PNG PMV's - Is this plan safe or stupid?

May I have your opinions please?

My goal is to travel Lae-Goroka-Mt. Hagen-Tari for 12 days in November. Is it safe for a lone female to travel via PMV on the Highland Highway? Is this moderately safe (given appropriate safety precautions and hoping to sit next to other women)? Or am I blissfully ignorant of reality and should seek alternative transportation?

Do you recommend other options (excluding expensive flights)?

Do you agree that solo driving a hired car would be less safe than a PMV (it is definitely cheaper than flying!)

Thank you!

I suggest you travel by plane would be a best option, esp female alone, not good travelling on PMV or hire car.Something Cheaper? try MAF flights

I'd say, it is "moderately/quite" safe.
Quite how safe depends on the situation in the Southern Highlands in particular at the time of your visit.
Hold-ups do happen occasionally, but when I was there 2 years ago I talked to a Mendi local who had been travelling on the Hagen-Mendi road at least weekly for 2 years, and never experienced one.
Staying at women's (or church-run) guest houses in the region and talking to women from those areas should give you a realstic assesment of the current situation. PMV drivers themselves also know the latest, of course. You could also ask local police.

Don't count on being able to sit next to women on all legs of the journey though. Women travel less than men, and on the Mendi-Tari leg of the trip there may not be a place to sit at all - PMVs there are usually trucks! ;-)

And I would definitely consider travelling by PMV safer than driving a rented car all alone.

You might also want to read this thread abbout women's travel in PNG - and perhaps add your experiences once back.
Safe travels!

Just this week I travelled part of this journey: Goroka - Kundiawa - Kergsugl (Mt Wilhelm) and return all by PMV. I felt quite safe all the way. Most travellers were men, but there were some women. If you could find a PNG person you trust (maybe a person connected with the guest house you are staying at) it would be worth paying their return PMV fare for them to come with you to make you feel more secure. However, if the PMV is held up by raskols it doesn't matter who you have with you. It is not the people on the PMV that you need protection from, it is those who are not on the PMV.

Travelling by PMV would be much safer, and cheaper, than hiring a car and driving. At least on a PMV you will have numbers on your side.

Good luck!

Unless you were travelling with a trusted PNG person, i personally wouldnt do it.(even then, i still wouldnt do it myself!)
I have had PNG staff held up, shot at, robbed on this stretch at various times over the past few years.
You could be fine and have a wonderful trip, but then again you might not be......
PMV would be much safer than hiring a car (very expensive)
Plane is definately your best option.

No, flying would be safer. Travelling with a local woman is also a safer option.

Mt Hagen has just been through a period of heavy looting and rioting.

PNG Post-Courier Online article also reported on the fire looting. Thank you, everyone, for your helpful suggestions.