Papua New Guinea info Part 3

Part 3-

Mt Wilhelm - little to add to what Laszlo has said - there are now 2 -3 really cheap places in Kegsugl - betty's has increased prices quite a bit - one just before the bridge that i stayed at was 20k for the night- not difficult to find guides and I would definitely suggest you have one for around 100k for the climb. The road to Kegsugl was one of the worst I have ever experienced - the pickup vehicles from Kundiawa are not that regular get there early in the day to maximise your chances of getting up there.

Lae- Spent very little time here - really liked the rainforest habitat we were the only people there - did not see much else unfortunately. Took the ferry from here to Rabaul went 1st class (300k) could have got deck class for about half that.

Rabaul- Loved this town there is so much to do here in terms of history and natural attractions. I have slightly different views to Laszlo on this one in terms of accommodation. I would recommend staying here rather than in Kokopo which was a bit soulless. If the volcano is really kicking off then Kokopo is the place to be but otherwise Rabaul i feel is more interesting. We stayed at the Hamamas Hotel (now the Rabaul hotel) the owners are Bruce and Suzie two aussies who are great - the whole place is a madhouse - Bruce is a real "action man" and will take you up the active volcano Mt Tuvavur if you want (5 days after we climbed it the volcano exploded with its biggest eruption since 1994 so its not the safest thing to do- bruce is one of the few people who will take you up as the locals naturally are wary of it!) The tours they offer are excellent and good value- the mother volcano is a nice climb, they have a boat so can take you out into the harbour- they have a nightclub on site - it is one of the few places in PNG that you can go out and enjoy yourself without the problems of getting home safely. The cost of a room here at 70k for a double including aircon and hot shower is really good for PNG.
Also stayed at the Kabaira beach hideaway which is lovely and personal - around 100-120 k per person including meals - diving if i remember was about 280-300k for a couple of dives including equipment.
New Ireland- We took the boats across to Namatanai - pretty scary crossing - the boats do not always run it depends on the weather but the day we went was pretty rough - the boats leave at lunchtime but it best to be at least a couple of hours before to book your place as there are often too many people and surprisingly the captains were very strict on numbers - we had borrowed life jackets and an emergency beacon from Bruce at the Rabaul Hotel - on the other side there was a truck to take everyone across to Namatanai.
I loved New Ireland it was beautiful and unspoilt we travelled up the coast from Namatanai - the Namatanai hotel was grossly overpriced - there is another hotel within 50m of it can't remember the name but much nicer so check it out and then stayed at villages mentioned in the guide book - all small family run places often down by the beach. Its about as pure as tourism gets. The eel place that is mentioned is very good - not difficult to hitch/catch public transport up the coast from here.
Met some Israelis who had travelled right round the bottom end of New Ireland which sounded fantastic. Stayed at Kavieng club - best value of the non resort hotels in Kavieng

