Papua New Guinea

[EiEiOhhhhhh]

I would love to go but want a trip that is nature, culture, activities, but I don’t want to feel it’s gawping at people and manufactured.

Has anyone been, any comments or experiences? Any recommendations?

I would suggest you read the Foreign Office travel
advice on Papua New Guinea beforehand.

I've never been, but your post reminded me of this amazing 1970's film set there: La Vallée, also known as Obscured by Clouds.

Worth a look. https://www.mondo-digital.com/valley.html

Never been. Used to know someone who has done charitable work there and moved back to continue. Obviously he felt that was where he wanted to be, but he did say that it was a very poor place with a lot of illness, poor living conditions, plastic pollution, poor diet etc etc. I love planning exotic trips but nothing he said made me want to visit!

What is it that attracts you to PNG? Are there other places, perhaps easier to get to, that might scratch the same itch?

I think it feels remote and more untouched. The wildlife is amazing and culturally feels very different. If it’s very poor then spending by tourists would seem beneficial if done sympathetically.

The wildlife, birds and insects especially, is amazing but I think you need to travel via Australia which makes it out of range for me.

But if you are tempted try Wildfoot Travel, it was a destination in a marketing brochure they sent out recently.

Tribal infighting in PNG is a huge problem.

Following wide-spread intercommunal violence in Wapenamanda area of Enga Province, the provincial government has declared all districts except Wabag District, which remains relatively safe, as ‘fighting zones’. The authorities report deaths, destruction of property, and the closure of public services. Checkpoints, random searches, and curfews have been introduced.

• CDO advises against all but essential travel to Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces due to the high risk of tribal fighting

• Enga Province in the Highlands, except Wabag District

It appears only the highlands are ‘no go’. I assume a bit like Ecuador and places like that where you have to pick your region.

I spent a year in PNG and it is not set up for tourists. It is dangerous to move around. Madang is probably the easiest place to visit. Even in Port Moresby there are crowds of rascals on many street corners. The highlands are very tribal and very quickly violence erupts and then becomes quite unsafe. The medical care is very poor- we had more supplies in our first aid kit than in the hospital. If something should go wrong there there is very little back up. The police have very little resources. The many land slides also caused many problems- lack of water/ power cuts/ transport problems. The scenery is amazing.

I have friends who did medical placements there and I hugely sympathise with the urge to go there, and would love to go with some purpose and structure, for work or perhaps some carefully chosen volunteering, but I wouldn’t go as a tourist and I’ve traveled in war zones. The urban area is dangerous, the remote areas are dangerous, the wildlife is dangerous, the public, health and security services are sparse. You’ll be very obviously visibly an outsider whatever your ethnicity which is never great in dangerous places

I d say the Sepik river and Wewak are probably the safest access points at the moment.It would mean crossing the border from Jayapura in Indonesian Papua,a place which is quite safe.West Papua i had no problems touring and its cheaper than PNG..it has the usual Indonesian places and permits are generally not needed for main urban areas and non sensitive regions.PNG is a wilder prospect and lacks tourist infrastructure while having high extortionate levels of prices for what little it has..its a poor corrupt place and you re at their whims basically.

I've been to West Papua a few times scuba diving. Fly Garuda into Sorong via Jakarta.
Accommodation is on the scuba diving boat to Western standards.
If you're not a scuba diver, I presume there are general nature trips - the terrain is beautiful super rugged and fascinating "Australian" wildlife e.g. the birds of paradise.
People are ethnically Melanesian, friendly to tourists, Sorong is safe enough, but folllow your drivers/guides advice in more rural places.
Food and drivers are super cheap.
Very hot and humid if you are e.g. hiking.
Local peoples attempts for independence are miltarily suppressed by Indonesian governemnt so avoid all mention of politics.

Thanks all. It sounds amazing, but possibly a bit too raw. I shall ponder.

What were you doing there out of interest?

We were working for VSO. We were part of a supported team in the highlands. We had security and drivers but were still held up by bandits and were robbed by rascals with machetes. We did not go out after dusk- I was never allowed out on my own- so a severe lack of freedom. It was an amazing experience but I was glad to leave.