Enga Province, PNG

We are planning a trip to PNG in June, 2008. Current plan is to fly Port Moresby to Mt. Hagen, then by PMV from Hagen to Wabag in Enga Province. Then walk or PMV from Wabag to Lenki town in Enga Province. I've seen the "Enga Experience" website, and the area looks quite interesting. However, the Canadian govt. currently recommends that Canadians not travel to Enga.
(See http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/report-en.asp?country=234000 )

Could anyone provide an opinion about the relative safety of our travel plans? If not relatively safe, can you recommend a safer location in the Highlands? Thank you!

Not much good news comes out of PNG to Australia these days, and though people have been going to walk the Kokoda Trail for many years, that is done with organised groups having guides etc.

PNG is not just a very lawless place in many ways but can also be downright dangerous for private travelling.
Mt Hagen is one of the locations where they have the highland festivals and whilst it can be very colorful, there can also be violence that erupts, fighting with knives and even shots being fired.
. Hotels - usually have security and you'll be told not to leave the hotel after dark
. Travelling by private vehicle is considered a No, No, that's if you could hire one - you would be an open invitation for hold-up and robbery if not worse
. PNG also has a tribal pay back law and heaven help you if you happened to hit a PNGian whilst driving.

If you intend to go, I'd be doing it through a group tour package.

Larc, thanks for the info. We're going with a group of about a dozen students. I've been to West Papua a couple of times, but not to PNG. Have you been to Enga Province recently?

Thank you!

Dolffun, I have lived, worked and travelled extensively in PNG for the last 20 months and fortunately my experience has been much more positive than Larc's. While safety certainly is a number one priority I have travelled independenly to many destinations, including the Southern and Eastern Highlands (but not Enga or Western Highlands) and have had no problems. Check out my various trip reports on TT. IN fact my expereinece has been over whelming positve and enjoyable, meeting friendly and interesting people along the way. Again, when travelling in PNG you do need to take additional precautions about your personal safety and there are no guarantees about what might or might not happen.

There are problems in Mt Hagen at the moment (see two posts down), but no problems in Wabag as far as I know. I would suggest flying directly into Wabag from Port Moresby and by passing Hagen at the moment.

I would encourage you to give the trip a go, bypassing Hagen, and I am sure you will have a memorable trip.