EM32 – MAINLAND NEW GUINEA CULTURE TOUR for independent travellers 9 nights (ex-Port Moresby) Goroka, Madang, Simbai, Sepik River, Kairiru Island EM32 is a semi-guided package for independent travellers keen to experience the contrasting traditional cultures of Papua New Guinea. The itinerary features a number of semi-remote areas where people still practise traditional lifestyles albeit with a few Western imports like gardening tools and kerosene lamps. Accommodation on this tour is a blend of 3-star hotels and quaint village guest houses that offer basic but comfortable facilities and unbeatable opportunities to observe village life in situ. Local guides will coordinate your excursions and activities at each destination and accompany you as you explore this fascinating country. Our office in Port Moresby will monitor your itinerary, keeping in touch with you as you travel, and we are only a mobile phone call away if you need assistance. Click here to download a more detailed itinerary for EM32 with prices, list of tour inclusions and trip notes, click here (Adobe Acrobat PDF file, opens in new window)
Meeting up with Asaro mudmen Artifact market, Goroka	GENERIC ITINERARY DAY 1: PORT MORESBY / GOROKA Morning flight from Port Moresby to Goroka. After lunch. select an afternoon tour from one of the following options: 1. Visit Asaro village, home of the famed mudmen. The village is 30 minutes drive out of town, see a display of mud helmets, watch potters making new helmets, see a demonstration of the mud man dance. A little touristy. 2. Excursion to Mt Gahavisuka National Park. Take a walk through the montane forest with a nature guide and examine some of the native flora and fauna. Waterfalls, orchids and butterflies are some of the attractions in the park, which is now managed by the local landowners. 3. Personalised drive-around tour of Goroka town points of interest, with our local guide. Visit the coffee factory, the highlands cultural museum, the Raun Raun drama theatre, the local university campus, the artifact market and Mt Kiss scenic lookout. Overnight Bird of Paradise Hotel
Village house near Goroka Welcome at Kemase village Children stand by ancestors bones, Kemase	DAY 2: GOROKA – HIGHLANDS VILLAGE EXPERIENCE Today’s activity is a full day highlands village experience. A scenic drive 90 minutes from Goroka brings you to Kemase, a rural village. Here, the local people farm the land to support themselves with food, and grow cash crops such as coffee and market vegetables to raise income to buy clothing and other needs, and pay school fees for their children. On arrival at the village you will be treated to a traditional welcome (have your camera ready!) and meet the village people. A small crowd of enthusiastic “guides” will show you around the village, including private homes, the village school, village church, and important village artifacts such as bride price ornaments and traditional money. You will be taken to the village gardens and shown how yams and other staple vegetables are cultivated. The spiritual connection between the village people and their gardens will be explained to you: there are many superstitions regarding the effect of people’s behaviour on the growth of the garden crops. Near the village is an interesting gorge populated by large boulders that the people believe have spiritual properties. It is forbidden to speak while walking among the boulders. In the gorge is a burial cave where the bones of ancestors are displayed. Children dressed in traditional costume as a sign of respect for the ancestors will guide you into the cave. The caves were also used as a hiding place during tribal fights in the past. A demonstration of tribal fighting with spears and “bunara” (bow and arrow) will be performed. At the end of the gorge is a feasting ground where the village people usually gather for feasts. Here your lunch has been prepared, meat and vegetables stuffed into bamboo nodes and roasted under hot stones, with fruit on the side. The food is very aromatic and tasty, although rather dry and is often taken with a bowl of boiled vegetable soup. After lunch you may choose between taking a scenic hike around the base of Mt Michael, wildlife-spotting in the nearby forest, or sitting in the village and learning some of the local handicrafts. A combination of these activities may be possible if time allows.Late in the afternoon you will be transferred back to Goroka town, having made a gamut of new friends. Overnight Bird of Paradise Hotel
Yonki Dam en route to Madang Coastwatchers Hotel	DAY 3: GOROKA / MADANG Private vehicle transfer with driver/guide along the main highway to Madang. The drive is very scenic, passing through many roadside villages, mountain passes, wide valleys and the Yonki Dam hydro-electric complex. At one point you will notice the sudden rise in temperature as you pass through the temperature inversion layer between the cool highlands and the tropical coastal lowlands. The drive takes 6-hours including rest stops. A packed lunch is provided for you by the hotel (included in the package) and there are also opportunities to buy fruit and cooked foods at roadside stalls en route. There will be toilet stops at intervals en route. On arrival in Madang town, check in at your hotel and take a stroll along the foreshore. This is a great way to meet the locals, see some World War 2 relics that still litter the coastline, and get some fresh sea air. Overnight Coastwatchers Hotel, Madang
