10-12 days in PNG - your recommendation?

Dear all,

I am considering a 10-12 day trip to PNG with my girlfriend in December.
What are your recommendations concerning an itinerary on a medium budget (up to an avg. of 100 USD per Person per day excl. flights, if possible at all)?

We are mainly interested in tribal culture, though we'd like to avoid both extremes, i.e. super-touristy "showcase" tribes (whose "work" it almost is to paint themselves etc.) as well as very remote and hardly ever visited ones that should probably better not get corrupted by western culture.

Scenic landscapes and/or good diving nearby would be a plus, but definitely not an important factor.

We'd be flying into Port Moresby from Australia and could spend a net 10 to 12 days from there.

Thanks a lot in advance,

Nick

Budget is definitely enough.

Your best options are the Tari Valley in the Highlands or the Sepik in the lowlands.
THe first offers finer scenery and maybe more traditionally dressed people, the latter the great, unique art. The uniqueness of the Sepik would be a stronger selling point in my eyes - highland cultures are more traditional in West Papua than in PNG anyway.

Catching a singsing if you can find out about any would be great, too.
All but the 2 main highland ones tend to be totally uncommercialized.

best budget tip i can give you is do not stay in port moresby,room rates are totally out of control(some top hotels will cost 900 kina per nite!)couple of spots i would suggest you do some homework about....tufi resort,top set up with great scenery,and diving.lake kutubu in sth highlands,try the tubo eco lodge on the lake/tari is a wonderful natural area with varous lodges out of town,this area is changing due to the large lng gas project.the trobriand islands is also one of my favorite culture spots.
try and get connections out to where you want to go on the same day as you arrive in moresby from brisbane,the early air new guinea flight arrives in at 11am.
don

Thanks, guys!

How about getting a connection to Goroka from POM, visiting the Asaro mudmen and then travelling along the Hwy all the way down to Tari? Would 10 days net suffice for that? However, for some reasons I don't seem to be able to find Tari-outbound flights on AirNiugini.com. Alternative return from Mt Hagen, I guess?

For the Sepik, fly to Wewak and take a tour from there? What can reasonably be done in 10 days?

Thx
Nick

In theory you could do that though I really don't think that visiting the mudmen justifies all the extra effort.
It is just a rather dull show for tourists, though they look good on photos.
Hagen and Mendi both could be used as alternative airports but there really should be flights to/from Tari itself.

I personally never took tours of the Sepik at all.
The gateways of Angoram or Pagwi can be reached by PMV, from there local boats travel to various villages, and then transport could be arranged to further villages once there. As English is widely spoken, this is very easy to DIY. If going for Pagwi and the Middle Sepik, Maprik is definitely worth a stop on the way.
Of course a tour could make things much smoother (and more $$$).
If you end up with a few extra days, the little islands off Wewak got some enthusiastic reports and could be a nice diversion, too.

Thanks, Laszlo!

Based on your feedback and Papua2010's travel report, I am considering to extend our time in PNG to 20 days net so we can do both the Highlands and the Sepik.

One option seems to be flying into Mt Hagen, trekking a few days in the area and then going to Madang by PMV via Goroka. Apparently, it is possible to take a boat from somewhere near Bogia to Angoram and then do a tour from there. From Angoram then by PMV to Wewak, chill on the coast for a couple of days and then fly back to Oz via POM.

While I am writing this I come to realize that maybe doing the trip the other way round might make more sense as we'd be travelling downstream.

So maybe fly to Wewak, 2-3 days there. Then PMV to Maprik and the next day on to Pagwi. Some tour on the middle Sepik. Then downstream to Angoram. I haven't researched that yet, but I take it there must be regular means of transport. From Angoram to Bogia. Stay a night or two, then on to Madang and finally, Mt Hagen.

What do you think?

Obviously the longer the better!
I wouldn't count on that Bogia to Anggoram boat connection with such a tight time-frame though. And I certainly wouldn't be so sure there is "regular" transport on that route...
Given your (still!) limited time, I'd say fly from Wewak to Hagen (hopefully still doable).

the 10-12 day trip will allow you to do only 1 area,the 20 day trip opens up the options for both highlands and sepik...but very tight!air new guinea schedule is available on their web site....they now fly 6 times to tari from pom and back(it used to be once per week)if you make you way by pmv from tari to mt hagen,airlines png fly across to wewak on fridays and sundays only...also check their web for update schedules,very rarely on time!my own feeling is that both maprik and angorum are pretty average places.
the upper sepik river around ambunti is far more interesting........check a story i wrote on this area at donstravelstories.blogspot.com
the airfares to do this sort of short trip may blow your budget up?wayne swan will not help you.!!!
as the png eleksions are due mid year 2012,the highlands will become very "hot",so safety on the roads will be a little tricky.

@don thanks, I'll definitely check your blog out!
@laszlo thanks a lot... maybe bogia-angoram really is a tough call

@both
after your input and a PM by papua2010 who also said that transport might be an issue due to the start of the rainy season in December, we might actually cut the trip down to just a week and do Tari only - or Tari and Mt. Hagen area.
We'd be on a RTW ticket starting here in Europe, so the flight in and out of PNG would technically be free.
All I wonder now if spending a net 6-8 days in and around Tari wouldn't almost be too much and what else we could do in the vicinity... or would you rather advise on a trip to the Sepik instead of the Highlands in the rainy season (or a totally different place altogether)?

Cheers
N

If you go to Tari, Mt Hagen would be a waste of time and money.
It's a large, ugly town sitting in a big, flat, fairly developed valley.

I think by flying to Tari and Wewak, both places are doable in the rainy season, too.
Just be prepared for LOTS of moquitos on the Sepik. Definitely take malaria pills!

The Highlands and the Sepik are totally different, so if you've come all the way to PNG from the other side of the world, you'd get much more out of the country seeing both areas.

The third type of place you could visit in PNG would be tropical islands or beaches, but that's even less ideal in the rainy season, and I guess on a RTW ticket you can stop in Fiji or Polynesia to experience that kind of thing anyway.

Hi

We have been to Wewak and the Sepik region at the end of October last year 2010. The boat tours along the Sepik from the upper part downstream to the middle part until Angoram takes several days and especially in the middle part is to see only a flat countryside . This part is very touristic ,especially Palambai. Boat driving is very expensive , so we have made the experience , to visit only a part of the Sepik region and we think ,the upper part is more fascinating . We have stayed at the Wagu lake connected with the Sepik river by the Hunstein river, to watch bird of paradise and hiking in the Hunstein range . When you stay there some days without driving motor boats - you can use canoes - then you save much money . If you need more informations ,then look at the webpage www.sepiktours-individualtours.de . There you find informations of Mathew ,who is the owner of the

guesthouse in Wagu at the lake and he is the guide for watching bird of paradise.

G'day. I just got home from working in Tari for 9 months and can tell you there is definitely a direct Tari-POM flight with Air Niugini - it flies Mon, Wed, Fri and Sun. The reason why it might not be on the website is that the airport is a shed and we always had to have paper tickets. It was also quite expensive (our local staff used to catch the PMV to Mt Hagen and fly from there instead).
Also there is no wet season in Tari - the weather is beautiful! It's sunny and clear in the morning and cloudy & wet in the afternoon every single day.
The best time to catch a Huli wigman (definitely not dressed up for tourists) is at the market on Mon, Wed or Friday (probably the best day).