Trip Report by Family - 3 weeks in PNG Highlands, Sepik and Wewak

Trip report PNG June - July 2018
We visited PNG for three weeks two parents and a son aged 17. We visited the Highlands and the north coast. Here are some tips for others. (all prices in Kina – per person per day)
A great adventure. Overall it was one of the best holidays we have had. We strongly recommend it to anyone who loves travelling in developing countries. The people are very friendly. It only rained 5 times and we encountered hardly any mosies.

Security. Despite what you might hear we found this an absolute non-issue. No doubt there is violence but it is not generally directed at tourists and it was certainly not our experience. We arrived in the Southern Highlands in the middle of a political dispute between two political parties that resulted in a “state of emergency”, a 6pm to 6 am “curfew’, and smarttraveller emails warning us to reconsider our plans. We saw no violence, and no problems whatsoever. In contrast we found everyone to be extremely friendly. They constantly want to come up and shake your hand, introduce themselves by name and smile. As a family we felt quite safe. The secret is to make eye contact with people, smile and say hello. They love tourists and kept asking why there were not more coming. If you can learn a few Tok Pisin phrases it really helps. We never felt unsafe.
Independent or Tour? We went independently but booked a guide for the Sepik. Generally it is cheaper to just turn up and arrange a guide and details when you arrive in each location (though this might take a couple of hours it is unlikely to take long.) We saw almost no other tourists. This might be different at peak times (eg Easter, Christmas , Show time – August / September ). In my experience independent travel generally leaves more dollars in the hands of locals, is cheaper and connects you more with the locals.
Communications were very difficult. Before we left we tried emailing PNG people without much success. (even those with email addresses find that the network drops out often). Once there we had almost no internet access. We purchased a mobile phone for K90 at POM airport on arrival and bought a Digacel SIM card cheaply. It was helpful but several of the phone numbers in lonely planet are wrong – or not covered by Digacel (for some reason my SIM would not connect to landlines – numbers beginning with 5). Mainly we used it to send a daily reassuring text back home to worried relatives! For accommodation we waited until we arrived or rang 24 hrs ahead. Like the good old days of travelling before the internet!
Money. Basically it is cash only! There are ATMs in most big towns – Hagen, Kundiawa, Madang , Wewak. Some do not work outside business hours. Our ANZ card was a bit cheaper to use in an ANZ machine. Using the Bank of South pacific machine cost us K45 to withdraw K500. The maximum daily limit is four lots of K500. Our visa credit card was only accepted in two locations – both bigger hotels. Even the Air PNG airline ticket purchased at Kundiawa Post Office I had to pay in cash.
Costs : Accommodation is the biggest cost and overpriced for the quality. Budget on K100 per person per day for basic rooms (K50 pp on the Sepik in a leaky hut, K200 pp in a Madang air con resort) Though LP advises against it I think that to save money you could take a tent for village stays (definitely not in a town) and I am guessing a K5 fee would be appropriate. In some cases a tent is perhaps more comfortable. Travel by PMV is cheap, (K5 to K10 per hour) uncomfortable but fun. Travel by private charter car is quicker - about K700 per day or K400 per half day for a small group. Guides prices can vary. Negotiate well but politely. Agree to all inclusions in advance. Food is cheap if you buy at the markets and cook yourself. A petrol stove (eg MSR) is a good option as unleaded petrol is available everywhere. Most guesthouses provide a cooked dinner for K20 to K40
Airflights . Even though we had paid for our internal AirNuigini flight months ahead we were nearly bumped off the flight as it was massively overbooked. Locals obviously arrived early as they were aware of this issue. We found Air PNG much friendlier.

**Our itinerary.** Port Morseby – Hagen – Magic Mountain Lodge - Mt Giluwe – Kumul Lodge - Kundiawa –Camp Jehovah - Mt Wilhelm - Madang – Wewak – Yuo Island – Sepik River - Port Morseby

**Mt Giluwe.** 5 days. At 4,300m this is PNGs second highest mountain. A great five day trek (including a day to acclimatise) for serious experienced bushwalkers. This requires warm gear, a good tent, a stove, cooking gear and topo maps. Deforestation is becoming an environmental issue at Base Camp.
Hagen 1 day . We stayed at Magic Mountain Lodge which we booked via Pym on the phone. Simple but pretty and quiet. We also stayed at Kumul Lodge (we just turned up as their phone number did not work) which was surrounded in rainforest and the bird watching from the balcony is excellent. I would not bother with the organised birdwatching tour to see the Blue Bird of Paradise. The tour was expensive and (unless you are a serious twitcher) a waste of time but the bird table at the balcony was great. The Kumul Lodge website is totally out of date – apparently they don’t know how to update it – and the prices are wrong. The showers were hot which is good as it is cool up there at 2800m
**Mt Wilhelm.** 2 days. The highest mtn in PNG. 4,500m. Well worth it and much cheaper than LP book suggests. No tent or cooking gear required. A fancy new road is being built by a Chinese company and the airstrip is being reconstructed so Mt Wilhelm will become a popular destination soon. Environmental pressures include hunting, deforestation, and rubbish. Please if you feel inclined take a plastic bag to the top and bring some rubbish back down to base camp! We did so the lower half has been cleaned up – it is just the top half that needs work now. The peak is becoming popular with middle class locals too (eg from Port Morseby) which is great to see as this will increase their local environmental awareness. Bettys is expensive but I am told her showers are hot! We stayed with Martem at Camp Jehovah martom630@gmail.com 73397036– the closest to the start of the trek – his rooms K110 pp with meals were basic but good. (showers were cold). The two guides provided their own food and were K150 each for the trip whether it was two or three days. The mountain hut was pretty run down (but had a gas stove) but was only K50pp
**Kegsugal (Mt Wilhelm) to Madang.** 1 day. This can be done by PMV via Goroka 17 hours or by MAF plane from Goroka to Madang or you can walk to Brahmin and then PMV (3 days). We chose a fourth option and chartered a 4WD from Mondo phone 73518118 for K700 and he drove us there via the “walking track”. ( It was very precarious in sections) It took 11 hours via Snowy Pass (where we are told there are WW2 bunkers), Bundi and Brahmin. We got three flat tyres! The road is often subject to landslides and closure.
**Madang.** 1 day. Rested up for a day at the Madang Resort where there are signs saying do not leave valuables lying about. Chickened out of the PMV trip via Bogia and flew to Wewak instead.
**Wewak.** There is a great walk around the headland on Scenic Drive. It takes about 90 min – easiest done in a clockwise direction starting at the markets and there are a couple of “stalls” en route for a beer or a soft drink. It was a pleasant stroll in the sea breeze and the old cemetery is worth a look too. Some locals were snorkelling for fish.

