PNG: Mount Wilhelm and trek across the Bismarck Range to Ramu/Madang

Folks,

Just done the above and thought it might be useful to provide some feedback.

I sorted this trip out with I guide (Paul KUmba) from Simbu that I'd met in Goroka. Originally he'd taken me around some Goroka sights but we got talking about his home province and Mount Wilhelm. We sorted out a plan and a budget and then I headed off along the highlands highway towards Tari for a week or so and arranged to meet up with him in Kundiawa on the way back.

I was trying to do it relatively cheaply so I didn't want to rent vehicles for transport, this meant using PMVs for transport up to Keglsugl from Kundiawa. The first point to note about this is that they don't leave Kundiawa until people have been shopping at the market there. This means more than likely they will not leave before 1PM. Our PMV left about quarter past one at the same time as all the other PMVs going up the valley towards Keglsugl (in typical PNG fashion). We got to Keglsugl at around twenty to five which didn't leave much time to hike out to the lakes. Once we'd walked up the hill from the high school and dropped off my main backpack at a guesthouse it was five in the afternoon. Walking very fast (and not stopping) we managed to reach one of the lakes guesthouses around ten to seven and it was just light enough to find without using flashlights. Consider overnighting at Keglsugl and going up to the lakes at a more leisurely pace the following day. The lakes area is jaw droppingly beautiful and you will appreciate it more than when you are descending from Mount Wilhelm.

We left to climb the mountain the following morning at one AM. For my pace (not fast, but also not stopping often) this was too early as we reached a point pretty close to the summit at around half past three and didn't fancy pressing until closer to sunrise. This meant for a chilly time for me, but of more concern was the guide who wasn't as well equiped as I was. In all I think we hung around for around an hour and a quarter at a couple of places when it would have made sense to start a bit later from the lakes guesthouse. We hit the summit at twenty five past six just in time to see the sunrise. The views up there were superb and justified every second of hardship on the way up. Incredibly rugged though. The climb is also really quite technical. I can't think of any other "walk up" were I've had to put my hands down so much on the way. Bring good (warm, dry and strong) gloves such as skiing gloves.

We got back to the lakes guesthouse at around 10:30 in the morning and then reached the Keglsugl guesthouse at around one thirty in the afternoon after a break for breakfast.

The next day was an early start for the hike to Bundi. Be advised that this is a non trivial distance to go in one day. We walked (fast and with few breaks) for eleven hours! Once we got there we found that the mission guesthouse is now shut. Not a huge problem as the local school teacher can also put you up. There were a couple of other volunteers to take in guests as well. Best negotiate a rate though rather than accepting the first figure they name, as the first prices I heard were a bit unreasonable for what was on offer (not much).

For the route from Bundi to Brahmin I'd definitely recommend using the old road even though it is quite challenging. The new road (when we reached it) looked pretty boring to walk along.
The guesthouse at Brahmin was full up with mine workers when we arrived but they did manage to make a space for us. Brahmin has a well equiped store/supermarket.

My guide/porters for the hike down to the Ramu highway were John and Doug. They took turns to carry my main pack. Weighing 16kg this was a pretty considerable load, but I had hoped to get transport through to the Indonesian border at Vanimo from Madang and could see how else to bring it out that way. I carried my day pack with food and water (around 8-9kgs). I typically carried around 3 litres of water a day with my day pack. This was replenished with boiled water each evening, although John and Doug were happy to refill their water bottles from streams enroute (at least when we were higher up). They were excellent company and I'd definitely recommend them (see below).

Journey times:

Once again, the guide who arranged all the above was Paul Kumba - originally from Simbu/Mt Wilhelm he is now based in Goroka. He arranged everything well and kept in contact all the way through (by cellphone to the guides) so I'd definitely recommend him. His PNG mobile number is 73835910.

Im thinking of doing the same trip. Could you give me some idea of the prices you paid?

I paid 500 PGK each for the guide/porters for the 3 days from Keglsugl to Ramu highway. Seems high I know but this covered their food, accomodation and transport costs back to Keglsugl (they actually went to Madang first to buy stuff (buai etc) to bring back and sell. The accomodation on the way for this part of the trek was around 60-70PGK a night - food not always included, but all places could sort out boiled water etc. So in total that part ran to around 1250PGK all in with the bus to Madang.

