Papua New Guinea (travel)

I know both of these places are not touristy. But if ever you have to pick, which state capital do you want to visit?

PNG was an incredible place to visit, but quite difficult to find information for! I figure I'd pay it forward a little: while not an easy place to travel, this country and its people deserve a better reputation than they've got. I also want to thank this since-deleted user's for kickstarting my planning years ago, even if I didn't end up going to the Highlands like I thought I would!

Me: I'm 34M from Canada and chose to travel solo. There aren't many tourists to PNG, but at the festivals, I did run into quite a few independent travelers, generally of an older and surprisingly majority-francophone crowd. I ended up traveling together on-and-off with one person I met.

Trip Length: I planned my trip around festivals: the National Mask Festival in East New Britain, the Shark Calling Festival in New Ireland (which I didn't end up going to, more later on that), and the Sepik River Crocodile Festival in the Sepik. I improvised plans in between. To give myself a small buffer around the festivals, I made the trip a smidge over one month long.

Budget: PNG isn't cheap, and so I didn't come with a budget restriction at all other than "nothing unreasonable." I flew from Canada via Australia using points plus a few hundred in fees/taxes. Internal flights in PNG cost me about US$1000. Over the month, I spent about US$2700. Granted, I was pickpocketed twice (stupid I know) and lost $80 cash and an old phone, which I replaced with a $160 burner (they're all expensive since everything's imported). At least I had kept a spare debit card separate from my wallet in the first place, or the trip would have been over. (My attempts at Western Union-ing myself kept getting flagged!)

Taking away mishap-related spending but including the domestic flights, that's about $3400, which technically averages to roughly US$100/day. Daily expenses varied wildly, since there were three Couchsurfing days of zero expenses, four scuba dives totalling $280, and another $850 ($1700 split two ways) spent on just six days in the Sepik! There were few to no restaurants to spend on outside of Port Moresby, kai bar food is plain sad but cheap, and food at accommodations was often free out of goodwill and/or good luck.

Accommodation: Port Moresby is the only place I found active Couchsurfing hosts. In New Ireland, I was also invited to stay at a PMV driver's home. Otherwise, affordable paid accommodation ran from K100 ($27) to K220 ($60) -- not as bad as I was expecting. That's a private room with a fan and usually shared bathroom. Water is usually from rainwater storage tanks, and electricity usually for a few hours per night (if at all) by generator. Everything is arranged through WhatsApp if in advance.

On the Sepik, accommodation was sleeping bags and mosquito nets on the floors of homes (K50), with piddly springs a long walk away to wash up, and long-drop latrines.

Transport: Flights are necessary to get around most of the country as inter-regional roads practically don't exist and ships too infrequent. All six of my flights were delayed by at least two hours each, with no announcements. Air Niugini is currently a mess, and PNG Air is only a bit better. Don't pull a tight layover. Worse, one of my flights, supposed to run daily at 6 am each morning, was cancelled for one week straight, causing me to lose three days. (On one of those days, a national fuel shortage ground all domestic flights in the country. After that was quickly resolved, no reason was provided for my flight's constant additional cancellations.) Opting after that to book ongoing flights only after landing in the departing city gave me security, but cost me both time (as I decided to have at least one day between flights) and far more money.

I tried to take a boat between East New Britain and New Ireland. I lost three more days due to weather. (So yeah, tally that up and I lost about a week!)

Otherwise, it's PMVs (public motor vehicle) everywhere, and those take the form of vans, buses, flatbed trucks with benches, and boats.

Security: Honestly, it's not nearly as bad as people say, though there are concerns. Follow local advice, avoid areas with active tribal conflict, avoid going out after dark, and you're good. Keep tabs on your belongings: I got so comfortable I let my guard down twice getting pickpocketed, only noticing a few seconds later. You'd think I'd learn after the first incident! (I also don't blame PNG for this -- I can't count how many times I've heard friends get pickpocketed on their Europe trips.)

