Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is a land lost in time and home to hundreds of different tribes,

You will be met and transferred to your Air Niugini flight from Port Moresby to Mount Hagen on day 1 to begin your exciting photographic journey into remote Papua New Guinea.

 

TRIP DETAILS

TAKING INQUIRIES FOR 2026 - Dates TBD

  • Maximum of 8 guests

  • 4 different remote locations and unique lodges

  • 3 nights houseboat accommodation

  • Chartered flights

INCLUSIONS/EXCLUSIONS

Includes accommodation, all meals, charter flights, all activities, photographic tuition and all guiding.

Excludes international travel, visas, travel insurance, gratuities and alcoholic beverages.

Two domestic flights are required and not included. These flights may be booked with your international flights.

ITINERARY AT A GLANCE:

  • Monday 30 October 2023 - International arrivals to Port Moresby. You will be met and transferred to your Air Niugini flight from Port Moresby to Mount Hagen. Mount Hagen Town is in the upper Wahgi Valley - a valley with some of the oldest evidence of agriculture in the world. Perched high on Mount Kuta is our stunning lodge with unbelievable views of the Wahgi Valley.

    • Overnight: Mount Kuta

  • Tuesday 31 October 2023 - We will spend our day experiencing the unique culture and traditions of the Melpa people. Mount Hagen is a place where tradition and history is juxtaposed against modern ways.

    • We will take you on a journey through the customs of the Melpa People. First contact with the Melpa was made in the mid-1930s by early gold miners. The Melpa are said by anthropologists, to be “predisposed to capitalism,” because of their complex traditional society in which “big men” earn status by accruing wealth and then giving it all away in ceremonial exchanges. We will also visit the unique Pogla Mudmen and photograph them with their ornate and somewhat eery masks of mud.

    • Overnight: Mount Kuta

  • Wednesday 01 November 2023 - Transfer to Kagamuga Airport for your charter flight from Mt. Hagen to Karawari. Down the gently swirling waters of the Karawari, past vine and orchid tangled trees, the “river truck” moves towards the our home for the next three days. The almost absolute silence is broken only by the shrill cry of water birds. Sometimes the jungle clad banks crowd in casting a deep gloom over the "river boat" churning its way down river. At other times the river flows broad and quiet, with little villages nestled in the jungle. Sago, betel nut, limbum and other palms compete with breadfruit trees and wild yams for a safe foothold.

    • Transfer from Karawari to the comfort of our spacious houseboat. We enjoy lunch on board as we begin our voyage of discovery to local villages. Our river boat is inspired by the local architecture of the "haus tambaran" or spirit house.

    • Overnight: On Board

  • Thursday 02 November 2023 - After breakfast we will leave the ship for a full day tour and a picnic lunch to the remote Black Water Lakes. We will visit villages where the people are prolific carvers. Here you will have the opportunity to purchase artifacts such as masks, elaborately carved hooks, ancestral figures, hand drums, baskets, bilums and gourds.

    • Overnight: On Board

  • Friday 03 November 2023 - After breakfast we will visit the village of Mumeri. Enjoy a jet boat ride to meet with the Sepik Spirit at the Krosmeri Junction for lunch. After lunch we will visit Mindimbit villages. Later we will meet up again with the Sepik Spirit while cruising back to the Karawari area.

    • Overnight: On Board

  • Saturday 04 November 2023 - After breakfast we will transfer to our next remote lodge. Poised on a ridge overlooking the river and jungle-clad Sepik Basin, the setting is spectacular. The real fascinations here are the people and how they live with the land and how it molds their lives. They still live as they have for generations - rituals, sing-sings, story telling, food gathering and preparation. We will have the opportunity to be able to observe and photograph village life and customs, participate in typical daily activities and witness traditional ceremonies. We will visit remote jungle waterways where we will find huge lichen and vines - festooned trees, masses of brilliant flame flowers, and a profusion of orchids. The soft dawn glimmers on these waterways and the vast plain erupts with a myriad of birds - the raucous jungle music. Dug-out canoes glide close by the river banks - stilt villages appear as we travel along the flowing waters. Here we will see man and the environment as it has been for thousands of years.

    • Overnight: KARAWARI

  • Sunday 05 November 2023 - Enjoy a second full day of incredible cultural exploration. We will travel the jungle-fringed waterways of the Karawari River where boatmen, standing upright, paddle their slender dugout canoes adorned with sculpted silhouettes of crocodile masks. Village life features carved totems, drums, woodcarvings and different expressions of art. There is bountiful bird life along the rivers and nearby lakes.

    • Overnight: KARAWARI

  • Monday 06 November 2023 - In the morning we will transfer to Karawari Airstrip for our charter aircraft from Karawari to Tari. Flying over the Central Ranges, which are some of the most rugged and impressive landscapes in the world. The country between Tari and the Sepik region is an amazing array of jagged limestone that rise and drop at seemingly impossible angles. We will be transfer to our next lodge which is an inspired mixture of local architecture, spectacular views and modest luxury off the beaten track. Nestled at 7000 feet (2100 meters) in the PNG Southern Highlands, this is the homeland of the Huli clan with their dramatic face paint and human hair wigs adorned with colorful flowers. We will explore waterfalls in the jungle whilst listening and looking out for the exotic bird of Paradise.

    • Overnight: TARI HIGHLANDS

  • Tuesday 07 November 2023 - Enjoy a full day of cultural exploration. In contrast to the Sepik people whose art is manifested in ceremonial and decorative carvings, these Highland people employ as their art, body decoration, face painting and human hair wigs decorated with feathers, flowers and moss. The Huli culture is the most vibrant intact and colorful to be experienced anywhere.

    • Overnight: TARI HIGHLANDS

  • Wednesday 08 November 2023 - After breakfast we will transfer to Tari Airport for your domestic PX Flight to Port Moresby. Upon arrival to Port Moresby we will be transferred to the Airways Hotel.

    • Overnight: AIRWAYS HOTEL

  • Thursday 09 November 2023 - We will transfer you to your outgoing international flights.