Kundiawa/Mt Wilhelm to Madang

Hi all,

Myself and a friend are heading over to Papua New Guinea for a medical elective in Kavieng in August/September for six weeks at the general hospital over there. On the way we thought we'd take the oppurtunity to explore and climb Mt Wilhelm. Having read all the posts about it it sounds like a great adventure!

Just one quick question. How does one get from Kegsugl/Kundiawa to Madang? Is there a PMV route? I really dont want to have to retrace my steps back to Moresby.

Cheers,

Jonno

Well, if you feel energetic, there is a hiking route that takes you down towards Madang via Brahmin.
I think it's about 3 days' walk before you can pick up a PMV to Madang, and a local guide from the Kegsegul area would probably be very useful.

Thanks for the quick reply. Is there any way other than to hike? Might be a bit strapped for time at that stage...

By PMV, you would have to go back down to Kundiawa, then either wait for a PMV bound for Madang to pass through from Hagen, or catch one to Goroka and catch a Madang-bound PMV starting there.

You may not be able to make all the way from Kegsegul to Madang it in one day, in which case the Sports Centre in Goroka is a decent cheap place to spend a night. And Goroka itself a better town to get stuck in than Kundiawa.

Thanks again Laszlo.
I think its all starting to fit together. I guess we'll be looking at the PMV option but we've allowed 10 days from Kundiawa to Madang including climbing Mt Wilhelm so we'll see how it goes..

I've noticed that a few people have either turned up at Kegsugl and got a guide or hired one through Betty's. How hard is it to hire a separate guide i.e. not through Betty? Trying to do it as reasonably as possible so we have more money to spend in New Ireland and Kavieng.

Jon

Avoid Betty's if you are on a budget!!!
It's the most expensive place in Kegsegul, popular simply because it's used by organized tours and is the only place in LP, whose authors very obviously never went anywhere near the mountain and only gathered info from the tour-operators.

There are at least 2 cheaper places nearby - I like the East Kege Guest House (see the PNG link in my signo line) which also has a great travellers' comment book.
You can hire guides/porters in the village very easily - they will approach you, quite possibly already in Kundiawa. The guest house can also help you find reliable ones, or read the comments book for recommendations.