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With all of that out of the way, you'd think I had a terrible time. I've never had so much go wrong before: I had some terrible luck and incredibly low moments! I even thought about giving up and heading back to Australia early at one point, but with no flights out of Kavieng and no estimated resolution date, I couldn't get out even if I wanted to. But I'm glad I stuck it out, and overall, I had great luck too, as this is one of the most fascinating places I've ever been, and the people are super nice.

East New Britain: The mask festival was simply incredible, a chance to see a bunch of different singsings that would individually be difficult to seek out, in particular the Baining Fire Dance, where masked dancers kicked up clouds of embers by a giant fire in the dark of night. The leafy pom-pom looking tubuan kinavai is the infamous display, as are the very precarious hats of other tribes, but I was genuinely shocked to watch the fire eaters and bottle eaters do literally that.

Having lost a week due to weather and flight shenanigans to/from New Ireland, I only had one day for Rabaul. I squeezed in what I could with seeing the volcano that destroyed the town in 1994, as well as some of the tunnels including a 5-story underground hospital made during the Japanese occupation in WWII. I sadly had no practical time for a scuba dive to a WWII plane wreck.

New Ireland: Having missed the Shark Calling Festival due to the boat situation, I found out about the two-day New Ireland Day celebrations and aimed for that instead, cancelling a proposed stay in Bougainville in the process since the flights there would be too expensive to justify a shortened stay and increase the risk of further cancellations/strandings. The festival was pretty cool, featuring singsings from cultures different to ENB, and oddly had a political bent as the separatist leader of Bougainville was invited to give a speech on national television.

While in Kavieng, I did four scuba dives, all of which were fantastic -- one went up and down a bunch of caves and tunnels, one had enormous pelagics like tuna and Spanish mackerel, and the last two were shallower and full of pristine, colourful coral. Lots of reef sharks and even some rays throughout.

I spent a few days going up the Boluminsky Highway, and staying in Dalom village in particular was a natural highlight with that jawdropping turquoise river running right to the ocean. I also got to see some Malagan carvings, Saturday Adventist gatherings, and river eels, and got invited to stay with a family in the mountains. This was also a great time just to go at the pace of local life and talk with people in villages and local transport, and all improvised.

Sepik River: Grouping up with the other tourist and splitting costs was the only way I could afford this. I had been in touch with guides on WhatsApp for months and the price quotes were all quite high due to the cost of petrol on the river and the expensive 4x4 transport to get there in the first place. (We skipped the cheap PMV option from Wewak to Pagwi, after hearing about recent holdups.) I'm very grateful that this part of the trip actually came to pass, because I don't know what I would have done otherwise with a whole week!

I timed my visit for the Crocodile Festival (what a relief that I wasn't stranded in Kavieng for any longer), and rather than have to go far distances up and down the river to see a variety of Sepik cultures, it was great to again have them all in one place. It's the Lower Sepik tribes that cut and scar their skin to look like crocodiles and they were at the festival, but it was the Upper Sepik that I visited before and after the festival, getting to see birds of paradise in the wild, spirit houses further off the "beaten" path, and village life in general far away from the rest of civilization.

Port Moresby: I had to stay here on three separate occasions. It's...not pretty, nor walkable, and choked with traffic, but it's also the only place in the country with creature comforts. There's a jarring wealth gap with lots of foreigners, primarily Australians, present in the gated rich neighbourhoods and malls. I had a wonderful Couchsurfing host who treated me to dinners at home and in restaurants, drove me around to see a few sights, and took me also to the Nature Park, where it's much easier to see birds of paradise up close.

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General: It bears repeating, but people are seriously nice in PNG. People constantly feel the need to be protective of outsiders, especially the rare tourist, and well-meaning strangers escorted me around or at least offered to everywhere I went. (It did get annoying sometimes.) When I lost my wallet in a bus and before I resigned myself to the fact that it was probably snatched, people at the main bus stop helped me search every incoming bus for two whole hours, a transient man offered me bus fare, and I was offered a ride to the radio station to make a PSA!

Unlike other countries, people here also really like having their picture taken. They're also quite chatty! It's the people that really made the trip for me -- and the personal connections you make will genuinely open up more options and spontaneous invitations, and get you where you want to go.