Bourganville.
This place is a little bizarre. Its unquestionably beautiful I did not really see to much of it as I spent most of my short time sorting out logistics. Basically the security situation is not too clever south of Arawa - getting to Arawa is easy. South from here is a lot tougher there is no public transport and perhaps only a vehicle or two a day taking the road mainly because the security situation is not great and locals are scared to use the road. I made enquiries around Arawa from shopkeepers who seemed to know what they were talking about who suggested there was one problem checkpoint which as a foreigner would cause me a real problem - with the history on this island this does not unduly surprise me. Even if I had taken the chance and got stuck at the checkpoint there was no guarantee i could easily get back to Arawa as there is so little transport on the roads and i didnt fancy spending the night with armed militia who might be hostile to me. In addition two local people had been shot in Buin the weekend before I arrived in Bourganville so things were not exactly good there either.
So what are the options apart from taking this dicey route- well joining together with other tourists is hopeless as there aren't any - if you look at the solomon islands map the island of Choiseul is the long one in the north - at the top of it is a town called Taro (not marked) but this is the biggest town on the island and from here there are 4 flights a week to Gizo even a basic bank. I met fisherman in Taro who had come across from Arawa so I would guess there are at least 2-3 boats coming across each week. This is also a similar length of journey time than to get to the Shortlands. - possibly slightly shorter and you are more likely to get trade boats going there from Arawa than the shortlands. Desperately trying to catch the weekly flight from the Shortlands to Gizo I ended up paying about $150US to get from Arawa to the Shortlands (that was per person for two of us (the other person was a scientist who I was fortunate to meet in Arawa and came across to the Shortlands a couple off hours before going back to Bourganville) which is expensive but cheaper than being stuck in Arawa for a few days. The Shortlands is beautiful though and you really have an end of the world feeling about it. There is usually about 1 flight a week from there to Gizo - check the Solomon Island air website for the day it flies - even this can be wrong so send them an email. I stayed at Koliai island which is the closest village to Ballalae island- no one lives on Ballalae so you can't stay there. I missed the weekly flight by 3 hours so stayed on Koliai before at last getting a boat out 4 days later - there are quite a few things the villagers will do with you - ie- bat caves , crocodile pools, snorkelling etc. Ballalae has the most extraordinary array of WW2 planes - apparently some american was going to export them all to his home country so they were collected out of the jungle on Ballalae and then all put together at the edge of the forest on the beach so you have about 10 plane wrecks in one small area in very very good condition - its by far the best examples I saw anywhere in PNG or Solomons. Fortunately the Government saw sense and the export license was refused but that does I guess also mean they will just continue to rot away but at least it means as a tourist to this area you can get to see them. For many people the Shortlands is absolute tourist heaven a beautiful scarcely touched paradise and although I had many problems getting to and from these islands it really was an extraordinary experience.
Getting on from the Shortlands is a real problem- I assumed there would be transport from here to Gizo - however this is abig problem- first of all its a huge distance away, secondly with the cost of fuel its just beyond the budget of most of the locals- the villagers where I stayed said there was just no boats now - you are more likely to be able to get to Taro on Choiseul island (2-3 hours away) as there is a bank there and provision stores but again few boats do this and even if there is the occasional boat because there is no communication between the various villages in the Shortlands there might be a boat going there from another village but you would simply not know about it. As it is when I arrived in the Shortlands I went to meet the RAMSI(international peace keeping force) officials who were so worried about my safety crossing by boat to Taro(from high seas rather than security) that they even took a digital photo of me in case I disappeared! Having since done the trip I am not sure it is any worse than Kokopo- Namatanai. The Shortlands is a lot cheaper than the PNG I ended up paying about 30-50 solomon dollars a night for all my accom/food at the village but fuel is very expensive about $1.5US per litre so though the distances are not that great particularly if you are on your own you can find your costs increasing quite a bit. To Charter a boat from my island to Taro would probably cost $75US- more if you have to pay the captains cost of getting back to the Shortlands as well (I got lucky and found one of the few boats going across to Taro with locals and so we shared the cost travelled by 15hp engine which made it cheaper). To give an idea of just how rare tourists are in this area - throughout my trip in the Solomons I met RAMSI officials who knew who I was because word spread around the country that there was an englishman in the Shortlands- my photo was emailed to Honiara and there was a great deal of scepticism that I was a tourist. As one Ramsi official in Gizo said to me " We don't have tourism up there so some people were commenting you might be a drugs dealer or paedophile!". Well thanks for that! So at the very least this gives you an idea of how far away from anything this area is.
I don't know much about what there is to see around Taro- like the Shortlands it is beautiful and there are 2-3 places you can stay there. In the Shortlands the only money they will accept is Solomon Dollars/Png Kina so Taro is the first place you can change US dollars into local currency.
So overall this region is wonderful area but to be extremely flexible and you need to have reasonable financial resources to be able to get around - if you are backpacking on the absolute minimum budget forget it. One final thing flight prices in Solomon Islands are virtually double what the guide book talks about.

I have more information on my website www.onlinetraveldiary.co.uk/downjim with photos and postcard entries on both Solomons and PNG so feel free to take a look

JAMES

PS I would encourage anyone in countries like PNG who uses this website to write a report when they get back - as things are so constantly changing there and the LP book is already quite out of date and arguably increasingly catering for non backpackers. I know how useful Lazslo and other people's info was for me in terms of trying to keep my costs as low as possible so hopefully some of my reports will help people travelling in this amazing country in 2008

Interesting - couldn't even reach Buin?

