Highlands & Upper Sepik: Seeking recommendations/experiences

Good day all,

I've been in PNG for a bit over two weeks now and so far it has been great, save for a few wasted days on my behalf. I attended the Hagen Show - fantastic singsing groups and performers in general, although in hindsight a one day tourist pass (K150) is more than sufficient, and, if you're not a photographer, I'd only pay the local admission of K2 (!) because the elevated grass hill around the Kagamuga showgrounds allows a pretty good view of the spectacle. I'll consider writing a full trip report of my trip once I'm in Indonesia!

Now, my questions to all you fellow travellers.
1) I'll climb Mt Giluwe in the coming days as my Couchsurfing host in Hagen has arranged for a guide; my current plan is to take off to the Sepik River a few days later. Having seen both the Huli wigmen and the Asaro mudmen (which were a bit annoying at times - permanently trying to sell you things) at the show, do you guys recommend any other destination within the Highlands as a "must see" - for either a cultural experience or stunning scenery? I do know that the drive from Mendi to Tari as well as the latter itself is supposed to be particularly beautiful, however I don't have too much money to blow - accommodation and any trekking will be even more expensive west of Hagen from what I hear. My visa runs until the beginning of October, but right now I'm thinking I'd rather use the remaining time for the Sepik + getting to Jayapura.

2) Has anyone experiences with the Upper Sepik area (west of Ambunti) in dry season? Specifically, is it possible to find villagers/traders travelling up-/downstream which take people for a fee or is it mandatory to have a guide and hired boat to get around? In the coming days I'll talk to MAF about flights to Sepik airstrips near Ambunti, there's like six or so, mostly located at tributaries which look really interesting. My only real worry is, if I do find an affordable flight (if not, I'll go to Ambunti) - will I get from those, ie April River or Wogamush River, to the Sepik - same question really regarding ease of travel? Any experience or other advice on the Upper Sepik is appreciated. If anyone is travelling to the Sepik in early September, and you don't mind company, please send me a PM - perhaps we can experience the Sepik together!

Many thanks and regards,
Pakeha

if you dont have your own canoe then you need an adventurous spirit and a very flexible schedule

there are no public canoes on the river plying regular routes like a bus or for general hire like a taxi - villages arrange their own canoes to take people and goods to.from ambunti and pagwi on the weekly market schedules and will take other paying passengers

from maprik or pagwi you should be able to get a canoe to ambunti without too much wait (but less easy on a saturday and unlikely on a sunday) or a canoe going to swagup or kubkain maybe once or twice a week(again not sunday)- it may be best to take first canoe to ambunti and then on from there - getting much further upriver than swagup by this method will be very slow as trips will be infrequent and driven by events like weddings funerals etc rather than a market day schedule - getting back will be just as slow

without a guide to vouch for you it can be hard to find food and accommodation in villages or find your way around and receive a good reception - they can be very suspicious and wary - you need to make friends on the pmv or pmv canoe and get someone to act as informal guide to take you into a village- either their own or one where they have wantok

note the river is very low and hence difficult to enter the tributaries - eg into the lakes like wagu and chambri
or up the sanchi to tongwinjamb - i would not advise making plans to visit these in the next few weeks

remember once on the river its cash or barter (50:1 mix petrol, tinned corned beef and D batteries are good trade goods)

fyi petrol mix is 20 kina per gallon (4 litre) at pagwi and 22 at apan station opp. ambunti

make sure you know where you are flying to - most of those airstrips are not on the river (which is why they need an airstrip) so your only way out is a retun flight or a trek to the river and then try and find a boat on a stretch of the river where there are no villages - be careful

Thank you majordom, this is very helpful. While I do have some time on hand, I don't want to risk being stuck somewhere for longer, especially if you say villagers are cautious about foreigners.

So I might just fly into Ambunti and start there. Good to hear that there seem to be regular boats to Swagup, I really want to see the insect carvings.

in theory MAF fly wewak-ambunti and back on tuesdays and fridays but sometimes there
are no flights and they sometimes fly on other days - you really need to go to the office in person
and then on the day show your face early to confirm everything and then return at least 2hrs before

410 pgk one way - up to 16kg luggage then 4 pgk per kg extra

weather of course frequently disrupts their schedules as well - if returning to wewak by MAF plan on at least 1 night in wewak to make a flight connection out to moresby or wherever

currently no trouble or disruption on the pagwi-wewak road tough its a 5hr bumpy ride - if you
have the funds and not much cargo then the plane is great if weather is OK

once in ambunti you need to ask around and find some people from swagup - they should know
when there are canoes and make sure you get on - one might be otherwise going straight past ambunti from
pagwi withiout stopping

Great info, thanks again! I'm not sure yet if I'll try to get on the market canoes or go with a guide, it'll come down to whether I'm able to find travel partners for the Sepik. I'll definitely report back so other people can benefit.

Hi Pakeha! I was interested to know the answer to your first question, but nobody answered it: "... Having seen both the Huli wigmen and the Asaro mudmen (which were a bit annoying at times - permanently trying to sell you things) at the show, do you guys recommend any other destination within the Highlands as a "must see" - for either a cultural experience or stunning scenery?...". After your trip, what can you say about this?

must sees would be birds of paradise - you will need a guide and be up well before sunrise - and
the top of any hill or mountain so you can look out over the valley - no need to climb mt wilhelm
for this unless you want to

crajmelon, unfortunately I didn't make it off the beaten path in the Highlands - I figured it's still a long way to Vanimo wanting to visit the Sepik in between, so I didn't go anywhere further than Mt Hagen. The scenery on the road to Keglsugl is very nice and staying in one of the villages there (even Keglsugl itself) can be a nice experience. Sorry I can't help further.

About those who may have read this thread due to the Sepik question - I found a guide via my host in Mt Hagen who's a Sepik native, and he did manage to arrange a canoe for us to go to Swagup from the village we were staying in (can't remember the name right now, it must have been about two hours west of Ambunti). We went to Swagup on PNG Independence Day which was the worst timing ever - village youth was in the midst of preparing a football match with a subsequent binge drinking party, and the village chief was annoyed that we came. There were exactly two carvings at hand - what happened to the other ones I wondered? The chief's answer: "We haven't had tourists lately buying them, so we didn't carve new ones." Err... At least Swagup is a very picturesque village, and I got to see some sago washing.

I didn't go further west from Swagup as it was too expensive, maybe another time. If I find time I'll write a trip report in the next couple of months...

When if the Mount Hagen show? Does anyone have contact information for private fuides on the Sepik?
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Thanks.

meant to say guides