The PMV/4WD to Keglsugl was 25PGK/person.

At Keglsugl the lodges are around 150-200PGK/night. The guesthouse at the lakes on the mountain side was around 70PGK for the night (bring your own food). Guide up the mountain can be had for 100PGK. Porters (to the lakes) can also be hired for about 1/3 of that but I left most of my stuff at a lodge in Keglsugl and carried my own stuff.

In my case I also paid for Paul to come from Goroka and join me on the trek. This was extravagant, but I think it was worth it as he did a good job of smoothing things along on the way! He also ended up being my guide on the mountain when the other guide pulled out at the last minute.

In total I paid around 2000-2500 PGK for 5 nights/guides all in. It was worth it in my opinion!

Thanks for your help.
Do you think any sections of the trip could be done without guides? How safe did the areas you went through seem? Were there any other, cheaper places to stay?

Hi,

Yes there were cheaper places to stay. People will come up and offer you a space if you look stuck - this could be pretty basic though and as they don't really have much interaction with tourists and have an idea what people might consider reasonable they might ask for nothing or a lot for what's on offer. In Keglsugl the LP mentions a couple of places as well.

As for whether you could do it without guides:

I think for the mountain you require a guide to climb - particularly if you are going up at night when the "telltales" for the route were not obvious at all (in the day time they were clear, but I think the local kastom regulations require a guide there).

For the route from Keglsugl to the highway you could certainly cut out one accomplice if you were travelling light and could therefore carry your own pack all the way - bear in mind that the path is hard work in places so you might regret going with a heavy pack yourself. As I had no intention of returning anywhere near the starting point then this wasn't an option for me.

You could skip guides all together if your "tok pisin" is up to scratch, but more then likely you would miss legitimate short cuts as these look just like the entrances to fields. Often there isn't anyone immediately available to ask the route where it does fork (not often, but if it is very early in the moring this could slow you down). My gut feelingis that the experience would be less rich without someone local to talk to on the way.

At any rate compared to the huge costs of everything else on a trip to PNG (flying around, staying in any of the towns, eating out) in real terms you'll be saving very little!

Good luck!

Amazing to read this story. It brings back such great memories!

We have done the same trip (woman, 31 years old and man 30 years old) in december 2009.
We hadn't arranged anything since we were traveling in PNG for 2 months by ourselves. We also took the lovely PMV from Kundiawa (sore asses) and stayed the night in Kegsugl in the East kegsugl guesthouse. Nice people and fine accommodation. We had already arranged a guide in Kundiawa which was John as well! He's a nice guy and really tries hard to make you feel comfortable. We had great conversations with him along the way.

I thought the climb was amazing. When you're reasonably fit, you can leave at about 2-3 am from the lakes. It thought the climb was tough but do-able, although there was one part right before the summit where people with vertigo (me) will not be too happy.
The view however was worth every bit of work!!! We were incredibly lucky to have clear skies in december.

We also walked to the Ramu valley. The trek to Bundi was absolutely a hard trek!! Don't underestimate this!!! We did and arrived in Bundi completely exhausted (but right before the rain started). In Bundi we did stay in the missionary but the day after we had a annoying meeting with one of the guys working in the missionary that tried to set us up. They forced us to take an extra porter (their wantok of course), which at first we refused. To avoid things getting out of hand, we at last decided to take the extra porter and ignore him all the way.

The trek to Brahmin is a bit less exhausting although my legs and feet hurt from the days before. But, absolutely amazing to walk into the Ramu valley. In Brahmin we stayed in a missionary home as well, very dirty and some strange old (but interesting) missionaries, but great food after so much work!
We took the PMV to the highway cause we were tired of walking. The river crossings were quite exciting.

I can definitely recommend John as well, he knows the country very well, in fact, his family own some land right underneath the Mount Wilhelm.
We had Lucas with us to the summit, but he got sick. To the Ramu valley we had Francis as a porter.

In general we had a fantastic time in PNG with some of the nicest and warmest people on earth. Travelling is inevitably expensive but a big smile, some presents and a friendly face will get you to a lot of great places. Try not to be over-cautious in this country cause it's really not necessary, except perhaps the biggest cities.

Good luck!!!

Anke & Jeroen (the Netherlands)