As for RAMSI, I took care never even to see them before getting stamped in in Gizo.
An Israeli who went from Bougainville direct to Taro had trouble with them there, too.
In the Shortlands, another great collection of WWII relics is on Poporang island opposite Korovou. Lots of planes (one under the water!), well preserved canons/guns, a radar, bomb shells, even a motorbike with a side-car! In the hills behind Korovou itself, I even found a whole rotting car. More planes on nearby Faisi and Orlofi islands - the latter was also one of the most perfact paradise isles I've seen on my entire Pacific trip!

I completely agree it is paradise there - it is interesting to hear what else there was to see there - I had a major problem that I had so little access to money at that point until I was able to get to Gizo that many of the things i wanted to do were just not possible. I found RAMSI more amusing than troublesome I just made sure wherever I went before I was legal in the country that I went to report to them - and stuff was always radioded through so they were always expecting me. I felt that at the very least if I am illegal in the country I need to own up to them as whereas in the Shortlands they may not hear about you in somewhere like Taro they certainly will as the place is town is small. All they were trying to do was make sure I got to Gizo and became legally stamped in.

thanks for the reports, and the information provided by everyone here has been invaluable and I havent even gone yet... will definetly add my 2 cents in June when I am back

Thanks again for this info!

Any idea how much would be the boat from Taro to Arawa? How about the time required?
I plan to get to Taro and make my way from there to Arawa:)

mike

Vdq - I think it might be quite difficult - There certainly are trade boats going back to arawa (i met at least one captain) however this route is more illegal than heading from png south - taro is a tiny island - it takes about half and hour to walk - it is virtually inconceivable that RAMSI would not know of your presence and what you are up to- and they might even try and stop you as they are pretty organised up there - as you won´t have an exit stamp for the Solomons. In addition you will have the problem once you eventually get to Buka of getting a entry stamp - I am not sure how happy the png authorities will be that you have entered this way. I think if it all goes to plan realistically in 3 days or so you would have a reasonable chance of getting a boat - if you get on a trading boat i think you might get one for 50 us dollars but that really is a guess its a 4hour trip i think- if you have to charter it might well cost you if you are on your own 3-4 times that much. I guess with this kind of route you must have a backup plan if it fails - so you have got to consider that you may have to go all the way back to Honiara. As an alternative option if RAMSI in Taro were causing a problem head to the Shortlands by boat 2-3 hour away- although there is Ramsi there islands are so spread out they might not know about you and you could then get a boat to Buin (just over an hour) proably charter but you may get a boat on market days which Lazslo has discussed before - in Buin you could then reassess the safety of the checkpoint( they are more likely to be happy about the fact you will be leaving the southern area than arriving in it) and if you think its a problem take a boat around the problem area (3-4 hours) - and then obviously you still have to deal with Buka. It would obviously be an epic journey and would be interesting to hear if anyone has gone from solomons to png successfully by this route but it could also prove to be pretty expensive as well. Hope this at least provides some ideas

JAMES

Police in Buin were even trying to forbid me from leaving PNG that way, so I am pretty sure they won't exactly open anyone ENTERING the country there with open arms.

I'm not sure how much it would cost to get from Taro to Arawa. In 2003 I travelled in a shared outboard from Fauro (in the Shortlands) via Vella Lavella to Gizo for 100-150 Solomon dollars, something like 20 euros (?). The distance from Taro to Arawa is much less. But the price will depend on how good you know people. Locals travelling to Arawa from Taro/Fauro, often go only part of the way by outboard (for example to Koromira) and the rest by road.

Also note that outboards from Taro to Bougainville can be very overloaded. I met a group of Bougainilleans who had loaded a couple of full dieseldrums on their boat, plus lots of other cargo. I don't think I would feel safe travelling with them. But then again, maybe you'll find a good ride. You will need time if you want to do it cheaply.

