Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Return to my birth place

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Papua New Guinea

I am finally returning to the land of my birth after 29 years ( I was 3 when we left). I am very excited as I don“t remember anything but still feel like PNG plays a very important part in who I am today. So my initial plans are

  1. cross the border from Jayapura to Vanimo by land
  2. fly Vanimo to Madang, (visit area)
  3. Madang to Mt. Hagen by PMV(visit area, see Mt. Hagen show)
  4. Mt. Hagan to Madang
  5. Madang to Wewak (visit Maschu Island)
  6. Sepik river trip
  7. cross border by land back to Indonesia

Here are my questions.

  1. Is this too much to do in a month?
  2. Does this Itinerary seem logical or is there a better way of going about it?
  3. Do I have to go back to Madang from Mt. Hagen to get to Wewak or could I go directly to Wewak by land.
  4. After our Sepik river trip how can I get back to Vanimo? Do I go back to Wewak or is there another way?

I am open for suggestions. And please let me know if it is better to drive certain parts, fly or by boat. We are on a backpackers budget so I would rather go the cheaper route, via land, if possible. But I also understand that sometimes it is safer and faster the more expensive route.

Thanks

The PNG part of this trip is definitely doable in one month.
However byou do need extra time for the Indonesian leg of the trip, including arranging the PNG visa there, if needed.

The itinerary is logical - my first trip to PNG was very similar.

You do have to backtrack to Madang unless you are prepared to do some serious bushwalking.

To get back to Vanimo, backtracking via Wewak is the easiest way.
You could avoid it, but again, it would involve soime bushwalking.

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