Sepik and New Ireland - Trip Report

Over the Christmas New Year I travelled with my adult son to the Sepik and to New Ireland. It was a great trip. To encourage others to make similar trips, and to let it be known that it is possible to go to these places in safety, here is a report on my experience.

We travelled from POM to Wewak on Christmas Day. We stayed at the Windjammer Hotel, which is on a nice stretch of beach with good waves rolling in. The Windjammer was very over priced – K308 per night for a basic twin share. We found out later that the Airport Lodge (also on the beach, conveniently located next to the airport) is about half that amount with much better facilities.

We were leaving for six days on the Sepik River the next day and Chris, our guide, met us at the Windjammer for a drink and to confirm arrangements.

The next day we started at about 8:00 am for the approximately 3 hour drive to Pagwi village where we got on the river. We travelled in a 4x4, which was part of the tour arrangements. At Pagwi we got on our banana boat with outboard and headed for Kanganaman Village. This is a beautiful village on the side of the Sepik River. It was very clean, with all the grass cut, no litter of any sort and wonderful people. Kanganaman has a large Haus Tambaran (Spirit House) where we spent a lot of time ‘telling stories’ with the local men and boys. PNG women are not allowed in the Spirit House.

The spirit stories are central to the lives of people in the Sepik and we were lucky enough to hear many of these stories and beliefs that go with them. Skin cutting initiations are still practised in the Sepik. In Kanigra village (Black Water Lakes – see later) we meet about 12 ‘boys’ who had been in their spirit house for about 4 weeks with another four to go preparing for their initiation.

In Kanganaman we stayed in a simple, but comfortable, guest house. No electricity or running water (except for the Sepik of course).

The next day we visited nearby villages, Palambei being the most interesting. It has two Spirit Houses and the guys there played the garamut drums with great enthusiasm and rhythm. I went back to Palambei at the end of the trip and bought two large carvings that now look great in my apartment.

Day three saw us travelling for nearly a full day along the Sepik, into the Karawari River and then the Korosameri River to the Blackwater Lakes. This was a new trip for our guide Chris, so he had another local guide, Cyril, come with us to navigate. At times we were travelling through wide open expanses of the rivers and at other times squeezing through small, overgrown passage ways. Our destination was Govermas Village in the Blackwater Lakes.

The location was breathtaking. Mountains came down to the edge of these huge lakes in what still is pristine wilderness. This is real Indiana Jones country. There was no sign of human habitation, and then there would be a small clearing with a village. If you ever want to get away from it all, this is the place.

I could go on, but you get the picture. We spent six fantastic days on the river in this manner. Chris, our guide was fantastic. He thought of everything, but in a very laid back and relaxed way. Nothing was a trouble to him. I cannot recommend him highly enough. His web site is at PNG Frontier Adventures.

We got back to Wewak on New Years Eve, which we spent at the Wewak Yatch Club with Chris – he couldn’t do enough for us.

After a couple of free days in Wewak we went back to POM and then the next day to Kavieng in New Ireland.

We stayed at the Kavieng Club, in basic but clean and comfortable rooms, for K88 per night. Had three days in and around Kavieng. Hooked up with some locals on Nusa Island, who took us in their banana boat to a couple of outlying islands. I paid for the fuel and a ‘hire’ charge. They did well out of the day, and this was much better than paying K88 per hour for boat hire, which would have cost about 5 times what I paid. We finished the day off with a carton of SP (PNG beer), that we bought on the black market as it was a Sunday!

Then we went to Bol Village about an hour and half ‘down’ the island. We stayed at the Bol Guest house. It was in an idyllic setting right on the beach. A couple of days later we moved to Dalom and stayed at the guesthouse there. Malika did a great job of looking after us there.
This was in another idyllic location, right on the beach. One day I walked up the very rough bush track from Dalom to the village on the Lelet Plateau and stayed overnight at the Puroro Guest House, before walking down again the next day. This was a hard climb, and I only had sandals. It was through thick rain forest. Luckily I had a good local guide who knew his way around.

We were then lucky to get a free ride in the back of a utility down to Namatanai, a two and a half hour trip. Here we hooked up with a guy who organised transport to the west coast where we could catch a banana boat to Kokopo, which is what we did the next day. It was a two and a half hour trip from the west coast of New Ireland to Kokopo, with about ten people in the boat.

Once in Kokopo we caught a PMV to Rabaul to the Hamamas Hotel, also known as the Rabaul Hotel. This was very expensive, over rated and had no soul. We couldn’t get out of there quick enough, so the next day we went to Kabaira Beach Hideaway, a small guesthouse about 45 minutes out of Rabaul. This place was great. Very relaxed, right on the beach with a nice reef for snorkelling right out front and very friendly people.

After three days at Kabaira, the trip was over and we went back to POM.

We did all this independently, doing much of the travel on PMVs (mini buses). No security issues or hassles of any sort. We met so many friendly people who couldn’t do enough for us. For anyone wanting to try a holiday with a difference, give PNG a go!

David

.... and just for the record, in the four weeks we were away we did not see any other tourists of any sort except in the larger towns - Wewak, Kavieng and Kokopo/Rabaul. So if you want to get off the beaten track, this might be the place for you.

DN

Chris at PNG Frontier Adventures is a fantastic guide. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip with him.

Anyone considering a trip to the Sepik should not hesitate to use his company.

Great trip report mate. Sounds like an excellent time was had. And reconfirms in my mind how good PNG can be. Not that I was giving up yet.

Definetly a great trip report!

I am very interested in doing a similar trip to New Ireland and working my way towards Kokopo. Did you find thing easy to organize from Kabaira Beach Hideaway? I am interested in checking out the Lava flows via the ocean (if possible)

Hi Kip,

Kabaira Beach Hideaway was great. Steven (from Kabaira) arranged to pick us up from the Rabaul (Hamamas) Hotel, whihc we couldn't get away from quick enough. The guesthouse is set in nice gardens right on the beach. Steven will organise anything you want to do: snorkelling, diving, fishing, trekking.... We paid K80 per night and that included three big cooked meals a day. They charged K55 for an airport transfer. We were the only visitors at the time, so we had a room each (there were three of us), but Steven only charged us the shared room rate.

The only thing is that it is 45 minutes out of Rabaul/Kokopo so if you wanted to check them out you would be better staying closer, but not at the Hamamas Hotel. The Hideaway does have a small minivan, and I am sure the guys would run you around. If you want a quite out of the way palce to relax, Kabaira is the place.

David

sweet thanks for the input! will likely head to Kabaira then and possibly spend a day/night in Rabaul since i think it would be cool to see the city buried in ash.