Sepik River

Once again thanks for the opinion on my previous question :)

I am now planning on heading into the Sepik region in mid April. As an independent traveler and I am wondering what would the most cost efficient method be for a single traveler. I fully realize that it will not be cheap regardless due to Petrol and a guide but there has to be a cheaper alternative to the tours found online and through contact e-mails.

My tentative plan is to fly into Ambunti and try to sort out a trip heading downstream from that point. I hear Alois Mateo is the main contact in town at Ambunti lodge and I am hoping to seek his advice prior to leaving but how hard is it to sort out if I don’t get ahold of him?

Thank you for your help, any suggestions of different routes would be great :)

Kip

The cheapest options mean that you forget about any operator who can be contacted by email in advance.

That is no problem though - you can definitely just go to a river village and arrange things on the spot.

I can't comment on Ambunti, but one budget option would be going to Pagwi by PMV, and ride a village boat from there to Korogo - lots leave on Maprik market days. Maprik itself is worth stopping at between Wewak and Pagwi, BTW.

In Korogo, Kaua Gita is a very nice, reliable local who will put you up in his house (if you don't mind basic village conditions) and can take you out along the river for an almost certainly much lower price than any of the professional tour-operators. From Korogo, you can also walk past lakes to two interesting inland villages, one of which has great haus tambarans and a nice, cheap village guesthouse.

See the PNG link in my signo line for some more basic info on the area.

Thanks for the info Laszlo it is reassuring that it sounds like I should be able to piece things together on my own, and I will definetly consider your suggested route since it sounds like it would work... just need to put in some research on what days are market days etc. Thanks for the signo link as it is good to get another opinion to that of LP.

This being said is it still best to try and organize the general plan while in Wewak to avoid "rogues" as LP puts it that are trying to take you for money? Regardless since I will be in Wewak I will sort it out from there.

Does anyone think I will be cheating myself out of the true Sepik experience if I were to only do a few day trips out of Angoram? Seems like a good "bang for your buck" idea

Kip

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>This being said is it still best to try and organize the general plan while in Wewak to avoid "rogues" as LP puts it that are trying to take you for money?<hr></blockquote>EVERYBODY will take you for money, what else?
It's only that the "respectable" Wewak operators endorsed by LP will take you for a LOT more money than Sepik villagers.
As everywhere in the World, the closer you are to your actual destination, the cheapest it gets.<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Does anyone think I will be cheating myself out of the true Sepik experience if I were to only do a few day trips out of Angoram?<hr></blockquote>I'd say so, as Angoram is on the Lower Sepik which hasn't got the impressive architecture/art that the Middle Sepik has.

I agree with Laszlo pretty well you should try and do things locally on the spot - we got in contact with Aleos Mateos when we were in Wewak and even for 4 people the cost per person for a pretty straightforward 4-5 day trip was well above what most backpackers would be prepared to pay I think off the top of my head at least $1000 per person- we stayed at the wewak guest house and they may well be able to set you up with someone - or just head up to the Pagwe and take local boats from there most of them go to ambunti - on the morning we arrived nothing seemed to be going elsewhere but we weren't there very long - if you could find anything going to the Chambri lakes region that would be superb as its stunning round there interesting haus tambaran and people very friendly - I will be writing a trip report in the next couple of weeks as I spent 7 weeks in PNG in aug/sept and you might find some of the info useful

James

Hi Kip,

I did a tour on the Sepik River in December - here is my trip report in case you missed it.
You will see that I went with a tour operator, which was not cheap, but was a fantastic experience, and I consider we got value for money. If you can, get to the middle Sepik - Kanganaman and Palembei villages. They are not far down the river from Pagwi - about an hour and a half.

I am sure you will be able to orgaise things yourself - time is usually the critical thing in planning trips in PNG. If you are not restricted by time then anything is possible. Hope you have a great time.

David

On market days in Maprik (which any Maprik PMV driver in Wewak could tell) there are several PMVs taking returning Sepik women from Maprik to Pagwi in the afternoons, and village boats from Pagwi to villages at least as far downriver as Palembei, upriver to Ambunti and south to Chambri.

The Korogo guy I recommended in my first reply charged as little as 30 USD or so for a day-trip from Korogo as far downriver as Palembei and Kanganaman - if it's still that cheap, you should offer a tip, and it would still be a lot cheaper than going with a tour-operator.

But as I see many people feel better if they can pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for something arranged in advance! ;-)

Thanks for the info Lads!

Very much a help indeed and I am alot more sure about sorting it out when I get there. I think my plan will be heading to the Wewak guest house and seeing what I can sort from there, and then heading to the Maprik area for a night or 2 and then down to Pagwi for some Sepik adventure. If I havent found something resonable before getting to Pagwi I will likely head out to one of the Villages (possibly Korogo - thanks Laszlo) and then do a few days that way.

"But as I see many people feel better if they can pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for something arranged in advance! ;-) "

Yes I people love that warm security blanket that says things are organized before going to a place like PNG... even if the options are much better when you are there. I think I was having a slight panic attact for the same reasons, so once again thanks for the input! I will definetly be posting my trip results here once I return to help feed back into this community.

Have a good trip!

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>But as I see many people feel better if they can pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for something arranged in advance! ;-) <hr></blockquote>

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Yes I people love that warm security blanket that says things are organized before going to a place like PNG... even if the options are much better when you are there.<hr></blockquote>

Hey, come on guys, give me a break! I've done lots of independent travel organising things on the spot, even here in PNG. But, as I said in my post, sometimes time is critical, hence the need to arrange things in advance. And it is a nice security blanket when needed.

In any case, I DID have a great experience on the Sepik .... Happy travelling :-)

Hi there, I arranged a short trip with Alois and thought it was the absolute worst part of my PNG trip. I would not recommend him. There are a couple of other guides you can contact at the Windjammer, and I'd go that route if I was going to do it again

Alois can be reached at (adventurepng@datec.net.pg) and we have good experience from his guides on our 5 days tour up the river (see our travel report from Sepik).

It is expensive here so you will be challenged to find someone that is "cheap" in this region.

Good luck!!

Best regards

EvAnders