Discover Papua New Guinea
If anyone thinks they are jaded by travel, they haven’t been to PNG, says David McGonigal, who reckons it’s one of the world’s most stunning destinations.
What country covers less than half a million square kilometres and has a population of just over six million people, but supports an estimated 800 languages and 700 very different cultural groups? What land can boast attractions that range from excellent diving to world-renowned walks, rare flora and fauna to hot springs and volcanoes? Where else have you holidayed that routinely unearths whole tribes in remote valleys who’ve never been exposed to modern society? The answer, in case you hadn’t twigged, is Australia’s exotic northern neighbour, Papua New Guinea.
If you are looking for a trip that affords stunning spectacle and sensory overload, this place has it all. Papua New Guinea is raw and vibrant. Though it’s just a few hours’ flying time from Sydney or Melbourne, even less from Cairns, it’s difficult to think of many points on which the two national cultures converge.
Take, for example, the Huli wigmen of PNG’s highland Tari region. These warriors go into special camps for 18 months to grow hair that is then cut off and constructed into elaborate wigs decorated with possum fur and bird of paradise plumes. In Huli villages, selected residents will put on their best make-up and wigs and perform for your benefit, while other villagers turn up to watch the show.
That utterly exotic foreignness is the big attraction of Australia’s small but fascinating near-neighbour. PNG is an ancient culture of great richness that has managed to resist degenerating into a tourist side-show. Cultural crossovers are startling – and wildly photogenic. You may meet one man with a Bic biro refill through his nose; another wearing the empty rims of an ancient pair of glasses; yet another with bright face-paint over his sunglasses. A Huli troupe at the renowned Mount Hagen cultural show might succumb to the lure of advertising and have the words “Coca Cola” painted into their shoulder-paint designs.
That’s up in the Highlands – down on the coast, the attractions are different. There are few places left in the world where you’ll find such untrammelled golden sands, beaches unshaded by high-rises, and limpid tropical waters in which fish and coral thrive.
The coast surprises with its diversity. Arriving by sea at Tufi, a clifftop village with a population of just 400, you cruise along a beautiful jungle-fringed fiord. From here, you can go deep-sea fishing, scuba dive, or take a short walk to seek out the huge birdwing butterflies that frequent the place. Besides being home to the world’s largest butterflies, PNG boasts no less than 2000 varieties of orchid and more than 700 bird species, including 43 birds of paradise.
At a pretty beach nearby, you can swim and snorkel among the coral. Or head upriver, accompanied by a local guide. Ours was Smithy, a colourful ex-priest who has whole-heartedly embraced his cultural heritage. One suspects Smithy’s very brief loincloth would not have been approved by the seminary. Edith, his wife, doesn’t wear much more, and her elaborately tattooed face is even more striking than her skimpy attire.
An aluminium tinny takes you part-way up the river; from there, you are transferred to dugout outrigger canoes fitted with bamboo platforms, on which you’re free to luxuriate while local girls skilfully paddle the craft, manoeuvring it under fallen trees and around sandbars. Australia seems a long way away.
Rabaul is situated on a beautiful bay, treacherously fringed by volcanoes. It’s a virtual ghost-town after the volcanic eruption of a decade ago, and looks ghostlike, too: the old city centre covered in grey volcanic dust.
Also volcanic, Fergusson Island is the largest of the D’Entrecasteux Islands, lying in the Solomon Sea off the south-eastern tip of the mainland. This is a volcanic landscape writ large, with hectares of bubbling mud pools and steaming geysers. The local water coats everything with a scum of white calcium; villagers use the scalding pools as cooking pots.
A voyage along the PNG coast has the air of a journey of discovery: seeking out ancient cultures and customs, encountering a new nation endeavouring to establish its place in the world. Of all the rivers in PNG, the most renowned is the Sepik. The mighty waterway flows for about 1000 kilometres from the Highlands to the Bismark Sea. Throughout PNG, you’ll find remarkable carvings and traditional masks, but in the Sepik, you find artworks that might have been born in your worst nightmares. You can buy them directly from the villages, or there are excellent art and craft shops in Port Moresby housing artefacts from across the nation.
