Download
this itinerary in PDF format
See
current prices for this tour
DETAILED ITINERARY FOR:
TROBRIAND ISLANDS
CULTURE TOUR
Tour EM02a (Kiriwina + Vakuta) departs Tuesdays (5
days 4 nights)
Tour EM02b (Kiriwina only) departs Saturdays (4
days 3 nights)
Includes all accommodation, transport and meals.
TOUR EM02a (KIRIWINA + VAKUTA)
Departs Tuesdays (5 Days 4 Nights)
Day 1
This tour departs Port Moresby any Tuesday with Airlines of PNG flight CG376 at 6.25am, arriving at Losuia airfield at 7.35am. Losuia is the principal township and airfield on Kiriwina Island, which is the largest island in the Trobriands group.
You will be met at the
airfield and transferred to nearby Butia Lodge. Here, your accommodation
bungalow is situated in the lee of WW2 aircraft camouflage shelter. (Luggage
storage is available at Butia Lodge for bags you won’t need with you during
your overnights in the villages.)
After breakfast your guide
will accompany you on a drive across the island to the village of the paramount
chief of the Trobriand Islands, chief Pulayasi, to pay a courtesy call and
offer a string of betel nuts as a ceremonial gift. After this you will tour
the paramount chief’s village with its large central yam house. After lunch
back at the lodge you will be taken on a scenic tour of Kiriwina Island by
road, including the Bweka stalactite cave with its underground spring, WW2
military sites and relics, and places of cultural significance. Overnight
Butia Lodge. (rural tourist
lodge)
Day 2
Today you will spend the
day in a Kiriwina village, “attached” to a village family and accompanying them
through a typical day’s activities. This will include time in the yam gardens,
as tending the yam crop is the core activity in the lives of the Trobriand
people. (The yam cultivation cycle is the basis of the Trobriand calendar,
culminating in the Milaa Malaa Festival in July/August each year when the yam
harvest is celebrated and villages compete to produce the largest yams.)
Your day’s activities may also include fishing, food preparation, building or
repairing huts, paying a visit to the village school (and maybe giving an
impromptu talk to the children about your home country), and an opportunity to
try chewing betel nut, if you dare. In all Trobriands villages you will see
artisans producing beautiful wood carvings from rosewood, ebony wood and
kerosene wood. Trobriand carvings are without doubt the best in Papua New
Guinea so take the opportunity to purchase from source at basement prices. Apart
from carvings you will be able to purchase cultural artifacts such as
traditional dress (grass skirts, necklaces etc), lime gourds and spatulas (used
for chewing betel nut), cooking utensils and bamboo combs. Trobriand Islanders
are traders by tradition so they welcome the opportunity to trade with visitors
but don’t feel pressured to buy more
than you want.
At lunchtime you will be served traditional Trobriands fare: yam with green
vegetables or fish. In the evening you will again eat yam, this time cooked in
a different way and with different accompaniments, possibly some fresh crayfish
(lobster). BYO salt.
In the Trobriands there is no such thing as a family home. Each individual
or couple has their own separate sleeping hut, and cooking and socialising
takes place out of doors or under open-sided shelters. There is no electricity
in the village and once the sun sets, cooking fires and kerosene lamps provide
adequate lighting for the evening activities of telling stories, singing and
dancing on the beach, which you can observe or participate in as you feel
inclined. Tonight you will sleep on a woven mat in a very basic guest hut
on the beach. Think of it as camping. (basic
village guest house)
Day 3
After a cup of tea and
some leftover yam (tastes different when it’s cold, they say) you will say
farewell to your Kiriwina village friends and be transferred by vehicle back
to Butia Lodge for a refreshing shower, a change of clothes and an early lunch
– something other than yam, of course. At noon you will be transferred to
the Losuia waterfront where a small boat will be waiting to whisk you two
hours down the coastline to Vakuta Island, just off the southern tip of Kiriwina.
At Vakuta’s main village you will be welcomed by a local family who will be
your hosts.
Vakuta is an adventure wonderland with an amazing range of natural and cultural
attractions. The island is infrequently visited by outsiders and the pure
Trobriands culture reigns here. The children will stare at you and laugh at
your non-Trobriand appearance. You will take your cue from the behaviour of
other adults as to how you should stand, sit, eat and drink in this very traditional
village where even the size and shape of the sleeping huts are dictated by
the local chief. This is the ultimate in cultural tourism.
After the obligatory tour of the village and nearby yam gardens, you will
be able to indulge in a range of activities
at Vakuta including swimming and snorkelling
on one of the reefs in the area (BYO mask and snorkel), canoeing, hiking along
the beach to numerous isolated beauty spots, exploring limestone caves for
swimming holes, bird watching (migratory sea birds and low foliage species)
and nature walks through the light rainforest in the interior of the island.
However remember that Vakuta is a village community not a tourist resort and
for your own safety you will be accompanied at all times by members of your
host family.