Overall: If you're at all curious about a place like PNG, and especially if you've got a keen interest in traditional indigenous cultures, it's a place worth visiting! Seeing how a country of 800 different language groups can coexist, plus how their traditions are truly woven into their modern (or rustic) lives in 2023, made everything worthwhile. You'll need a high tolerance for things going sideways though, in addition to enough time for flexibility and a healthy budget. If you're good with all that, it's a hearty recommend.

Am I hankering to go back? Probably not for a long while, but I'd never rule it out. There's lots of places left in the country that I haven't seen: Bougainville, the Highlands, and the Trobriands stick out. Lots of festivals too: the famous Goroka Show, the Shark Calling Festival.

For anyone seriously considering a visit, I've written a lengthier on my website that summarizes all of the research I did for this trip, with particulars on transport, accommodation, and Sepik guides. I'm just hoping that I can save anyone some trouble in the future.

Pictures: I can't figure out how to add a gallery to this post like I've seen others do. I'll just link my favourites externally.

Happy to answer any questions!

Hey guys,

I'm a backpacker currently located in Northern Queensland (Australia) and I've been thinking about visiting Papua New Guinea. Preliminary research has mostly convinced me to not go. Lack of infrastructure, exceptional levels of crime, and the sheer cost of the endeavor would make it difficult.

However, I was curious if anyone here has done it and has any recent first hand experience. I grew up in a rough area and am used to being the only white guy in places, and understand the target that can come with. However, I was curious if PPNG was as bad as travel advisories say. I primarily want to visit Goroka to meet the tribes out there, but have been told the only reasonable way to get there is flying from Port Moresby which is bloody expensive. Is this really the case?

If anyone has any information or any stories to share, please do so. I'm currently convinced to not go, but was hoping to hear from someones first hand experience then decide.

First of all, I want to say that the people in PNG were incredible. Amazingly friendly, almost everyone we met on the way would say hello and often share some stories. I haven't shaken so many hands in 4 years.

Itinerary

Rabaul

Everything started by arriving in the infamous Port Moresby (POM). I began by visiting Rabaul for 5 days, staying at the Ropopo Plantation hotel. It's not cheap (400 kina a night), but it's really comfortable. Good to relax after a long trip with the beach, pool, and crazy sunsets.

I did a WWII history tour exploring Japanese tunnels one day, then went wreck and coral diving the next, and finally did a Tavurvur volcano hike. All these activities were arranged with Niugini Dives and Tours, which is on site at Rapopo. It's more expensive (250-350 kina for land tours, 600 kina for 2 boat dives) than finding a private person to take you there, but it's much easier and smoother. I highly recommend all the tours. Just don't take the boat to the volcano; on the way back, the sea got choppy and I felt like a screaming brick in a washing machine.

Then I tried to fly to POM, but the flight was overbooked. There was a bit of a brawl to get boarding passes, and one guy was constantly screaming "dis issa fakaduppa!" Eventually, I managed to get to POM in time to transfer to Goroka.

Goroka

In Goroka, I stayed at the Pacific Gardens Hotel, which can be booked via for 280 kina a night. Probably the second fanciest hotel in town after the Bird of Paradise, but much cheaper. Beautiful garden, huge rooms, and okay food. But they forgot to pick me up from the airport even though we agreed. No WiFi, no free drinking water. They have a small animal jail in the garden which is not cool.

I booked a Goroka tour with Johnson (John) Mandome, WhatsApp +675 7360 9517, . He can look intimidating at first, but he's a kind guy. But be thorough and firm when arranging the pricing of the tour with him.

We did a four-day tour of Goroka - visited several tribes and saw 10 performances (mudmen, Mokomoko, skeleton, and many others), went on light hikes, learned about local agriculture, and went to see the bird of paradise. The performances were fantastic, albeit short. We had a rundown Mad Max Land Cruiser - the steering wheel had to be at a 45-degree angle to drive straight. The costs for the car, fuel, driver, food, performance fees, staying in the village fees, guide bonus, and helpers all amounted to 5800 kina. I feel like I overpaid, but every other guide I asked quoted similar prices.