PNG may feel like a very foreign land, but here, there are constant reminders of Australia, and of the nations’ long-standing ties. In the island community of Kwato, there’s a memorial to Reverend Abel, who felt the best way to civilise the local populace was by introducing it to cricket. The city of Alotau was the site of World War II’s 1942 battle of Milne Bay, where Australian soldiers became the first to force the Japanese army to retreat on land.
A pilgrimage, and a renowned rite of passage, the Kokoda Trail runs for 100 kilometres across the rugged Owen Stanley Range north of Port Moresby. It was the scene of incredible bravery and fortitude from WWII Australian troops, who pushed the Japanese back along the difficult jungle track in 1942, in what was perhaps the world’s worst wartime conditions. Mud and mountains, heat and humidity all ensure that the Kokoda Trail, even today, is no walk in the park: completing the gruelling, albeit scenic 10-day challenge is a satisfying accomplishment.
Festivals are very much part of Papua New Guinean life. Whether it’s the Sepik Crocodile Festival or sexually-charged annual Yam Festival on the Trobriand Islands, both held in August, or April’s Gogodala Canoe Festival in Western Province, it’s bound to be a colourful event. But the highlight has to be one of the country’s two main highland shows. Held annually at Mount Hagen and Goroka, they are spectacles like no others on Earth.
Whether you attend the festival at Goroka or its “rival” at Mount Hagen, a PNG highland show is an extraordinary, immensely colourful tribal gathering, as far from an Australian agricultural show as can be imagined. For Papua New Guinean Highlanders, the shows are an annual chance to display superiority – in costume and weaponry, rather than in battle.
Crowds of up to 40,000 warriors pack the arenas, a swirling mass of barely dressed black bodies daubed in bright paint, pig fat and bird of paradise plumes. Whole squadrons of Huli wigmen can be seen hopping to the insistent beat of drums. Others are clad in huge mud masks, or covered in chicken feathers, or carrying totems several metres high and performing elaborate dance routines. Drumbeats continually fill the air. Youth bands beat out complex, melodic rhythms with old thongs, banging them on water pipes cut to various lengths.
Everyone in town comes to the showgrounds. Those in the know arrive early in the morning, hours before scheduled show-time. They spend the interim wandering around the huts housing visiting groups, watching tribesmen prepare. The sight of a fearsome warrior, anxiously checking his eye makeup in a hand mirror, is an enduring memory. Another is watching performers “dressing” – using their belts to secure a few leaves in place.
Along with the Huli, the stars of the shows, arguably, are the Mudmen from the village of Asaro, just outside Goroka. Legend has it that, in a war many years ago, an Asaro warrior had the idea that his men should cover themselves in grey mud and wear huge, distorted, mud-covered heads. His strategy worked a treat: the opposition, sighting the misshapen Mudmen, fled. Even as you joke with a Mudman while he fits his bamboo talons, it’s hard to suppress a shudder as he dons his mud-horror head and turns towards you.
If you think the world has no more surprises in store, take a short flight north and refresh your view of humanity and civilisation. You’re guaranteed to return with stories that will last a lifetime – and the most colourful holiday snaps imaginable.
Photography by David McGonigal and PNG Tourism
Travel Facts
Getting there
- Air Niugini flies daily from Brisbane and Cairns to Port Moresby and twice-weekly from Sydney. Phone 1300 361 380 or visit www.airniugini.com.pg
- Airlines PNG flies daily from Cairns to Port Moresby and three times a week from Brisbane. Phone 1300 764 696 or visit www.apng.com
- From November 2008, Pacific Blue will operate codeshare flights with Airlines PNG four times a week from Brisbane to Port Moresby. Phone 13 16 45 or visit www.flypacificblue.com.au
Where to stay
- See our story “The Best of Hospitality” for descriptions of where to stay and contact details for hotels and resorts.
When to go
- Lowland and coastal areas are hot and humid year-round, with average temperatures of 24-35°C; the highlands regions are cooler (12-28°C). Weather can be very localised but usually, you’ll get sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons with evening rain.
Tips
- At the time of writing, AU$1 = 2.2 Nuigini Kina (PGK).
- Australian and New Zealand citizens can get a 60-day tourist visa on arrival but must provide proof of funds and a return airline ticket as well as a valid passport.
Further information
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