You might be able to travel with fisherman to Kariki Village on Fauro and from there to Bougainville. Or from Kariki to Samanago or Toumoa Village on Fauro's South Coast where villagers travel regulary to Kangu Beach on Bougainville. You can radio ahead from Taro/Gizo to these villages or meet up with the fishermen. Since I travelled from Gizo to Taro by boat (Lauru I), I had plenty of time to meet local people and eventually joined someone to Kariki. From Kariki I found a boat direct to Arawa for free (with an ex-BRA commander and an Australian guy who worked on the road development in Bougainville - they were on a sportsfishing trip). Note that I had to wait for almost 3 weeks for any boat to make this trip.

Laszlo and James, don't you think it's a problem that you didn't get a PNG exit stamp? For example for your next PNG visit. PNG must keep track on overstayers in some way.

Wouter

Also this is what I posted on the TT in a reply to Mike a few weeks ago:

In 2003 I made a crossing into Bougainville from the Shortlands. There was no immigration office on Bougainville at that time (and I doubt there is now). I only traveled as far as Buka. After 3 weeks I returned to the Solomons.

This trip was not really legal and I would not have dared to travel onwards to Rabaul or Port Moresby (and be charged with illegal entry). I had been to Bougainville - legally - a few months earlier. Some people thought I was still there or that I returned from mainland PNG again. Police on the island did not really seem to function well at that time. Ex-combattants still had a lot of control. Since I made the crossing to Bougainville with an ex-commander of the BRA, I felt quite safe.

But this was 4 years ago, so the situation is likely to have changed.

You can contact PNG immigration or a PNG embassy to ask if you can get permission to make the trip. Maybe it's possible to do it if you have a PNG visa before you arrive and/or a ticket to leave the country. You can also try the PNG embassy in the Solomons.

Instead of travelling to Ballelae, you can also fly/boat to Taro (Choiseul). Outboards to Bougainville also leave from here, though not as often as from the Shortlands. This crossing is likely to be a bit more dangerous due to less protested seas. There is no immigration office on Taro. The nearest ones are on Shortland Island (though I am not sure it is open) and Gizo.

Myself, I travelled from Taro to Kariki village on Fauro (in the Shortlands). I spend a few weeks in the village before the first outboard left to Bougainville (all the way to Arawa). Villagers from Toumoa and Samanango on the south coast of Fauro travel to Bougaiville more regulary (to Kangu Beach, near Buin). As do villagers from Shortland Island.

Returning to the Solomons, you can just show up on Kangu Beach and look for a boat (S$10-20). The name of someone in the Shortlands is helpful. I did not travel through Buin Town. Visiting the martket there, might give you a bit more lobbying time (if you don't get arrested).

Please keep us informed about your trip.

Wouter

Wouter,
I'll be honest with you the lack of a png exit stamp is a concern - if i was doing the journey again i would stop in Buka and at least make general enquiries - whether they would have given me one I am not sure - as it was when I reached Honiara I went to see the British Ambassador who spoke the Png High Commissioner and faxed him across a letter explaining what I had basically done (with a few subtle alterations- I claimed that I had made it to Buin not realising there was not exit facilities there and was so freaked out by the checkpoint that I didn't feel safe going back to Buka) so hopefully this may resolve the problem for me. I think at the very least I will get a new passport before I go back again
It is also interesting to hear how you did it - the only thing I would say is that you did very cheaply as with petrol costs so much higher now it means travel is a lot lot more expensive now.

James,

All that should be OK. Especially a new passport. Indeed, it might be a good idea to make general enquiries at Buka or maybe Rabaul next time. Or just ring the immigration office in Port Moresby to hear what they say. It would make things a lot easier if there was an immigration office at Buin or Arawa. It's such an interesting route. I spoke to a Bougainville representative here in Holland and I mentioned the topic. Who knows, they might do something with it.

Indeed I managed to travel quite cheaply in 2003, but I had loads of time - spending about 3 months in PNG and 5 in Solomon Islands. I really like spending time in villages as well. Apart from the petrol, I buy foodsupplies for my hosts and sometimes give them some money. To me, the main thing to do in most of these villages is to talk to people and to participate (a bit) in their daily lives. Here in Amsterdam, I study cultural anthropology.

Any plans for returning to PNG or the Solomons soon? Myself, I plan to go to the Solomons (and maybe PNG) in 2008.

Wouter