Kokoda Trail

Has anyone hiked the Kokoda Trail independently, without the assistance of an organized trekking company?
Thanks for any information.

you can do it with a guide, if you want to consider that as still being independent. my group came across a danish guy doing it this way. however be careful, guides not from villages along the trail are not always welcomed by the villagers and by not welcome i mean you could soon be without the guide.

i wouldn't recommend doing it completely independently as the track is not marked and you'll get lost, which would be very bad.

I have walked it earlier this year with just a mate and a map, and we met a guy along the way who had neither, i.e completely by himself. The track is not marked, but thousands walk it every year, so it's pretty obvious 90% of the way, Ua Ule creek can be tricky, but by looking around you'll find the track soon enough. If worse comes to worst, you can just backtrack, as you're never more than an hour or two from a village or a hut. We had no major problems, however having said that, there are raskols there, and a lonely trekker would be an easy target.

Have fun.

where did you hear there are raskols on the trail? as far as i'm aware, there are really only villagers.

they are acutely aware of the impact that targetting trekkers would have on their livelihoods. when i was there, it was explained that any local who shook trekkers down would very likely be subject to local justice. again, their sort of justice does not involve formal warnings or suspended sentences.

this is what i was told, i never witnessed it.