We stayed one night in John's village, and that was the highlight of the tour. Everybody was super friendly, and it was great to see regular village life. Most of them speak decent English and can share many details about their daily life if you're interested. Just that this incurred extra cost of 1000 kina for wine for the village and stone oven cooking. All of these were shared by the village, and they greatly appreciated it.

The day after, we went to see the Regiana bird of paradise in Unggai. You have to be there at 5:30 to see the birds, so we decided to stay overnight in the hut of the local guy who runs the bird watching. It's possible to do this from Goroka, but it's a 30-minute drive and a 40-minute hike to get there. In the afternoon, we did a nice small hike in the jungle to see waterfalls and a cave with some human skeletons. In the evening, we had courtship songs performed by Unggai people, which was great. It felt like they really enjoyed themselves as they didn't stop until 2 AM.

At sunrise, we saw the bird of paradise, which comes to one particular tree during the dry season. The bird stayed there for 2 hours! It sang its song to attract females, but there was limited interest from them, so we managed to see only about 5 seconds of the dance. In the morning, Unggai ladies did a small performance, but that was a bit awkward as they were obviously hungover.

Afterwards, we got ditched by our driver, so we walked to the village and got a PMV. On the way, we randomly visited Arikayufa Primary school, which was a fascinating experience. The teachers were very friendly and shared their teaching routine and concerns. I highly recommend visiting this or another school if you have time.

I wanted to visit the Fore tribe due to the history of Kuru disease, but the road conditions to Okapa were bad and there were many robbers active on the road, so we didn't go there. However, I managed to randomly meet a guy from the Fore tribe, one of the teachers in the school.

After this, the initial plan was to drive to Hagen and then to Wabag to see the Enga Show. However, I was quoted 12,000 kina for this, so it would have been way cheaper to fly there and find a local guide.

Additionally, the security situation in Enga (province where Wabag is) turned bad due to tribal fights. A curfew was put in place, and the local airport stopped flights. Interestingly, the Enga Show was not canceled, and their staff claimed it was safe. Everyone else I talked to warned me against going to the Enga region. I also heard from a tourist who visited Hagen that 5 villagers were killed near there during tribal fights. So I decided not to go. But eventually around 30 foreigners managed to get to the show safely it seems.

Sepik

Then, via POM, I was supposed to fly to Wewak to do a Sepik river tour. But, of course, the flight got canceled, and I got stuck in POM overnight. In a diarrhea-fueled desperation for comfort, I booked the Hilton in POM. And it was fabulous.

Eventually, I arrived in Wewak, Wewak Boutique Hotel was nice. My guide was Joseph Kone, ; WhatsApp +675 7121 4829.

The tour was three days and two nights, shorter than planned due to the flight cancellation. The cost for everything - boat, village fees, accommodation, guide, food - was 2500 kina. The private car from Wabag to Pagwi and back was 1400 kina.

Due to previous hold-ups on the Maprik-Pagwi road, we agreed to get a security guard. But instead, the guide brought his wife. We could have used her to scare the robbers away, but what if they were blind and couldn’t smell?

The ride from Wewak to Pagwi took 3.5 hours (would have been 6 with PMV). When the driver reached for his third beer, I intervened. The last stretch of the Maprik-Pagwi road was the worst I’ve seen in PNG. It’s not even potholes; it’s intermittent lack of road.

Apparently, the robbers weren’t a problem at the time as the police were getting aggressive and had recently shot two of them dead. Very reassuring. Though we did see police a few times on the way, some stretches of the road were plain spooky with huge groups of dudes walking in the dark. Pee stops were quite stressful.

We were supposed to visit a festival at Kanganaman, but when we got there, it wasn’t happening. Ol’ Joe hadn’t bothered to check if it was actually taking place. But the village was very cool, with two nice spirit houses, and I got to meet the locals with crocodile-inspired scarring (Yatma or Chambri tribe).

The boat ride was very pleasant - good breeze, great views, many birds, and a rather comfortable ride (a good chair matters a lot). Watch out for sunburn! I had to tell my boat crew NOT to shoot at birds with a slingshot, as they were doing that all the time.