The restaurant in The Wewak Boutique Hotel has delicious food and is worth a look just for the 40 or so Sepik artefacts on display. The hotel charges a massive K20 for the courtesy bus to the airport but you can negotiate a “tourist discount” if you explain that you know that a PMV costs only K1.50
Yuo Island was a highlight. 2 days. Robert’s family is very friendly. Phone number in LP is wrong . It is 72761483 naigboi91@gmail.com The boat trip takes 50 minutes and if you are flying out from Wewak he can even drop you at the airport! You can walk around the island in about two hours. It is very pleasant. (Costs 75 pp plus food 40 pp plus boat 300 return)
**Sepik river.** 5 days. We booked Johanness Teven 73637760 johannesteven1@gmail.com as a guide by email. He was good, reliable and honest. There are others that would be cheaper. He wanted a 20% deposit by bank transfer which scared us a little but worked out fine. He is from Ambunti and a place further upstream. He knows the shortcuts which was helpful as the water level was very low. (Another guide did not know the short cut and apparently went the long way around). At one point we had to push (and wiggle) the canoe for an hour across the mud to cover 50 metres. Being July it only rained once, and there were hardly any mosies but it was still hot and sticky at night. Our 5 day itinerary was: 1 Wewak- Pagwi (by charter car) then canoe to Wagu Lake (beautiful with heaps of birds – an example of a carbon traded undisturbed rainforest). (the guest house leaks in heavy rain) 2 A day walk to the Wagu Bird of Paradise site (excellent ) at 8.30 am (much earlier and it is too dark in the forest to see them so don’t rush) – back to the main river then upstream an hour to a small haus tambaran with a vividly painted interior - then back down to a small village near Ambunti. Here Johanness arranged for twenty relatives to perform a 45 minute sing sing. This was a highlight and the whole village came to watch as they had not seen a sing sing themselves for about ten months! (At the end the chief gave a little speech to the villagers about how important having sing sings was.) In fact I felt this is actually one way tourists can help keep the culture alive - by booking (and paying for) sing sings. I don’t know for sure but my feeling was that this would have cost us only around K300 – or K15 per performer. If you do go to PNG try to see at least one sing sing but every village will have a different one) 3 Downstream and then through a narrow shallow short cut to impressive Chambri Lake (lunch on a island) and then to a guest house beside the haus tambaran (HT). 4 Out to the Sepik via pottery village at Amboin, then upstream to haus tambarans at Kanganamon (where we encountered the few mosies we came across. Here they will do a sing sing for K250) and Palembi (where they do a 10 minute drum performance for K40 well worth it ). (Palembi elders were very keen to tell us they will hold a boys initiation ceremony in 2018 on July 26th and Nov 13th – tourists are welcome to just turn up and watch for K50 each phone 73615850). Slept at Korogu (1 hour south of Pagwi) guest house where James Kongon told us of his concerns for the future of the Sepik if a huge mine is approved upstream. Having failed in democratic attempts to stop the mine he is arranging sorcery to thwart it and inviting western environmental groups to visit jameskongon50@gmail.com 73663549. He also does sepik guided trips. 5. A short canoe back to Pagwi before the long and bumpy 5 hour drive back to Wewak in a chartered car (the PMVs are cheaper but leave at about 6 am which would mean an overnight in Pagwi – which we felt would not be as interesting as Korogu)
Sepik Hints: Agree in writing on all inclusions including chairs with a high back (or you can buy fold up camping chairs in wewak). We bought small umbrellas in wewak but the canoe goes too fast for them to be much use. BYO sleeping mat, torch and batteries, dry bag. Buy mosie coils in Wewak. Vegies (eg cucumbers) from Wewak market are worth bringing. If I went again I would investigate a hand held AA battery operated fan as the nights are hot and sticky. Bring a few food treats such as snacks, miso soup and a custard desert with dried mango to share. A mosie dome with a tent fly could be cooler outside than staying in the guest house. A heat proof waterbottle for boiled water is handy. You can buy 1:100,000 topographical maps (Ambuti and Chambri) from Cartodraft in Australia sales@cartodraft.com.au much cheaper than over the counter in PNG.

Have a great trip!

sounds a great trip - thanks for the report and info

glad you had no security problems but please dont get complacent - there are some very real dangers in PNG

i would advise against a tent - you need to get up off the ground - there is a reason most houses are on stilts
watch out for dogs, rats, insects, spiders, snakes etc

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