When is a boat from Wewak to Madang? Looking for details for September 2015? Sepik Tour ideas on a buget??

I am looking for timetable or something for the boat from Wewak to Mdang in PNG. I read it might be once a week but it would be nice to know it more details with date and prices in September 2015.
Maybe also different direction Madang to Wewak. We want do Sepik river and Goroka Area and we thought flying one and doing baot once.

If you have tips for a buget sepik tour please fell also free to tel me!! :-)

Thanks in advance.
Kai

Hi Kai,
I also want to go to Sepik River right after Goroka Show. Also interested in keeping the costs as low as I can. If you are interested we can share costs in sepik river. I have been sending emails to different people. Also to a guide who can pick you up in Wawek to take you to wagu lakes and village, where he has a guesthpuse. More people lower the cost is. If you are interested please contact me.
Hiram

transport ferries do run vanimo-wewak-madang-lae but not really to a schedule - they are really for goods and freight
i certainly dont think you should try and plan your itinerary around their schedule as it is too infrequent and unreliable

the only way to do the sepik on a budget is to take lots of time - if you dont have your own canoe (with the costs of fuel, motor and crew) then you are dependent on the infrequent and unreliable public canoes

travel to maprik by PMV and at the market ask around - there will be groups of mainly women who come to sell stuff and you will get offers to return with them to their village so make your choice - you may be stuck there for a week or longer until the next time they return to the market

you dont have to take the big ships. i just did wewak to madang by boat and it goes as follows:

smaller banana boats go everyday, they wait at the beach oppostie the post office in wewak. go there in the morning, talk to the skippers and choose the boat that has got the most passengers as it will leave earlier. boats wait for passengers in the morning and will probably leave late morning or around noon. the only reason they wont go is if there are not enough passengers (but there usually is at least one boat going per day) or if the weather is bad. those boats dont go all the way to madang. they only do half the journey to the villages after the ramu river, like kaian, awar or bogia where the road to madang starts from. the skipper will call a pmv so once you get there transport to madang will be sorted out for all the boat passengers.

the boat is 150 kina per person (expensive because of fuel prices) plus 25 for the car to madang.

in our case it went as follows:

be at the beach at 8.30 to secure a "seat", leaving around 11.30 and come back to the shore because of engine problems. so we didnt really leave before 1pm. because our skipper didnt take enough fuel we didnt make it to kaian before 9pm. there we waited at a waiting shed of the pmv owners house till 3.30am the next morning for the landcruiser and made it to madang 9.30am.

good accomodation in wewak: assembly of god guesthouse, 30 kina per person and cooking area

hope this helps

wow thats a lot of time on a boat and a truck and waiting around - by way of comparison the flight is around USD 120 (one way) and takes 40 min !

Hello,

I guess you mean 2016 instead of 2015!?
I am also planning to do the Sepik (2 people) in early September 2016, before the Goroka show. If you are interested, we could probably share the canoe.

Cheers, Bernd

I made a mistake I will go September 2016 not 2015.

Hi Kai,
I am also from Germany (close to Berlin) and will go tp PNG with two friends from Belgium.
We start on September 1st and are planning a Sepik tour in the first week of September, than head to Goroka.
As soon as I have more details (I have a friend living in Kainantu, PNG, who is willing to assist us as much as she can), I will let you know. (Guides, transpotations etc.)
We will probably see each other at the latest in Goroka.
Ute

Hi Ute,

WOndering if you've an update for us? :)

Thanks!

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