Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# PNG visa / PMV travel in Highlands / Sepik River tips? Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
mcfry 17:20 UTC 15 Nov 2009 | At the risk of getting slammed for asking silly questions... Has anyone on this forum recently arrived in the country in the early morning and had difficulties obtaining their visa upon arrival within a few hours. I have a connecting flight that will most likely be anywhere between 30 mins to 3 hours after arrival that I am trying to make. I'm trying to gage whether its really necessary for me to send my passport to a city with a PNG consulate generate to obtain a visa beforehand. According to the LP book, its supposedly possible to get to Mt. Hagen to the Wilhelm area (2-3 hours) then onward to Goroka (another 2-3 hours), and then on to Madang (4-6 hours) all by PMV. Upon contacting supposedly reputable travel agencies, I hear that only the stretch between Goroka to Madang is doable by PMV, while private arrangments is required between the other destinations and the travel times quoted were all around the 8-12 hour mark between each destination. Can anyone who has recently done these stretches confirm the PMV status in these places and the long travel times? From Madang, I plan to fly to Wewak and do a Sepik River tour. Does anyone have any recommendations for particular Sepik River tours / operators they can pass on and tips for how long a tour to take to get a good sense of the area? Finally, I plan to attempt to do all this in 13 days, very ambitious... It seems like most travelers on this forum, or whom I found info online about had the luxury of time... Is there anyone on here who has done some or all of these places in a relatively short period of time that is willing to share his/her experiences ? Thanks ! |
Laszlo 23:37 UTC 15 Nov 2009 | All are doable by PMV, but Hagen to Kegsegul (the gateway to Mt Wilhelm) definitely takes longer than 2-3 hours and requires a change in Kundiawa. I have always done my Sepik trips independently, hiring a motorized canoe once there, but a search will reveal several tour-operator recommendations on this forum. You could spend anything between a day and month (or more) on the river, really! If you can fly between each region, you can definitely do it in 3 weeks. | 1
mcfry 02:44 UTC 16 Nov 2009 | Thanks, this is very helpful. Have you done any of your Sepik trips between Nov and April and had any issues because of the rainy weather? Based on advice I'm reading, I may cut out the Highlands due to the poor road conditions during this time of year and stick with just Sepik River and coastal areas. | 2
Laszlo 12:34 UTC 16 Nov 2009 | One of my Sepik trips was in the rainier, the other in the drier season. The only real difference it made was the amount of mosquitoes. | 3
mcfry 15:19 UTC 16 Nov 2009 | Thanks again ! | 4