September Trip

We (2 60+ seasoned travelors) are planning a PNG trip for September for 14 (+/-) days. We want to attend the Goroka festival and then spend time on the Sepik River. We have been in contact with a few PNG companies to make local arrangements, and have been told that the lower Sepik is experiencing tribal conflicts and the upper Sepik is difficult. Can any one assist with tour company recommendations (we have contacted Paiya Tours and PNG Frontier Adventures); does anyone have information regarding trouble in the lower Sepik and any suggestions on the middle Sepik area vs. the upper Sepik?

Thanks

Geezer

we just returned for the middle sepik (upriver from ambunti)

our trip was again arranged by ruth dicker who i highly recommend contact at rdicker@ngholidays.com
and on the sepik we again travelled with papa jerry and his crew - highly recommended
(please mention you were reccomended by dominic)

this was our second trip to PNG - see my other posts for trip reports on our first - and i will make a
full report later but make a few notes here as a reply

we again visited bangwis and mariwai as we are working on a project with the kwoma people
but then went upriver staying in swagup and kubkain before then heading back and staying
in the wagu lakes area

only in ambunti and wagu are there guesthouses - upriver you rely on village stays
which means you need to carry your own mossie net and sleeping mat etc and there
is nowhere really to wash and no privacy

in kubkain we all slept in one house in a large open room and as we were preparing
for bed the family started to butcher and roast over the open fire a giant bat that
they had just hunted with bow and arrow !!

if you want adventure then head upriver

you also need a guide and crew who know the river and are known in the villages
as they can be very suspicious of strangers since they see so few outsiders

downriver from pagwi there are more tourists and more facilities, or you could
stay in the relative comfort of ambunti and and do daytrips

tribal conflict can flare up anywhere in PNG at any time - the road from wewak to pagwi
was closed for a few days because of violence and we had to fly back from ambunti with
MAF (an adventure itself) - equally through it usually dies down pretty quickly once the participants
consider honour satisfied

we also were in madang and had planned to go to karkar island but they had trouble
'em gat heavy' as they say which made getting there and back difficult plus the volcano
trek was closed because of a different violent dispute (between guides and landowners)
so we didnt go

madang is meant to be one of the safest areas but just this week south of madang
on the rai coast tribal and witchcraft related fighting broke out with hundreds
of people involved and several deaths

not to put you off but you need to be careful and travel with people
who know what they are doing

PNG land of the unexpected !

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Hi Harold,

I cannot help you with your question but I write you because I will also be travelling, solo in my case, in PNG for the whole month in September.

I will also attend Goroka festival and was also planning to go to Sepik river afterwards, would you be interested in sharing costs for this with me?

I have to start looking at this, have got some contacts from local guides but haven´t written to them yet.

Thanks a lot and best regards,

Iker

Hello Iker,

Unfortunately we will not be able to make the PNG holiday until 2015. Please post your experience with the festival and the Sepik on Thorntree.

Travel Safe

Harold

OK, Harold, thanks for your quick answer and will write about Sepik if finally going there, I guess I will even solo but probably less days, ;-))

Kind regards,

Iker

Hello Majordom,

in case I contact in advance with papa jerry and his crew for the Sepik river aprt of my trip to PNG, how much will it cost me per day if going solo?

Also, could you give their contact details?

Thanks a lot and cheers!!

as per my post book jerry via ruth dicker - please mention reccomended by dominic

booking local guides via a good agent outside PNG is highly recomended - they can handle
the payments so you can pay via credit card, they can negotiate from a strong position and ensure
exactly what is offered and check you receive it and help if any problems come up - since the guides
want more referrals from the agent they tend to work hard to keep everyone happy

OK, majordom, thank you, from your post I had understood that your trip was arranged by Ruth except Sepik that you went with papa jerry and crew, but I see they are also arranged with her.

I will send her an email to see how much is it per day on the Sepik with them.

Also, in case you can or want to answer this question, how long was it and how much in total did you spend in your last trip to PNG?

Thanks a lot for all your feedbacks and best regards,

Iker