The spirit houses were very nice. Villages were interesting, and most of them didn’t put on shows like in Goroka (for better or worse). The woodcarvings were fantastic, and the nature was amazing. I see a lot of potential for birding with a qualified local ornithologist (if there are any).

But, in general, there’s a lot of hassle getting to the river, and the living conditions are extremely basic. Pagwi was straight out nasty. The main problem was noise during the night, making it very hard to sleep. I had to shake a tree to get the shrieking rooster to stop. Ambunti was a bit better. We stayed with Joseph’s family and relatives. Not sure what accommodation the package tours offer, but I’m sure it’s better. Maybe someone can share their experiences. The places I stayed at wore me down a bit.

Eventually, I flew back to POM and then out of PNG. So a total of 14 days, including arrival and departure days.

Guides

Other guides I communicated with but didn’t use their services:

Hagen guide:

Goroka guides:

Martin Kupo

Mr. Okoroho +675 7201 8093

Other good guides I have been recommended:

Exotic PNG Tours (Wesley Momen)

PNG Journeys (Cedric Kulumbua)

PNG Tour Guide (Domnic Kulo)

A decent resource for local guides:

Air travel

Leave A LOT of time for air transfers. Flights get delayed, rescheduled, overbooked, or canceled a lot. Sometimes there are nationwide problems with aviation fuel supply, lack of available pilots, parts, etc. So time to time all scheduled flights get suspended for a day or two. Out of my 6 domestic flights, 1 got canceled, 1 was overbooked, and I had to take a much later flight. It’s a tough gig if you want to fly from small town to small town in one day and don’t want to stay in POM. Check-in online and just ask the check in counter to print it for you - airports still need paper boarding passes.

Air Niugini actually has nice customer service, although slow. They rebooked me once when their rescheduled flight messed up my transfer. They also refunded one flight I decided not to take (all done via email). The planes are fine; it’s just the scheduling that’s wildly unreliable, and the flights are very expensive given how short they are. Air Niugini offers a free hotel stay if their cancellation forces you to stay overnight in POM. Just ask their customer service desk at POM.

Independent VS package tour

After traveling in PNG, I feel that foreign tour operators charging 10k USD for a 2-week all inclusive in PNG is not extortion after all. Local tour companies are a bit cheaper, like 8k for that standard. Ecotourism Melanesia seems decent (haven’t tried it). If you want a private vehicle, good guides, good food, the best available accommodation, and you’re traveling alone, this is not dramatically more than what you would pay arranging things on your own at a similar standard. But the quality of packaged services should be higher, I suppose.

I spent 5300 USD in 2 weeks on such terms - I did everything I wanted. It was 1100 for 6 domestic flights, 1000 on the best hotels in the area, 300 for Rabaul tours, 1900 for Goroka tours, and 1000 for Sepik. The price of most tours could be divided among the people in your group.

A package tour has less hassle, somewhat more reliability, but there are some scam operators as well. The airlines used are the same, unless they charter for the really fancy tours. So it depends on how much you value convenience and reliability and how much you dislike being in a group. It also depends on what you want to see and when - most tours take place during the show season (August-September). If you’re looking into package tours, plan half a year or more in advance, as most good ones get booked out fast. Maybe somebody can share their experiences with something like that.

Another thing is the guides. Most of the guides I hired were not tourism professionals, but rather local villagers with a shot at guiding. They are good people, very well connected locally. But in such cases, don’t expect a Western standard of service, deep theoretical knowledge sharing, quality of transport, and respect for their environment. I told people multiple times not to throw trash everywhere, but that’s just what they do. Hey - it’s their country, not mine. And everybody chews betel, drinks hard liquor, and smokes all the time. It seems that most of the really good guides work with the package tours. Or maybe I just didn’t search well enough.

The only actually cheap option to travel in PNG is taking PMV (public minibus) everywhere and finding guides just to take you to tribes or special activities. It would be 2-3 times cheaper I suppose. If you skip performances and guides altogether, stay in 1-2 areas, this can be done very cheaply. But PMV's are more risky (in some areas), takes much more time, and requires a lot of patience. Not recommended for females. But that’s truly the way the locals go about if you want to experience the local lifestyle. Most guides can take a PMV with you to go places.