Initiated boy, Simbai	DAY 4: MADANG / SIMBAI Morning light aircraft flight to Simbai. On arrival at Simbai airstrip you will be met by our local guide with a few extra guys to help carry bags. From the airstrip it is a 45 minute hike to the Kalam Guest House. Today you will explore the tiny Simbai government outpost, visit the little Kalam Culture Centre which has displays of traditional tribal artifacts, and walk to a couple of the satellite villages within an hour’s walk of Simbai. This will be an opportunity to learn some basics of the Kalam tribal culture, and a few words of the strange Kalam language. A traditional Kalam tribal sing-sing will be held in your honour tonight. Overnight Kalam Guest House, Simbai See destination info for Simbai
Men of the Kalam tribe, Waim village Learning about village life, Waim	DAY 5: SIMBAI Today your guide will give you a choice of activities depending on your interests and your hiking ability. If you are fit to walk for about 4 hours round trip you can take a scenic hike through rainforest to Waim, a more remote village, stopping to meet locals working in their gardens on the way. There will be spontaneous opportunities to observe or join in with locals doing their gardening, hunting, building houses and other day to day activities. Waim is a very traditional village make of all bush materials. Sit with village women as they prepare traditional foods, and let the men show you their “bride price” heirlooms, and demonstrate how they make their trademark green beetle head-dresses. If you are not much of a hiker you can visit family hamlets around Simbai and take a short walk into the forest with your guide who will point out wild orchids, medicinal plants and perhaps a shy tree kangaroo or cuscus. Overnight Kalam Guest House, Simbai
Children welcoming visitors, Madang coastal village	DAY 6: SIMBAI / MADANG After breakfast, walk to the airstrip and wait for today’s light aircraft flight to Madang. Our local guide will meet you on arrival and take you to a coastal village outside Madang town for a traditional lunch and village tour with some entertainment by the village kids to introduce you to the culture of the Madang coastal forest people. Overnight Coastwatchers Hotel, Madang
The road to Angoram across the Sepik Plains The mighty Sepik River	DAY 7: MADANG / WEWAK / SEPIK RIVER Morning flight from Madang to Wewak (Air Niugini flight times vary from day to day). Our local guide will meet you on arrival and drive you by private vehicle to Angoram, a small river town on the Lower Sepik. The drive takes about 3 hours and features interesting scenery as the vehicle climbs via Passam through the Prince Alexander Range’s high montane forest, and then down on to the Sepik plains, passing through grasslands interspersed with light tropical rainforest, gradually descending in altitude down to the river basin. Depending on the time of day your guide may take you to an eatery in Wewak to have lunch, or stop at roadside markets where you can buy fruit and other local foods. On arrival at Angoram you will check in at Angoram Lodge, and in the cool of the late afternoon stroll with your guide through the little Angoram township to the market where locals gather to trade, eat and pass the time. Overnight Angoram Lodge
Girls in canoe on the Sepik On arrival at Angoram Lodge	DAY 8: SEPIK RIVER - DAY TRIP TO KAMBOT VILLAGE Today your motor canoe journey commences on the main Sepik River and then you will turn off to the left and motor up the Keram River, a major tributary of the Sepik. passing The first village up the Keram River is Chimondo, which has a large culture house with carved posts and ceiling decorated with painted traditional designs. Your canoe will stop here to enable you to examine the culture house before continuing upstream to Kambot. At Kambot the village people will be prepared with artefact displays and demonstrations of their traditional lifestyle. A unique artefact called the storyboard is produced in this village. A village cultural group will perform a sing-sing for you. Late afternoon, motor downstream back to Angoram. Overnight Angoram Lodge
Women's cultural group. Kairiru Island Your accommodation at Kairiru Island	DAY 9: SEPIK RIVER / KAIRIRU ISLAND After breakfast, return to Wewak by road transfer. Stop at the Windjammer Beach Hotel for lunch (pay as you go). An open speed boat will be waiting for you at Windjammer beach at 13:00 (1.00pm), to transfer you to Kairiru Island. There are two main islands in the Wewak Islands group. Muschu is a flat island with nice beaches and covered with coconut plantations. Kairiru is a mountainous, forest-covered island with waterfalls and hot springs, a true tropical paradise. The Japanese had an operations base there during World War 2 and there are relics to see. After stopping at Muschu island for an hour or two of snorkelling or beach walking you’ll continue on to Shagur village on the north (seaward) side of Kairiru Island. There will be a colourful welcome and village tour before sitting down to a traditional style feast for dinner. After dinner there will be a cultural program during which the villagers will showcase their traditional dances and often-hilarious drama skits that illustrate their tribal history. Overnight village guest house, Kairiru Island
Hot springs bubbling into the sea, Victoria Bay, Kairiru Island	DAY 10: WEWAK / PORT MORESBY After breakfast take a rainforest walk to the waterfall near Shagur village for a refreshing shower. If time allows you may be able to do some sightseeing en route, including the hot springs bubbling into the sea at Victoria Bay, and the Japanese war relics at the St John settlement. Transfer by boat to Wewak to connect with your afternoon flight to Port Moresby. Tour ends. Click here to download a more detailed itinerary for EM32 with prices, list of tour inclusions and trip notes, click here (Adobe Acrobat PDF file, opens in new window)