A COMBINED SEPIK RIVER EXPEDITION
AND ATTENDANCE AT THE
2024 GOROKA TRIBAL SHOW
(FA09)
A one-off chance to combine a Middle Sepik River expedition, and then be able to travel to the PNG Highlands to attend the 2024 Goroka Show.
The Goroka Show runs for three days on the 15th, 16th, and 17th September 2024. More than 90 different cultural groups perform exposing their beautiful costumes with songs and dances.
ITINERARY
Day 1 – Friday – 9th Sept 2024 (Meals: Evening dinner)
Arrive in Wewak by air from Port Moresby. Be met at the airport by the “In Wewak Boutique Hotel” Courtesy bus – check-in to standard room. Chris Karis of PNG FA will meet you at 6.30 pm in the reception area to brief you on your Sepik River expedition. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 2 – Saturday – 10th Sept (Meals: Breakfast, packed lunch & dinner)
Breakfast at 7 – 7 30 am. Depart Wewak with your guide by private bus to Pagwi in the Middle Sepik region. Board your motorised dugout canoe heading downriver to Kanganaman, on the way, if time allows, stopping off at Korogu village (if not time, then on your way back upriver) and onto Kanganaman village. Sleep at Kanganaman guesthouse.
Day 3 – Sunday – 11th Sept (Meals: All Meals)
Depart Kanganaman and visit the nearby beautiful village of Palembei with its two Haus Tambarans, both filled with artifacts. There will be plenty of opportunity to inspect and purchase many varied forms of artifacts in the village and inside the two Haus Tambarans at this village. Return to Kanganaman and late afternoon witness the second, smaller Haus Tambaran perform its unique, traditional Murik Sing-sing (Cassowary dance). After dinner return to the big, main Spirit House to meet and talk with the initiated men. Being inside the Spirit Haus at night is a great experience when you can almost feel the ancestor spirits in the shadows! It may be possible, as an alternative, to go crocodile hunting in the evening with young men from the village. Sleep at the village guesthouse.
Day 4 – Monday – 12th Sept (Meals: All Meals)
Depart Kanganaman to visit Kimindibit village on the riverside where a varied assortment of artifacts and woven goods will be displayed for you to view or purchase, and the village women will demonstrate billum weaving and other daily village tasks. Back onto the canoe, travelling down river travel to the Chambri Lakes. Overnight in the village guest house overlooking the Chambri lakes. The family will show you how they cook their sago and offer you to try their staple food and how they eat it.
Day5 – Tuesday – 13th Sept (Meals; All Meals)
After breakfast visit the Chambri Haus Tambaran, a waterside walk of five minutes from the Guest House, then depart Chambri village to visit Aibom village (still part of Chambri Lakes). Aibom is known for its local clay pottery, sago storage jars and clay fire pots. Aibom trade their clay pots all along the river in exchange for food products that their clay-based land cannot grow.
Day 6 – Wednesday – 14th Sept (Meals: Breakfast, packed lunch, and evening dinner)
The next morning you will motor back upriver, stopping off briefly at a village along the way to stretch your legs etc. and onto Pagwi. Here your bus and driver will escort you and your guide back to Wewak by late afternoon to check into the “In Wewak Boutique Hotel” for your night’s stay.
Day 7 – Thursday 15th Sept (Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
After breakfast, and perhaps a short relaxing time around the pool, be transported, in the hotel bus, to the airport to check in for the 2hr domestic flight to Port Moresby. There is then a flight connection straight to Goroka from Port Moresby which is a journey time of only 1 hour.
Be met on arrival at the Goroka airport and be transferred to the guesthouse and checked in. After check-in you would be escorted on a brief tour of Goroka market, coffee and tea plantations. Lunch will be at a local café and then you will be visiting small markets along the roadside. Later retire to the guesthouse. Continue with dinner and overnight there.
Day 8 – Friday – 16th Sept (Meals: B/fast, lunch & dinner provided)
B/fast and transfer to the Goroka show ground. This will be a big festival that involves more than 80 ethnical dancing groups from the Highlands and costal – PNG. Transfer early to see the preparations prior to the performance. The show goes on for 2 days. Tourists will be allowed to enter the main arena with a tourist’s badge. Tourists will have the chance to meet performers and take photos and even talk with them and learn about their cultures. Do your own study of the cultures, costumes, music and dances. The show ends at around 3:00pm. Afternoon, retire to hotel and continue to the McCarthy Museum, scenic, coffee processing factory tour and then retire to guesthouse.
Day 9 – Saturday – 17th Sept (Meals: B/fast, lunch & dinner)
B/fast and continue with the show and afternoon transfer to the Asaro Mud Men village for village study tour – a Mud Men show, mask making, traditional cooking – Goroka style and general village study –. Afternoon retire to guesthouse and overnight.
Day 10 – Sunday – 18th Sept (Meals: B/fast)
Morning B/fast and transfer by air to Port Moresby.
PROGRAM ENDS HERE.
Indicative Costing
Based on 10 persons = US$3,570/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
Based on 9 persons = US$3,870/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
Based on 8 persons = US$4,170/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
Based on 6 persons = US$4,450/person all-inclusive except domestic flights.
Based on 4 persons = US$4,000/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
Based on 2 persons = US$4,250/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
For a solo traveler there will be a US$750 extra cost.
We offer 5% discounted rates for PNG residents and volunteers working in PNG.
Reality Checks!
