The Highlands and Islands of Papua New Guinea
With Cathy Bartrop
Papua New Guinea is a land of pioneering travel; home to pristine islands and reefs, spectacular rainforest and over a thousand tribal groups…
Just 160 kms off the North Queensland coast, together with neighbouring Indonesia, New Guinea is in fact the second largest island in the world. There’s a lot to see and a trip to Papua New Guinea (or PNG as its often referred to) takes careful planning.
My journey began in Hela province in the Southern Highlands, home to the famous Huli wigmen
Historically, tribal dancing or sing sings as they are known were performed to celebrate victory in clan wars. My guide Thomas, explains the more modern reasons…
It’s a living culture its been passed from generation to generation. Today we normally do for big occasions like opening of churches, schools, welcoming of ministers and welcoming the tourists.
And the story behind the flamboyant ceremonial Huli headress is revealed by a visit to the local Wig School…
As well as its cultural appeal, The Tari Valley is exceptionally beautiful and ideal for hiking and birdwatching. One of the best places to stay to immerse yourself in everything the area has to offer is Ambua Lodge, a 45 minute transfer from Tari airport.
Ambua Lodge is an eco resort owned by Trans Nuigini Tours. There’s a central lodge with a restaurant and lounge area and two styles of accommodation, either in individual lodges or the more modern wing. Rooms are basic but comfortable enough with en suite bathrooms, 24 hour electricity and electric blankets on the beds for the chillier nights
Once you are at the lodge you are in a secure environment and the staff here organize all the activities. During the day your taken out on pre planned trips and its really important to travel around this area with a guide who can give you lots of background information and explain the unique cultures that are here
My next stop was the Western Highlands. It is possible to get there by road but I’d take a 35 minute charter flight over an 10 hour bumpy drive any day. We landed at Mount Hagen airport and took a one hour drive up to Rondon Ridge resort, also owned and managed by Trans Nuigini Tours.
The rooms here at Rondon Ridge are really very comfortable, they’ve got very high ceilings, you come in and you’ve got the bedroom area, en suite bathroom and it goes down to sitting area. But the best bit is coming out on to your own private terrace - you can sit out here, relax and enjoy these stunning views
The vast majority of people in this area are subsistence farmers. We stopped to film the views and come across local farmer, Frentice …
It is a very good land that the Lord has given to us. Because it is very fertilized, we have got mountains very close, it rains often and brings the soil in so we don’t need fertilizer. (And what are you growing here?) We are growing potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, broccoli all this sort of things, prune them up, grow them up get the fruits, sell them in the market.
Cathy - One thing not to miss while you are here is going to the market in Mount Hagen, it’s a real experience. The individual farmers lay out their produce, its all scrubbed, its incredibly clean and they are really friendly wanting to talk to you about their produce and of course sell it to you…
As well as the beauty of the region, as everywhere in PNG, there’s the diversity of the culture to uncover…
A highlight for me was meeting the Chief of the Melpa tribe. At 89 years old he remembers what life was like here before the white man arrived and has some staggering stories to tell.
And no cultural tour would be complete without a Sing Sing…
While we’ve been here in the Highlands we’ve been to lots of cultural displays and re-enactments. To some extent they are shows for tourists but the tribal traditions that they explain are still very much part of life here today. Modern clothing may be different but the three basic tenants of tribal life revolving around the ownership of land, pigs and women are the same.
We’ve seen maybe half a dozen different tribes but there are over a 1000 tribal groups each with their own unique customs, dances and beliefs. And some, deep in the rain forest that covers 75% of the country, still live exactly as they have for centuries.
In contrast to the Highlands, PNG also has hundreds of islands. One that can be most easily explored is Loloata, the only island resort accessible by road and ferry from the capital, Port Moresby…
Loloata is this lovely little private island, literally just half an hour from the chaos of Port Moresby. It’s a very chilled out dive type resort. Nothing flash about it but its very calm, very restful. And if you are in to your diving, the diving here is as good as anywhere in Papua New Guinea so if you are on a diving specialist holiday this is the perfect place to start or end your holiday.
For the final part of my PNG adventure, I returned to Port Moresby to join the MS Caledonian Sky as she set sail for Milne Bay
Some of the larger islands, many with dive resorts, are accessible by air from Port Moresby. But expedition style cruising using zodiacs to get ashore is the only way to access the smaller, more remote islands.
When a ship comes in, for the locals it’s a really big deal…
Bonarua shots
So when you come ashore of course the locals are as intrigued as we are and very often they’ll put on display. We’ve just been treated to singing and dancing and of course the kids love to play on the zodiacs…
Every island has something unique to offer. This is Fergusson island and we’ve walked about half an hour through the rainforest and discovered these amazing hot springs, a reminder if you needed a reminder of the volcanic origins of these islands
The joy of expedition cruising is going ashore by zodiac allowing small groups to easily explore different aspects of the islands
Kitawa in the Trobriand island group was our next stop
Kitawa island only gets about 6 cruise ships come through a year so it’s a huge event for the islanders and they come down and of course they want to sell you all their beautiful arts and crafts and show you around the island. It’s a really really lovely experience. There’s no hassle, they are not forcing you to buy, they are just very proud to show off the island and all they have
Expedition cruising is the perfect way to explore these islands. It is a world apart from most people’s idea of a typical cruise
You really do get the best of both worlds here… like minded company to look foward to.
My journey came to an end in Rabaul right on the northern most tip of East New Britain. As we sailed into harbour we passed by one of the volcanoes that famously wreaked havoc here…
In 1994 the three volcanoes all erupted at once, wiping out the town of Rabaul. It was then the second largest city in PNG and now its just literally this vast expanse of black volcanic dust. There is some regrowth, apparently it took ten years for things to start growing back but this is now government owned property and it will never be redeveloped. It is the most extraordinary place to drive through and think just 20 years ago there was a lively bustling town here
At the time of the disaster, the citizens of Rabaul were evacuated and eventually re housed in nearby Kokopo which is a great place to stay if you have more time here.
The area is also famous for the 1942 occupation by the Japanese. You can visit the tunnels dug into the hills to hide the Japanese barges and for divers there are numerous aircraft and submarine wrecks beneath the ocean to explore.
If you are looking for 5 star hotels and a chilled out sort of holiday, PNG is not for you but if you have a sense of adventure and an interest in different cultures you will have the most rewarding time here.
From a natural point of view, PNG is breathtaking, the lush Highlands, rainforests and rivers and the stunning islands, there’s so much to see. And then there’s the birds, the trekking, the diving, its specialist holidays even. And on top of all that there’s the people and this incredible tribal heritage. Its no understatement to say that PNG is endlessly fascinating
