New email for Sepik River guide Joseph Kone

Joseph Kone has emailed me that he now has a new email which is: joseph-kone6@gmail.com

See my earlier message about this excellent guide.

tryingagain 2

Please note the correct e-mail address for Joseph Kone is:

joseph.kone6@gmail.com

(it is a 'dot' between his name, not a hyphen)

and here are his current phone numbers if you need them (he lives in Ambunti but his internet is in Wewak so there is often a delay in his response time):

675-71214829
675-76276092

Steve

We unfortunately had a very bad experience with Joseph Kone, and met other tourists who said the same. I wish someone had warned us. Seems like only those with positive experiences post here on Thorn Tree. :(
Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions or want recommendations on the good guesthouses & villages to visit in the Sepik River.

Hello all,

I am thinking of engaging Joseph Kone for a 5 day upper sepik tour in October and had a couple of questions for those with experience.

How much did he charge per day on the trip?
What was the method of payment? (He is asking to be wired a 2000kina advance - is this normal?)

For those of you who have said you've had bad experiences with him please message me with details, and those of you who have had good experiences please also message me with your experience on the trip.

Thank you!
Julian

i would highly recommend matthew "kaku" owner of wagu lake guesthouse as a guide for the upper sepik. he is very friendly, knowledgeable, and most importantly, very safe. trips on the sepik are expensive, but you get what you pay for and trying to cut costs can jeopardize your safety and enjoyment. wagu lake is deep in the jungle, and stunningly beautiful. trips to villages like swag up and tongwinjamb are a highlight. matthew picked us up in wewak, took us to the markets, and had a driver take us to pagwi. i highly recommend this. he only asked for the first half of his money when he arrived in wewak, and the rest at the end. a very trustworthy individual. his phone number is 675 737 86776

Please dont go with this guy. He is not honest. We book a three day trip in July with joseph konen on the sepik river. Every day he wanted more money and in the last night he wanted to throw us out of a room and threatened us with violence. Als accomodations and the food was terrible! Please do not go with this man. He will cheat you! Altogether we pay 1100.- Euro for this trip for three people and get nothing.

Joseph Konen cheat us too. His behaviour is stupid and I think he is a dangerous man. He wants a lot of money for nothing. Dont book this guy for a sepik trip!

I concur with the above. I contacted Joseph long before my trip and exchanged many emails in which he came across as deceptively professional, however he soon asked me to wire money in advance (which I of course did not) and when I ended up canceling the trip with him he began sending me threatening text messages.

Instead I decided to wing it and go anyway, and met an extremely helpful and professional guide named Dicky Mespuk. He is based out of Ambunti and comes from a long line of local artists. Without much money Dicky helped me navigate the Sepik out of pure generosity and I would strongly recommend him to anyone. His contact information is as follows: Omenenze1@gmail.com
+67573553853

Hi all,

when I read all this bad experiences with Joseph Kone, sometimes I think we speak from different persons... In Google+ is a up-to-date picture of him.
Honestly: in my opinion are such ambiguous comments like this from "faeifuwill" or "mirinda700" not very useful - when I read this I would not know for what I shall take care when I negotiate with him a tour.

But we already did a tour in June 2014 and cannot complain. We got in Wewak a recommendation from a expat and contact him. Negotiation about the price was not possible, but we could extend the tour and destinations in the Sepik to 9 days (Wewak to Wewak).
All what we negotiate we got and more (fishing and local market). Never we paid something on this tour (except our souvenirs) and never he ask for more money. He is well known around the Sepik and it seems very respected.
Maybe somebody expect luxury on this travel? Take 3 times of money and go to a travel agency (e.g. Sepik River Tours in Wewak). On this tour that we made with Joseph Kone you will bath like the locals in the Sepik for example. But this is part of the experience.
For PNG especially to mention: he took always care for our safety, even in Ambunti he sent his son with us (what in our opinion is really not necessary).
But a general comment: it´s always useful to negotiate a tour face to face. You see who will take care for you and to who you hand over a lot of money. So for us it was OK and we are not disappointed. We got a great tour.

Andre