Papua New Guinea: A Cultural Immersion

You will regain this day when you return to North America.

Welcome to PNG and the bustling highland town of Mt Hagen where stone-age customs intermix with modern influences on a daily basis. On arrival, we are met and transferred up a winding road to our accommodation at fabulous Rondon Ridge overlooking the stunning Wahgi Valley.  After settling in to our rooms we have time to relax after our long journey before enjoying a delicious ‘welcome dinner’ at our hotel.

A wondrous day today as we spend our time at the famous Mt. Hagen Sing Sing. Held on the third weekend in August every year, we are free to wander the grounds and meet the dancers and the locals and just blend in to the rhythms of the show. We will be awe-struck by the stunning visual display of traditional costumes and headdresses, body adornment, music, chanting and dancing… for the whole the grounds are a sea of motion, sound and colour.  Later in the day, we transfer back to our hotel, a welcome respite from the day, allowing time to reflect on such an incredible sensory experience.

This morning we transfer to the airport for our 45 minute charter flight that takes us off the highlands to the Sepik River Basin at Karawari, one of the Sepik’s main tributaries. From the cool, spring-like weather of the Highlands, we arrive into the hot, humid conditions of this dense tropical lowland rainforest region, one of the great, untouched rainforests on the globe.

After a short walk to the river’s edge, we board a small shuttle boat for the quick ride upriver to the stunning Karawari Lodge, our home for the night. Not only was the Lodge built to blend in to the landscape using local materials, its remote location and setting on a ridge overlooking the river and jungle-clad basin makes it one of the most unique lodges in the world.

After a hearty breakfast at the lodge, we board our river boat and spend the day travelling up and down the tributaries in the area. Life in the Sepik Region revolves around the rivers and lakes of the basin; the waterways and the land on its fringes are their lifeline, and the day to day subsistence activities are molded to their ebb and flow. As we motor our way along, the power of the river will be evident in every twist and turn we take; narrow dug-out canoes gliding by full of goods to trade, women fishing or making sago, kids shreaking and splashing in the water, villages suddenly coming in to view and people smiling and waving wherever we look. In the early afternoon, we arrive at Karawari Village for our overnight stay. Although the amenities are basic, the chance to interact with the villagers will be an amazing and humbling experience.

Accommodation: Village House (1 night)

We spend the morning in the village helping the villagers fish and make sago. Sago is the staple food of the river people and the process to get it from a tree trunk to an edible flour is very labor intensive: from chopping the wood pulp, to soaking and squeezing out the starchy residue, to draining off the water, to forming the dough balls, to flattening and frying over an open fire. The end result is a bland, tortilla-like pancake that is then filled with fish or just eaten plain. This afternoon, we say good bye to our new friends, and journey downriver back to the Karawari Lodge for the evening. Our evening will be one of relaxation with a sundowner on the lodge veranda followed by a delicious dinner. 

Our charter flight this morning takes out of the Sepik lowlands and up to the edge of the highland region to the extremely remote home of the Hewa people of the Lagaip Valley. The Hewa were first studied as a cultural group by anthropologists in the 1960's. Prior to 2001, the Hewa did not even have an airstrip and the only access was by foot -- several days walk to the nearest road. 

Accommodation: Hewa Village (2 nights)

A full day is spent amongst the Hewa people, learning about their culture, language and traditions. The Hewa, being on the edge of the highlands, have a culture that is an extraordinary mixture of lowlands and highlands cultures. Being extremely remote, they live very traditional lives and very few people speak Pidgin (the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea); let alone English. 

We are off again on our charter plane to Tari, the main service centre for the Southern Highlands Province. We are now in one of PNG’s most remote, undeveloped regions where the traditional warrior cultures of the Huli and Duna Wigman have thrived for thousands of years. In fact the whole region was not “discovered” until 1935!  From the airport we are met and transferred up into the mist-shrouded mountains to fabulous Ambua Lodge built with an eclectic mix of modern and traditional design –incorporating traditional building materials while maintaining a first class standard for the international visitor. The remainder of the day is free to relax in the Lodge’s lounge area, walk through the lush gardens or take a walk to a spectacular waterfall with glorious views of the Tari Valley en-route. 

For those early risers, we will meet our guide to search out the elusive but beautiful Birds of Paradise that are so famous in PNG. After our birdwatching adventure, we head back to the hotel for breakfast before heading off on our full day tour into a world where clan dominance, war-like mentalities, ancestral spirits, sorcery and pig wealth govern daily life. From watching a Huli warrior dance, to learning more about the secrets of the Wigman’s headdresses, it will be another day where all our senses are engaged.

This morning we are on foot and trek through sweet potato gardens, past sugar cane, and banana trees to a Huli village for our overnight stay. The rest of the day is filled with interaction with the village people and learning more about life in the highlands. 

Accommodation: Huli Village (1 night)

After spending the morning in the village, we are then transferred back to Ambua Lodge for our final night in the Tari Valley.

We transfer to the airport for our flight to PNG’s largest city, Port Moresby, for our overnight. Tonight we enjoy a “farewell” dinner at our hotel. 

We transfer back to the airport to connect with our flights home.