EM02 - TROBRIAND ISLANDS PACKAGE FOR INDEPENDENT TRAVELLERS 3 nights, 4 nights or 7 nights ex-Port Moresby Depart Port Moresby any Sunday or Wednesday. Package includes motel and village accommodation, transfers, most meals, village tours and local guides. To see prices, trip notes and detailed list of inclusions, click here to download the itinerary for EM2 in Acrobat (PDF) format (opens in new window). ITINERARY:
Arriving Losuia airstrip, Kiriwina Island Bweka stalactite cave with its underground spring Kiriwina lodge waterfront	DAY 1: Sunday or Wednesday ARRIVAL AND KIRIWINA ISLAND TOUR Fly from Port Moresby to Losuia airfield on Kiriwina Island with Airlines PNG (airline code CG). Note that storage of valuables and extra bags is available at Ecotourism Melanesia office in Port Moresby if required. Flight departure and arrival times vary from time to time. See www.apng.com for latest schedule. The airfare is not included in this package and should be purchased separately online or from your airline agent or travel agent in conjunction with your international ticket. Losuia is the tiny 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 your accommodation at either Kiriwina Lodge or Butia Lodge, depending on availability. (Kiriwina Lodge is located on the waterfront on the edge of Losuia Township. Butia Lodge is near the airport – bungalows are situated in the lee of WW2 aircraft camouflage shelters (revetments). Losuia airport is about 15 minutes drive out of town (only a couple of kilometres but the road is bumpy). After lunch a guide from the lodge will accompany you on an exploratory tour of Kiriwina Island by road, including major villages, the Bweka stalactite cave with its underground spring, WW2 military sites and relics, and places of cultural significance. If the opportunity arises you may stop at 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, if he is available. The Trobriand islanders have both Melanesian and Polynesian features and are thought to have arrived by sea from Polynesia at least a thousand years ago. The Trobes are known as the "islands of love" because of the islanders' custom of encouraging young males and females to engage in romantic behaviour soon after puberty. This is widely misinterpreted by westerners as promiscuity but it is actually a form of courtship and marriage ritual, its purpose is to help the young men and women quickly decide on a partner and settle down. However there is also said to be a tradition that, during the annual yam harvest celebrations, married or betrothed couples are permitted to have a fling with other partners with impunity. The romantic customs of the Trobriand Islanders do not extend to outsiders ("dimdims") and visitors who come to the island hoping for a bit of nookie are sorely disappointed. The Trobriand Islanders are a very proud people and they value the propagation of their genetic lines and they disapprove of casual relationships between islanders and outsiders. Overnight Kiriwina Lodge or Butia Lodge (includes dinner and breakfast)
Aerial view of typical Trobriands village on Kiriwina - note concentric arrangement of houses with yam house clearly visible in the middle	DAY 2: MON or THU KIRIWINA VILLAGE TOUR Today your guide will take you on a full day exploratory of Kiriwina Island villages. Depending on the weather and the condition of the roads, this might be either northern Kiriwina or southern Kiriwina. Stops will be made at villages to meet local people and see what they are doing, visit their important yam gardens, see historical WW2 military sites and relics, and places of cultural significance. Overnight Kiriwina Lodge or Butia Lodge (includes dinner and breakfast)
Village on Kiriwina Island, with yam house centre left Children pumping water at Kiriwina village	DAY 3 TUE or FRI KIRIWINA VILLAGE EXPERIENCE Today your guide will take you to spend the day in a Kiriwina village. You will attach yourself to a village family, 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. 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. The yam cultivation cycle is the basis of the Trobriands calendar, culminating in the yam festival in July/August each year when the yam harvest is celebrated. Villages – and clans within villages - compete to produce the biggest harvest and largest yams. Harvested yams are stored in “yam houses” in the centre of the village as a way of “showing off” a clan’s yam harvest. 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 sell to visitors but don’t feel pressured to buy more than you want. In the villages only two meals a day are prepared (breakfast and dinner) so don’t expect a formal “lunch” at the village. Fruit will be offered to you throughout the day and you can arrange to take a packed lunch with you from the lodge if you wish. Late afternoon you will be transferred back to the lodge. Overnight Kiriwina Lodge or Butia Lodge (includes dinner and breakfast).
