seat on the plane.
Air Niugini domestic flights rarely leave on time, so pad your itinerary a couple hours just in case. None of my 4 domestics were on time. One local I met said that PNG Air is better because they tend to run more on time.
Air Niugini – on international flights, they offer last minute bidding on biz class seats a few days prior to the flight. On my flights to and from SIN, I low-balled an offer, and got it both times. Biz class was almost empty on both flights. Don’t expect a Q suite lol, but at least you can lay down.
By boat. People living in the archipelagos get around locally with the ubiquitous banana boat, a 30-40 ft fibreglass hull with an outboard motor. Popular routes are Vanimo to Aitape, Rabaul to New Ireland. Motorized canoes or banana boats are used on the big rivers.
Also, two or three shipping lines also sell tickets for passengers who want to leapfrog from one city to another. These ferries run only two or three times per week and offer upper and lower class. Upper gets you a bunk to sleep on while lower gets you a hard seat.
There is a ferry twice a week between Madang and Wewak. There are also ferries to Vanimo, from Madang to Manus and from Lae to Rabaul.
One small ship leaves the city of Lae once a week, stopping at Finschhafen and Umboi Island. Sleeping on the open deck of a ship gets cold on the open ocean.
The 50-passenger expedition ship ‘Spirit of Enderby’ visits Papua New Guinea every October and April on expedition-style voyages. They navigate waterways using the ship and inflatable zodiacs to visit out-of-the-way islands and communities in expedition-style travel. Main focus of voyages and the daily landings are cultural, wildlife, hiking and underwater snorkeling experiences. Lectures onboard unpack experiences for those onboard. They visit some of the more difficult to get to island locations.
The Sepik River and some of Papua New Guinea’s most remote islands and areas including Mussa Island, Kavieng, Rabaul, Nissan Island and Bougainville Island, can be accessed by Heritage Expeditions on their small ship Papua New Guinea cruises.
Talk. With over 820 languages – 12% of the world’s total – spoken in Papua New Guinea, it was pretty difficult to get everyone talking to each other. Most of the tribes do not speak English, they use their own language(s) and perhaps one or two will at least speak pidgin English which is the official common language of Papua.
Two pidgins grew up in this area; Tok Pisin (based on English) and Hiri Motu (based on the local Motu language), both of which are official languages. The primary lingua franca of the country is Tok Pisin. Tok Pisin sometimes looks like it is English written phonetically (“Yu dring; yu draiv; yu dai” means “You drink; you drive; you die”), but it is not; it has more personal pronouns than English and its own quite different syntax.
English is also an official language, used in education and government publications but few people actually speak it.
You might sometimes have trouble hearing what the locals are saying because they speak very quietly. It is considered rude by some of the local groups to look people in the eyes and to speak loudly.
SLEEP. Papua New Guinea offers a wide choice of accommodation for tourists with very little of it budget. Hotels are very expensive (about USD100/night). Guesthouses are the best budget option in the towns but even then still expensive (about USD40/night.) The least expensive option is to stay in village guesthouses (about USD15/night), and that is where the fun is anyhow.
There are also no couchsurfers there
Some churches have guesthouses that can be very expensive and nice. Others operate cheap, basic accommodation. The Evangelical Brotherhood Church (EBC) operates rustic accommodation for as low as 25 kina per person and they have centers in or around the capitals of 18 PNG provinces. Churches or missions that do not operate accommodation will probably not turn you back either.
Besides PNG’s image as an unsafe destination, it is very easy to tell the troublemakers from the good people (the absolute majority). It is a good idea to bring a small tent, mat and a sleeping bag/sarong if you are planning on roughing it. If hosted by someone, it’s going to be a lot easier for your hosts if you have a tent and mat or at least a mosquito net. If you are hosted by a family for free it is a very good idea to go to the market and bring some rice and food for everyone’s dinner. If you eat their food, offer to pay. Wild camping near people’s homes without asking permission first is not a good idea – it is neither safe nor polite.
