Seeing tribal culture & Birds of Paradise around Mt Hagen - need advice

Hi, I am planning to visit PNG for about 2 weeks around Easter (late March). Will be mainly staying in Mt Hagen with the possibility of moving around the highlands area if it is safe. I hope to see some tribes in traditional dresses (like in the tourist promotion photos) and Birds of Paradise in natural habitat. Have a few questions in my mind and hope someone can help:

1) Are there some traditional tribes in the Mt Hagen area? Is it possible to organise a visit, and if yes, how?

2) What is the best (and cheap) way to see Birds of Paradise?

3) Are there some budget and safe rainforest day trips around the area?

4) How safe is moving around the Highlands on PMVs?

5) Recommendation of good budget hotel with private bathroom (and hopefully air cond)?

6) Tours for budget travelers?

Thanks.

a word of warning in your enthusiasm to visit the highlands,mt hagen can be a very volatile area with outbreaks of fighting in town common.the traditional dress you see on tourist brochures is rare,these photos are usually from the mt hagen and goroka shows in august/september.png is not cheap!!!my suggestion is a safe haven hotel like the hotel poroman in the centre of town,contact 5421388,they also arrange day trips to remote areas.pmv trips are very crowded to other areas of highlands,and your safety on the highland roads is not guaranteed!!!if you need more drop me a note.d

Tari Gap will be your best bet with regards BoP - there's a possible 10 species to see there

You will need a good pair of bins - some of the BoP's birds are going to be on display perches in trees some 80' plus off the ground

This is not cheap - & I really suggest you take a guide to see the BoP's
Guides in PNG don't have bins or scopes or field guides

The best field guide is Birds of PNG & the Bismarck Archipelago by Brian J. Coates with William S. Peckover

I went to Tari in the Southern Highlands in September 2007 and it was great. You will see a few men walking around town and on the roads in traditional dress. I think Tari is one of the last places you will see this. I stayed at Warili Lodge and had a great time. I have put a trip report on TT previoulsy - check that out. Warili is 'budget' accomodation, but still not cheap. If you stay there make sure that you get clear what you are paying for before you start. The guides were great. The Lodge was clean and the food basic but good. I highly recommend it.

I felt quite safe at Tari / Warili. There has been a lot of tribal fighting in Mt Hagen town over the last week. You should be okay if you stay at Hotel Poroman.

If you really want to see people in traditional dress then you need to go to either the Hagen or Goroka Shows.

I saw two BoP at Warili, but am not really into bird watching. If that is your thing then the people at Warili will organise a special field trip for you.

Thanks for the replies. It looks like it is better to head for Tari. Is traveling between Mt Hagen and Tari by PMV safe? Also, any idea around how much these recommended accommodation cost per night?

This is probably a stupid question, what are tribal fighting in Mt Hagen like? Does it involve firearms, and how much would it affect tourists?

Another place that comes to my attention is Gold Line lodge in Mt Hagen. Is this a good place to stay? Does staying out of the main town make it safer?

tribal fighting" involves any sort of weapons including high powered guns,there is no immunity if you get caught up in afight!!!yes tari is a great remote area,but the trip from hagen thru mendi onto tari is tough and very long over some terrible rough roads,it is probably the most dangerous route in all of png,my suggestion is to fly into tari on air new guinea from moresby.

f.y.i. air new guinea fly to tari fridays from moresby at 8.40am and sunday at 9.40am,this is a direct flight and is 90 minutes in length,they only come back same days.don

Also, apart from the poor road conditions, are chances of getting robbed in a PMV hold up high?

I also read from some tourism sites that there are (half) day tours in the Highlands that includes a singsing. Are these held regularly and around how much do I expect to pay?

Thanks.

Such short singsings are held as often as a tourist is ready to pay for them to be staged.

I did travel between Hagen and Tari RT by PMV, so I obviously must have considered it safe enough.
Of course no one can give you guarantees, and the best sources of up to date info would be PMV drivers in Hagen (and Mendi) itself - after all, they ply that route every day.

I would also endorse Warili Lodge for birding, and unlike northmelbournedn, I found it cheap, too. The owner seems to charge as much as he feels is possible after looking at a newly arrived guest. When I was there, I was asked not to tell what I was paying to others staying there, as they were charged quite a bit more.