Tribe visits

Most tribe visits are based on the concept that guides pay the tribe money, and they put up a show for tourists. That’s fine in principle; I wouldn’t say it’s not authentic, as maybe 50% of these rituals are practiced by the tribes without tourists as well. They enjoy showing their culture and earning extra money. But the vibe is a bit weird sometimes. Some kids in some shows looked somewhat forced to do it. So I would say pick a few that you’re really interested in. The most authentic and enjoyable for locals seemed to be the courtship songs in Goroka and Unggai. It’s very simple but feels like they’re having fun.

In addition to this, I would advise you to talk to random people, local vendors, other travelers, ask your guide to introduce you to tribes not doing tourist performances. Read up on PNG; there’s wild stuff for everyone here. Just by talking to people, you can learn many fascinating things. Ask around for what festivals or ceremonies are taking place in the area, you might encounter something great.

Safety

East New Britain, like Kokopo and Rabaul, felt completely safe. Goroka was average, looking dodgy in some areas, but I did walk around a bit. Anything violent against tourists is very unlikely, maybe some pick-pocketing, I heard about bag slashing. In POM, I didn’t walk around; supposedly, the CBD area is rather safe. It didn’t look as bad as I had imagined. But regarding many areas, the locals said “you will lose everything.” Wewak looked rather unsafe. Not the worst, but locals didn’t advise walking around alone. The Maprik-Pagwi road was supposed to be dangerous. It did look very risky at night with bad road quality and loads of people lurking in the dark. But it seems safe enough in a private car with a decent driver. A car accident there is way more likely to hurt you than robbers. Not sure about the need for security guards; locals said it’s not required. But that changes all the time.

Follow local news, UK, US, and AU travel advice websites, travel forums, talk with locals and tourists. Don’t be afraid to cancel some parts of travel if there’s violence. Anything can happen anywhere in PNG, but local and recent knowledge helps to stay safe.

Health

Malaria is prevalent in all of PNG, but way less so in the Highlands due to the altitude. There were very few mosquitos in the Highlands and Rabaul. Many in Sepik. I took Malarone the whole time in PNG and 7 days after. I would not take it if I visited the Highlands only during the show season (Aug-Sep). I had zero side effects. Used DEET repellent and wore long sleeves, especially after dark.

The food wasn’t great, but mostly safe. Fruits were the best part. The good hotels have rather nice food. I had mild food poisoning once, not sure of the source. Have some Loperamide and antibiotics with you. I sanitized often, drank only bottled water. I kindly refused when offered coffee made with Sepik river water.

Reliability

When a driver says “I’ll be there at 10:00,” it can totally mean “I will never show up, and my phone will be off.”

This goes for everything in PNG. So always have a plan B, even plan C. Enjoy the ride and embrace the unexpected!

Hello everyone!

My husband will be going to Bougainville island for work for 2 weeks, and will have to spend a few nights in Port Moresby. I decided to join him as I’m also interested in seeing PNG, and we researched on Bougainville and have been advised it is quite safe. Just today we found out how dangerous it is in Port Moresby. Since it’s only for 3 nights, we’re fine just staying in the hotel if that would be safer, but now we’re thinking twice if I should go with him at all as I’ve been reading up on it and don’t see anything positive but rather words like “shit hole, horrible, extremely unsafe”, especially for female travelers. We’re from the Philippines so a little bit of pickpockets and rough areas here and there is normal to us, but nothing “extremely unsafe”. Does anyone have any experience traveling there as a female— is it as scary as everyone makes it seem? Should I go with him at all or cancel? If it’s okay to go, any tips on what we can do to stay safe?

Thank you so much!

I ended up booking a trip to Papua New Guinea, which includes a trip into the highlands through

I'm now reading about a lot of violence that occurred over last year and I'm wondering if it's worth just canceling this trip. Has the violence subsided since? I know media tends to report the bad and not when things improve, so I don't know what to think at the moment. Has anyone been lately?