Change of Plan
PNG Frontier Adventures puts great emphasis on experience and interaction with the village people. To fulfill this experience, you will stay in remote villages on the Sepik River and be exposed to the same travel limitations and hazards as the villagers themselves.
PNG Frontier Adventures will do everything possible to organise your expedition itinerary as requested, however, due to the remote nature of the destination and possible sudden changes in the tropical weather conditions and lack of reliable communications, when on the Sepik River part of the expedition, changes of plans are sometimes necessary.
We make plans to cover most problems should they arise, which is very seldom, but the visitor must be aware of the small possibility of plans not working out as per schedule and accept this warning.
Please be assured we will do everything in our power to rearrange the expedition accordingly and find suitable solutions for you. However, PNG Frontier Adventures cannot be held responsible for sudden changes of plan when there is no alternative.
Please be aware that any additional costs incurred in rearranging a disrupted itinerary will be your responsibility and/or your travel insurers.
Travel Insurance
We strongly recommend that all visitors obtain their own travel insurance to cover forced cancellation of the tour due to unexpected circumstances, e.g., bad weather conditions causing stoppage of flights, loss of baggage or personal items, medical emergency, and forced changes to your itinerary due to reasons beyond our control or planning.
Food & Water while on the river
Food, while on the Sepik River, will be very basic and simple due to the lack of any refrigeration & power supply along the river. Daily meals will consist of rice with tinned fish or meat and/or fresh fish and chicken together with fruits. We also pack eggs for the first part of the expedition. There is not any bread or bakery outside of Wewak town. We carry plenty of good quality bottled water with us. It is important to understand the basic reality of this remote region and the limitations it has on our provisions.
Local Accommodation
We also wish you to understand that whilst on the Sepik River part of this expedition, due to the remoteness and lack of development at the location that the village guesthouses and home stays are of a very simple, basic village standard and in no way comparable to guesthouses in many other countries. For example, the toilets are pit toilets, the same as the villagers use; beds will be mattresses on the floor covered with mosquito nets, washing areas may consist of a bucket and scoop or a dip in the Sepik River.
Wewak Town Hotel Accommodation
PNG Frontier Adventures books all our visitors into the “In Wewak Boutique Hotel” – for the first and last night in Wewak.
This covers 2 nights’ total accommodation, basic meals and soft drinks and 2 airport transfers ONLY – these costs are included in all our costings/invoice. Guests requiring expensive meals & alcohol must buy it directly from the hotel staff.
Any additional hotel nights are to be paid for by the guest to the hotel directly. This hotel accepts most credit cards.
Goroka Guesthouse Accommodation & Costs
Cost includes accommodation, meals, any airport transfers, Goroka show admission, and Asaro village trip.
Local guides & driver and accommodation whilst in Goroka in addition to the tour guide and drivers’ allowance are included in your trip.
Cost does not include something of personal nature such as alcoholic drinks or visits and meals at other hotels.
Accommodation will probably be in the GK Lodge in Goroka.
Communications
Lately, mobile telephone communication towers are gradually being constructed along the Sepik River giving some intermittent coverage mainly in the Middle Sepik River locations.
Transportation
PNG Frontier Adventures advises visitors that transportation on our adventures will include dug-out timber motorised canoes and car hire from local rental firms. These forms of transport may not be carrying safety equipment such as life jackets, flares or emergency radios as the law in PNG does not require this standard as yet.
Health
PNG Frontier Adventures informs the visitor that medical services are very limited here and rescue services even more limited. With that in mind we ask our visitors to visit your doctor before travelling to PNG and to ensure you start taking prophylactic medication against malaria before visiting PNG to be on the safe side. Please also check on your travel insurance and medical insurance.
Booking Information, Terms and Conditions
Upon receiving an enquiry, we design and plan your personal itinerary via email and provide a quotation for your perusal.
Once you are happy with the arrangements and wish to proceed with a booking, we ask for a deposit of 30% to be paid. As soon as we have the deposit your booking reservation is confirmed. The deposit is non-refundable.
We ask for the final balance of payment 4 weeks before the expedition commences. Cancellation within 2 weeks of the commencement of the expedition incurs a penalty of 100% of monies paid to date.
The reason for this pre-paid booking system is due to the limitations of banking facilities, credit card facilities and currency exchange facilities within Wewak, coupled with the need to purchase fuel and food prior to your intended arrival. In many cases we need to have purchased the fuel beforehand and have it on the river ready, ahead of your expedition. We organise everything needed for your adventure; all you need to bring is your own personal effects and any spending money for the purchasing of artifacts or for extra food and drinks when up the river.
Please note a full breakdown of the tour costing cannot be provided. In Wewak we book you in and pay the accommodation and food costs for two nights in a standard air-conditioned room at the “In Wewak Boutique Hotel” that is the 1st night when you arrive into Wewak and the last night before you fly off to Goroka. PNG FA pays for all food and soft drinks in the guesthouse. Guests, if they require alcoholic drinks, can pay the guesthouse direct for these drinks.
PNG Frontier Adventures does not accept liability for and indemnifies itself from any claims for loss, damages, personal injury or sickness from/to the client/visitor and medical insurance. PNG Frontier Adventures reserves the right to cancel wholly or part or revise the itinerary plans due to current tribal situations, bad weather conditions or detrimental acts of nature at the time of, or just prior to the commencement of, the expedition.
PNG Frontier Adventures offer these terms and conditions in accordance with the Law of Papua New Guinea.
Payment of the required deposit to PNG Frontier Adventures assumes automatic acceptance of the terms and conditions mentioned above.
