ESimbai cuscus fur headresss
Simbai hunters
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DAY 1: MADANG
/ SIMBAI
0700 Check in at Madang airport for your light aircraft flight to Simbai
(your ticket will be available for collection at the check-in counter).
NB Simbai flights do not operate on a fixed schedule – departure
and arrival times are flexible to meet the needs of passengers and
cargo customers at various remote airstrips around the Madang province,
and therefore you may need to be patient if the aircraft has to do
a run to another airstrip and back before doing the Simbai run. Unless
the weather is really bad, the Simbai flight always operates Mon-Sat
but you may have to wait.
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 language.
Overnight Kalam Guest House, Simbai.
A traditional Kalam tribal sing-sing will be held in your honour
either this evening or on your last night.
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Simbai
green beetle head dress
Simbai family
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DAY 2: SIMBAI
Today your guide will give you a choice of activities depending on
your interests and your hiking ability.
If you are fit to hike for about 4 hours you will take a scenic hike
through some village hamlets a little further afield, stopping to meet
and talk to locals you meet 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.
If you are not much of a hiker there is plenty to see around Simbai
and its nearby satellite hamlets. Visit the primary school and give
a talk about your home country and hear the children sing the national
anthem – teachers are delighted with such opportunities for the
students to hear English spoken by Westerners. Visit the little health
centre and talk with the nurse about the kinds of health problems people
experience in this remote area.
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.
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.
Overnight Kalam Guest House, Simbai.
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