Dinner at the village guest house	DAY 4: WED or SAT FLY OUT OR CONTINUE TO KAILEUNA ISLAND 3-night tour exits today with flight to Port Moresby. 4-night and 7-night tour continues. Today your guide will accompany you by motorised dinghy across the channel to nearby Kaileuna Island for an overnight stay in a village. Here you will be able to do a little hiking or exploring as well as spending time in a coastal village. Here, away from the main island of Kiriwina, people are more traditional and less reliant on trade store goods. Overnight village guest house, Kaileuna Island (includes local food only) Alternatively you can make this a day trip and return to the lodge at Kiriwina for tonight (same cost)
Vakuta Island girls with yam basket ready for annual yam harvest celebration	DAY 5: THU or SUN KAILEUNA ISLAND / VAKUTA Morning: transfer back to Losuia 4-night tour exits today with flight to Port Moresby. 7-night tour continues to Vakuta Afternoon: you will be transferred south to Vakuta Island for a two-night stay at Vakuta village. Depending on the condition of the road that leads to the southern tip of Kiriwina at Gilibwa you may be driven most of the way and then take a short canoe trip across the narrow channel to Vakuta Island, or you may undertake the whole trip by motorised dinghy from Losuia. Vakuta Island is a tropical paradise island with only one main village and is much more traditional than the villages closer to Losuia. The people here live in their own self-contained community and harvest their yams at a slightly different time every year compared to the main island of Kiriwina which means that their social calendar is separate and distinct. During your stay here you will explore the island with your hosts and participate in the daily life of the village. When you sleep in the village (as opposed to being a day visitor) the village people accept you more readily into their community and this enables you to learn so much more about their culture (which is why you wanted to come to Trobriand Islands in the first place, right?). Food served at Vakuta will include yam, green vegetables and plenty of fish – probably some lobster too. BYO salt. You will sleep in a guest hut amidst a collection of sleeping huts belonging to one family. In the Trobriands there is no such thing as a family house. 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’s self-entertainment of telling funny stories, playing games or dancing on the beach, which you can observe or participate in as you feel inclined. Tonight you will sleep on a woven mat under a mosquito net in a traditional Trobriand sleeping hut (Discovery Channel eat your heart out), however a rubber foam mattress can be provided on request. Overnight village guest house, Vakuta (includes local food only)
	DAY 6: FRI or MON VAKUTA ISLAND Full day village experience at Vakuta. Overnight village guest house, Vakuta (includes local food only)
Trobriand Island rosewood bowls	DAY 7: SAT or TUE VAKUTA ISLAND / LOSUIA A whole day must be allowed for your return travel because in a remote place like Vakuta Island, meeting up with a boat or vehicle that has come to collect you is infinitely more complex than getting dropped off on the day of arrival. Pickup time and mode of travel will be advised by your guide at the time of dropping you off on Day 5, as it will depend on a number of factors including the weather and availability of fuel in Losuia. Back at Losuia (touch wood!), spend the rest of the day at leisure or visit local carvers to select some ebony wood carvings to take home, or take a stroll with your guide to a nearby village. Overnight Kiriwina Lodge or Butia Lodge (includes dinner and breakfast).
On board at Losuia airfield for Port Moresby	DAY 8: SUN or WED FLY TO PORT MORESBY Airlines PNG flight departs for Port Moresby via Alotau. Note that flights to and from Losuia often run behind schedule. To see prices, trip notes and detailed list of inclusions, click here to download the itinerary for EM2 in Acrobat (PDF) format (opens in new window).