Port Moresby has international hotels including the Crown Plaza and Airways International, mid range hotels such as Lamana and guesthouses. The regional areas offer International and budget hotels depending on the size of the town and some provinces have guest houses. There is a new eco-tourist lodge in Alotau called Ulumani Treetops Lodge, the place is beautiful overlooking the Milne Bay and offers a new bungalow or backpacker options.
Ambua Resort (USD200/night) in the Southern Highlands with spectacular views. The homeland of the Huli clan with their human hair wigs adorned with colourful flowers. The more rustic Warili Lodge, run by locals, is only $20/night, and offers birdwatching
STAY SAFE
Fine to walk around with reasonable care during the day and to take public transport. But at night you just shouldn’t go out alone, violent crime is very prevalent and they do target foreigners. Villages and rural areas are usually much much safer but even Port Moresby really isn’t as intimidating as they say during the day.
PNG has a reputation as a risky destination mostly by Australians because of the activities of criminal gangs (known in Tok Pisin as raskols) in major cities, especially in Port Moresby and Lae. Armed gangs can also be active on the Highlands highway. Port Moresby and Lae are colonial cities with a mix of tribal people which fosters instability. Madang, Wewak, Goroka, Mt. Hagen, and Tari are much safer and a more stable tribal homogeneity. The villages are quite safe as most people are extremely friendly, curious and helpful and it is easy to tell the bad guys from everyone else.
Avoid conflicts at all costs and stay calm. Many people are very temperamental and local conflicts can quickly get out of proportion. Superstition is very widespread. Most crime is related to alcohol or marijuana.
In any traffic accident, continue driving and find the nearest police station. If anyone gets hurt (a person, pig or chicken), no matter whose fault it is, there’s a risk that someone might decide to take immediate reciprocal measures without much discussion.
If you are planning a trip to Papua New Guinea, avoid spending time in the cities as they are boring and devoid of the culture to be found in the villages.
Most hotels in Port Moresby are secure and situated inside compounds, generally with guards.
Avoid going out after dark.
Flying in small planes can be very risky. While the planes are usually well-maintained and the pilots technically proficient the problem is the mountainous terrain. Many smaller airfields are situated in steep valleys. When there is cloud cover planes have difficulty in finding them and sometimes crash into a mountain. Air Niugini has an unblemished safety record in 32 years of operation.
Saltwater Crocodiles are common in coastal waters and freshwater lakes and rivers. Swimming is generally not advised except at higher elevations. Volcano treks.
Scams. Rogue travel operators.
HEALTH
Tap water in most regions is unsafe to drink.
Malaria can be a hazard as well, although many villages, particularly those connected to industry, are regularly treated for mosquitoes. Take the appropriate precautions against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases.
Some people consider long term malaria prophylaxis (especially doxycycline) not a good option. In all cases, ample mosquito repellent applied even before dusk + a good mosquito net (bring your own, best if it’s treated) are absolutely essential.
Local pharmacies also sell a home malaria test (very much like a pregnancy test or a quick blood sugar test) for around 20 kina that you can use by yourself to quickly tell if you have malaria, should you get the symptoms. It is a very good idea to have one of those, especially if you are planning to visit any even slightly remote areas.
Dengue fever. All wounds and ulcers shall be treated with antibiotic cream as they might get seriously infected as in all tropical areas.
Bring iodine drops and purify all drinking water.
HIV and AIDS is a serious issue in PNG and many consider the prevalence much higher than the official figures.
RESPECT
As in many Melanesian cultures, greeting people with a friendly handshake is very important. Be aware that it is a sign of respect not to make eye contact. The sight of hotel staff calling you by name, shaking your hand and looking at the floor may seem unusual at first.
CONTACT Digicel is by far the better telecom provider. Top-up is available anywhere and online (credit card or PayPal).