At night, forget about sleeping early because the young people will be keen
to take you out with them in their outrigger canoes as they go fishing over
the reefs and diving for crayfish. During turtle-nesting season (Dec-Feb)
you may be able to observe leatherback turtles laying their eggs in the sand
on the beach. Before sleeping you will likely enjoy fresh crayfish roasted in hot coals on the beach. Overnight village homestay.
(basic village homestay)
Day 4
At Vakuta
Day 5
You will leave Vakuta
early this morning and be transferred by boat back to Kiriwina, where you will
have an opportunity to freshen up at Butia Lodge before boarding Airlines PNG
flight CG377 at 12.50pm, arriving back in Port Moresby at approximately 2.00pm.
TOUR EM02b (KIRIWINA ONLY)
Departs Saturdays (4 days 3 nights)
Day 1
This tour departs Port Moresby any Saturday with Airlines of PNG flight CG376 at 6.25am, arriving at Losuia airfield at 7.35am. Losuia is the principal township and airfield on Kiriwina Island, which is the largest island in the Trobriands group. You will be met at the airfield and transferred to nearby Butia Lodge. Here, your accommodation bungalow is situated in the lee of WW2 aircraft camouflage shelter. (Luggage storage is available at Butia Lodge for bags you won’t need with you during your overnights in the villages.)
After breakfast your guide
will accompany you on a drive across the island to the village of the paramount
chief of the Trobriand Islands, chief Pulayasi, to pay a courtesy call and
offer a string of betel nuts as a ceremonial gift. After this you will tour
the paramount chief’s village with its large central yam house. After lunch
back at the lodge you will be taken on a scenic tour of Kiriwina Island by
road, including the Bweka stalactite cave with its underground spring, WW2
military sites and relics, and places of cultural significance. Overnight
Butia Lodge. (rural tourist
lodge)
Day 2
Today you will spend the
day in a Kiriwina village, “attached” to a village family and accompanying
them through a typical day’s activities. This will include time in the yam
gardens, as tending the yam crop is the core activity in the lives of the
Trobriand people. (The yam cultivation cycle is the basis of the Trobriand
calendar, culminating in the Milaa Malaa Festival in July/August each year
when the yam harvest is celebrated and villages compete to produce the largest
yams.)
Your day’s activities may also include fishing, food preparation, building
or repairing huts, paying a visit to the village school (and maybe giving
an impromptu talk to the children about your home country), and an opportunity
to try chewing betel nut, if you dare. In all Trobriands villages you will
see artisans producing beautiful wood carvings from rosewood, ebony wood and
kerosene wood. Trobriand carvings are without doubt the best in Papua New
Guinea so take the opportunity to purchase from source at basement prices.
Apart
from carvings you will be able to purchase cultural artifacts such as traditional
dress (grass skirts, necklaces etc), lime gourds and spatulas (used for chewing
betel nut), cooking utensils and bamboo combs. Trobriand Islanders are traders
by tradition so they welcome the opportunity to trade with visitors but don’t feel pressured to buy more
than you want. At lunchtime you will be served traditional Trobriands fare:
yam with green vegetables or fish. In the evening you will again eat yam,
this time cooked in a different way and with different accompaniments, possibly
some fresh crayfish (lobster). BYO salt.
In the Trobriands there is no such thing as a family home. Each individual
or couple has their own separate sleeping hut, and cooking and socialising
takes place out of doors or under open-sided shelters. There is no electricity
in the village and once the sun sets, cooking fires and kerosene lamps provide
adequate lighting for the evening activities of telling stories, singing and
dancing on the beach, which you can observe or participate in as you feel
inclined. Tonight you will sleep on a woven mat in a very basic guest hut
on the beach. Think of it as camping. (basic
village guest house)
Day 3
After a cup of tea and some leftover yam
(tastes different when it’s cold, they say) you will say farewell to your
Kiriwina village friends and be transferred by vehicle back to Butia Lodge for
a refreshing shower, a change of clothes and an early lunch – something other
than yam, of course. In the afternoon your exploration of Kiriwina will
continue with a drive to Kaibola Village at the north of the island, where you
may swim and snorkel off a beautiful beach, and learn about the traditional
practise of shark-calling. Excellent carved bowls are produced in this village.
On the way back you will stop at subterranean swimming caves and historical
sites including World War 2 relics and the ruins of an ancient stone temple.
Overnight Butia Lodge.
Day 4.
This morning you will be driven south of Losuia
station to the villages of Wawela, Sinaketa where green rainforest contrasts
with the flat bare plains of the northern part of the island. Tourists rarely
travel to this area and here you will be able to observe Trobriands culture in
its most candid form for a few hours. Late in the morning you will return to
the airfield to check in for your Airlines
PNG flight CG377 at 12.50pm, arriving back in Port Moresby at approximately
2.00pm.