current safety situation

Hey there!

I know this is one of the most ungrateful subject to talk about, but I'm planning on arriving to PNG in less than 2 months and I would like to know a bit more on the current situation from traveleres who recently visited the area.
I will be visiting Port Moresby for a couple of days and then Mt. Hagen and then I will be doing some voluntary work around Mendi.

How did you feel travelling through those areas? What are the roads like? Any road blocks? Mugging? Violence?

Some people say not to worry too much and stick to the standard precautions, but other say the area is a total mine field and that we're just risking our lives...

Thanks for any info.

Regards!

your timeline of travel will fall right into the leadup to pngs elections,which means the most volatile time in the highlands,both hagen and mendi become fuelled with political tensions in this period,so roadblocks,holdups,ransom demands,killings,fighting in towns,kidnapping and an increase in firearms is expected.
if you are not used to png travel around eleksions,you may want to seriously think about a better time to travel through the highlands?not trying to put you off,but i have seen this first hand in 2002 and 2007 eleksions.the tension at this time may make your experience of png one of regret.

Hey donbrisbane,

thank you for your answer. Unfortunately I can't do much about my itinerary, so I will be travelling to PNG at that period. There will be four of us and we will be doing some voluntary work in Pimaga (I think it's about 30 km south from Mendi), we'll try to fly in to Pimaga and avoid Mt. Hagen and Mendi. Besides that any other suggestions? We do have a contact in Pimaga and in Port Moresby but I'm afraid they are not telling us the whole picture if you know what I mean, especially because we're coming there to work for free.

Thanks again!

from memory,i travelled through pimaga on the way to lake kutubu from mendi........your best option is to fly from moresby into moro airport,and then travel to pimaga,it is about 1 hour trip by road.

Are you making your own local travel arrangements or is the company/group you are working for going to meet your flight and take you to your destination?

You can hire a security company to escort your land transport. But avoiding the highlands in the lead up and aftermath of the elections would be the better option.

@NorthernLights:

The company we will be working for is arranging our transportation for us but since it is an australian company runned by expats I think sometimes that is even worse and that we are taking more risk this way.

However they decided Pimaga (village near Mendi) was not safe enough (whatever that means) so they are relocating us to Kikori in the Kikori river delta in the head of the Gulf of Papua. It's suppose to have a more stable safety situation.

Do you have any info on that part of Papua? I know these questions sound a bit ridiculous since we have someone taking care of our transportation but I believe it's always better to get a bit more info and not just trust that someone is going to be doing everything for you.

Thank you for all your answers and info.