10 days in New Guinea or PNG

Hello,

I have 10 days to spend in the Pacific Islands in January. New Guinea and PNG certainly interest me - as do the Solomon Islands. My main interest is traveling through villages and seeing some of the native tribes. I don't need to be near a beach.

I want to be safe, on a budget, and go deep rather than going broad. If anyone can suggest a home base city in which to fly, as well as guide information - it would be great appreciated.

Best,

John

You may need to do some more research - PNG is Papua New Guinea!
If flying into PNG you will need to fly to the capital, Port Moresby. If flying to Solomon Islands, you will need to fly to the capital, Honiara. Both capitals are not worth staying in for long, as Port Moresby is often unsafe and Honiara is either dusty or muddy and generally boring. You only get to see the real Solomons by leaving Guadalcanal.
Most accessible places in Solomon Islands are near the sea. To go inland, you would probably have to walk. except on the East Road in Malaita. Check out Exploring Solomons for information about going off the beaten track in Solomon Islands, and please feel free to contact me either on the forum or by PM with more specific questions about Solomon Islands.

If your odd Q "New Guinea or PNG" was meant to choose between Indonesian Papua or PNG, then based on your concerns about safety, the Indonesian half of the island is probably the better one.
It is also where you are more likely to get photos of traditionally dressed people.

In either half of New Guinea, traditional culture is more obviously visible than in the Solomons, and it is of course easier to get into the inerior, away from the coast/beaches.
However, the Solomons and PNG both do have much more traditional looking coastal villages than Indonesian Papua, and far fewer non-native inhabitants.

Oh, and of course you are VERY unlikely to go very "deep" into the interior and into traditional cultures in any of the 3 countries in 10 days, especially with a limited budget... that would only let you visit some of their most visited "traditional areas" like the Baliem Valley in Papua, the Tari Valley in PNG (both of these require flying within New Guinea) or perhaps East Kwaio in the Solomons (perhaps just doable by boat in 10 days).

East Kwaio is probably the part of Malaita Island in Solomon Islands which I would be least likely to recommend to a tourist visiting for a short time. The inland parts of Kwara'ae and the coastal Lau Lagoon, with the bush villages of Baegu just inland, are likely to be much friendlier, and less likely to rip you off. In those places you will also see how the 80% of Solomon Islanders who still live in rural areas actually live in the 21st century, rather than a tourist show.

I can only agree most wholeheartedly - the "traditional" East Kwaio were the worst/greediest people I encountered in Melanesia. Too bad Lp promotes them with much hype - i bet the author never even went near them himself! ;-)
Sadly, most tourists, especially those on short trips, claiming to look for "traditional culture" are more interested in getting those impressive photos of "primitive naked/painted natives" (even if these are staged for them) than experiencing real culture when it is practiced in less photogenic T-shirts and shorts though. ;-)

My Lau and Kwara'ae friends would be happy ot stage a "kustom" show for anyone interested. One of the closest artificial islands to my usual place is still heathen, and the old people are happy to do that for visitors if asked.

I should add, the LP author who was there in 2004 never got further than Malu'u in the very north of Malaita, though it was harder then. I'm not sure where the most recent one went.

In my experience, The Solomon Islands are significantly cheaper than PNG if budget is a big concern. You should try and time your trip around a festival if you want to see traditional dress with only 10 days available to you.

I was just in New Ireland province in PNG and loved it. The Tsoi Islands are amazing and the people were incredibly friendly and social. Here is a photo from an impromptu dance on the beach they did as a thank you for a talk I gave at their school on astronomy.