Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Traveling through PNG in the rain season. Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Papua New Guinea
ufruminafrica365455 11:29 UTC 15 Dec 2018 | Hi lovely people. This is mainly for people who have travelled PNG in the height of the wet season around February. My route will be Wewak to Sepik river... than over land/river to Bogia and eventually Madang. From there I would go along the highland highway as far as I will be able to, before flying back to PM from MtHagen . All of this ideally over 18 days. Has anybody cover this route or part of this route in public transport and in wet weather? Is there anything I should be aware of? Expecially along the Sepik river and how to connect from Sepik region to Madang. I am a very experienced traveler but am a bit nervous about PNG and you would o something very charritable to spare a few words of wisdom. :-) Bless ya. Lastly if along this route you have any reccomodation for safe and clean basic accomodations for a backpacker that would be a plus. Love and peace. E. |
majordom 18:51 UTC 15 Dec 2018 | the south side of new guinea has a pronounced wet/dry season - the north side and islands less so - it is more a wet and less-wet season - that said if you are there in feb it will rain and you will probably suffer some disruption because of this if you really want to go from the sepik to madang then from wewak i would say go to angoram - if you are on the middle sepik (from pagwi) you will find it not easy to get downstream all the way unless you pay to hire a canoe (and you also have to pay for the canoe and crew to get back) the road to madang is still problematic as a major bridge is still down at Banab - boats are ferrying people around but since PMV cant make the full trip travel is disrupted so what you are doing is an adventure and will not be comfortable - there are trip reports here of this route - i would say 2 weeks is sufficient for the trip so your schedule should allow some time for stops | 1
ufruminafrica365455 20:09 UTC 15 Dec 2018 | Hi. I would love to thank you but I don't even know your name or, where are you from or based. Thanks nevertheless. I wonder if in this platform is possible to leave any contact details. I am hopeful of course of anybody else contributing but for the time being I wonder if I can ask MAJORDOM a couple of clarifications: - Going downstream from Pogwi to Angaram are you saying there is NOT going to be any public transport or that I might have to wait a day or two. And generally speaking how safe will I problably feel traveling aling the river indipendently by public transport, consideeing I am a seasoned traveler who has traveled Africa extensivly on a shoestring? -Similar clarification.... As far as getting from Angaram to Madang, indifferent to comfort but reasonably concerned by safety, are you saying I might not find an overland open route or are you saying I might just have to man up and possibly spend a few says over this section? You are a gem for helping me. I wish I could thank in person. :-) | 2
majordom 22:38 UTC 15 Dec 2018 | you can thank me here ! there is no public transport on the sepik - no canoes plying for hire like taxis and none running regular routes like buses villages organise their own transport on an irregular weekly schedule around market days - some are communal canoes but most are for-profit with paying passengers - they head to/from the markets on the river at ambunti and angoram or to towns like maprik and wewak where they link up with the PMVs - because of this no boat goes from pagwi to angoram as there is no point - they might go from pagwi to a village and back or from a village to angoram and back but there is a section in the river where they could go in either direction but usually go nowhere ! you could find your self stuck for a week waiting for the next market trip and that could be back up river the exception are the betel nut traders who go all the way to bogia but they are infrequent and are arrange for profitable cargo rather than the few passengers who may want to do this - it can and has been done by tourists but again be prepared to wait around in angoram safety is a concern especially on the ocean as boats are overloaded - plus there are sepik pirates active mainly around angoram where there is more commercial traffic (logging, palm oil) - be careful and ask around - get several unrelated people to vouch for who you travel with the boats from the sepik and ramu rivers go to bogia and then you go by road to madang - the road has several bridges out so what used to take a morning can take a whole day or even require an overnight somewhere | 3
Thorn Tree 01:00 UTC 16 Dec 2019 | This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you. | 4