Beware of this guide

Hi everybody,

I want to share the bad experience that me and my travel companions had in Papua New Guinea because of a dishonest person, the guide named Cyril Tara from Kamindimbit (or Kaminibit)village in Middle Sepik. His name is quoted on the Lonely Planet guidebook, in the section of Middle Sepik area, as owner of a local guest house and a guide.

We arranged via email a 8 days tour, everything included: transfers, fuel, food, accomodations and guiding services. When we arrived in Wewak he came to pick us up at the airport and the day after we started the tour. The second day he said his wife had a health problem and that he cannot come with us, so that he was going to be replaced by a friend of him. We believed what he told us and accepted the change. The day after, when we were far from Cyril's village, the new guide told us that he already finished the money Cyril gave him for the prosecution of the trip so we were forced to suspend it after 3 days instead of 8 days. We called him at the telephone and told him we were going to report everything to the Police if he was not going to refund us but, of course, he disappeared.

Beware of this crook.

If you want to know the full story, follow this link to my webiste: https://www.robertocornacchia.com/cyril-tara-not-a-good-guide-sepik

sorry to hear of your experience - thanks for the heads up for future travellers

the price quoted in your blog is very low for an 8 day all-inclusive for 4 people on the sepik for your itinerary - even a basic one
6400 PGK is about 60 usd per person per day - food and accommodation might cost nearly this and then there is transport, fuel, canoe, engine, captain, boat assistant, guide

a reasonable price could see you being charged anything from 100-300 usd each per person per day for this trip out of wewak

at the higher end they will provide pretty much everything - food and water, bedding and nets, several welcome sing sing performances, help with baggage, knowledgable guides, aircon 4wd transfer to/from pagwi, backup if something goes wrong, large powerful canoe with chairs, some electricity at night for light and charging

at the lower end you will have to buy your own food (expect to provide for the crew as well), bring your own nets and bedding (or accept what is offered), no welcomes, carry own bags, old minibus transfer and if something goes wrong you will have to improvise, slower canoe with no chairs, no electricity

between these is a range and of course sadly some people are charged the high end and get the low end

it is possible to go cheaper but not if you are on a schedule

Hi majordom,

thanks for taking the time to read the story and give your opinion, but I'd like to point out that he stated the price: if he was not earning enough he should have suggested a different price. This only shows once again he was dishonest, since the beginning.

By the way, we were traveling on a low budget: we brought several food from our homeland, we bought the remaining food for us and the staff in Wewak, we cooked it for us and the staff, we brought our sleeping mattress and mosquito nets, we were carrying our luggages and the staff was made up by two people only, the guide and the boat driver (no boat assistants). No electricity but a chair each on the dug out canoe. Anyway, we received other quotations that were not so far from the one we accepted: should I suspect that everyone was planning to cheat us like Cyril Tara did? I don't think so: I believe the per day person rate can be lower than 100 usd each, especially if you are in touch with a tour operator (who moves a few hundreds of traveller each summer) local guides would like to work with.

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