We journeyed down the mysterious Sepik River in a motorised dugout canoe, experiencing traditional village life along the way. Local villagers have lived along the river for millennia producing magnificent wood carvings and artful clay pottery. Ecologically, the Sepik River system is possibly the largest uncontaminated freshwater wetland system in the Asia-Pacific region. The river dominates the north-east region of PNG and the crocodiles that inhabit it, are central to the animist beliefs and initiation ceremonies that are still practised in this remote part of the world.Travelling on the Sepik River in a canoe is safe and provides an ideal vantage point from which to observe the river’s aquatic inhabitants, abundant birdlife and Sepik River peoples whose daily life seems unchanged by modernity. (Crocodiles pose no threat to tourists. The introduction of boat motors in recent decades has pushed the crocodile population away from the main Sepik River into its tributaries and extensive lake system).

Moved by the spirits

We visited the initiated men for “talk talk” in the Spirit House at night as they swapped stories of their culture, enriched with legends and myths. You can almost feel the ancestors in the shadows! (Foreign women are allowed to attend). The Kanganaman Spirit House is the oldest Haus Tambaran and one of the biggest on the river. A huge building renovated with assistance from the National Museum, it has been declared to be of national cultural importance.

Bougainville is an ecological wonderland where you can -immerse yourself in the splendor of its natural and scenic beauty. The civil war of the 1990s had kept loggers away and habitats relatively intact. Professor Tim Flannery, one of the world’s leading experts on mammals of Melanesia, regards this region as “the Galápagos of the Western Pacific”. The island is dotted with bat filled caves, caldera lakes and giant sinkholes including the largest cavern in the world. There are a great variety of tropical birds on Bougainville, which makes it the perfect place for birdwatching.

You visit the WW2 crash site of a, largely intact, military plane that carried the Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who was the mastermind of the 1941 attack onPearl Harbour.

War and peace

Bougainville boasted the best living conditions in PNG before a decade long civil war broke out in 1989, inflicting much destruction and the death of over 15,000 islanders. You will visit the now closed Rio Tinto majority owned, Panguna mine, central to the grievances that initiated the formation of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. The mine still contains about $50bn of copper, gold and other metals. As part of the peace settlement, Bougainville’s population of 250,000 will go to a referendum on independence from PNG within the next 3 years. The prospect of Bougainville becoming the world’s newest country will unearth all the geopolitical intrigue that exists in the Asia Pacific region. Intrigue indeed!

You stay amongst the untouched pleasures of Pokpok Island and enjoy the hospitality of host Simon Pentanu, Speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives in his laid back, perfectly positioned Urana Bay Retreat.

Nearby is the location where the recently released “Mr Pip”, the film of Lloyd Jones’ award winning novel,was filmed. This beautifully told story is of the island under blockade and gripped by the brutality of the strife ridden 1990’s.

Bougainville is a land of simple, untouched pleasures, from the turquoise seas to lush rain forests. Come and meet these proud and friendly people -the Bouganvillians!

You may like to ‘hang-out’ with the locals on the tropically idyllic Duke of York Islands. Or you may go snorkeling in an underwater heaven of corals that features sunken WW2 ships, warplane wrecks and wild dolphins. Or you can fish for all manner of things satisfying even the least experienced fisher.

Jungle walks and beachcombing are interspersed with the physical remnants of a rich colonial history that is steeped in stories about fascinating colonial era characters including Errol Flynn, the Samoan Queen Emma and Mr Coconut and his community of free loving German nudists. Or simply enjoy the sumptuous local cuisine!

Poised on the shores of the beautiful Simpson Harbour in East New Britain, Rabaul was described in its halcyon days as the “Pearl of the Pacific”. You can ramble around active volcanoes and the lunar-like landscape of old Rabaul Town with its intact historic military sites from both world wars. Rabaul’s Mt Tavurvur volcano erupted violently in 1994 destroying much of the beautiful Rabaul Town as it was covered in ash.

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“Fortress Rabaul” became the South Pacific headquarters and staging post for the Japanese Imperial Forces where 100,000 Japanese soldiers were stationed during World War 2. You will visit a section of the 500 km of underground tunnels that were dug and gaze over Simpson Harbour where 54 Japanese ships were sunk.

Following our arrival from Australia, we traversed the stunning PNG Highlands seeking out the beautiful Birds of Paradise and attended the PNG’s premier cultural event, the Mt.Hagen Show, the origin of which dates to 1961 when Australian colonial administrators sought to reduce tribal fighting and promote peace. Today, with pride and cash prizes at stake, the tribes participate in this enormous cultural competition with painstaking preparation to excite and entertain the many thousands of local spectators. The 2 day “sing sing” enables a limited number of Western tourists to experience up close, the colour, movement and music performed by the largest gathering of diverse tribes in the South Pacific. Our camera clicking fingers needed a rest, having recorded some of the most memorable days of our global travels.

Mt. Hagen - a richness unrivaled

Mt Hagen, capital of the densely populated Highlands region of mainland PNG was “discovered” as recently as the 1930’s by Australian gold prospectors, Mick Leahy and Michael Dwyer. Melanesians have occupied the highland interior of New Guinea Island probably for more than 30,000 years, developing advanced plant cultivation and irrigation technologies at 1,500 meters above sea level, possibly 10,000 years ago, establishing themselves amongst the world’s earliest agriculturists. We visited coffee and tea plantations in the scenic Waghi Valley. Coffee is Papua New Guinea's second largest agricultural export, employing approximately 2.5 million people.