THE COMBINED SEPIK RIVER EXPEDITION
AND ATTENDANCE AT THE
2026 GOROKA TRIBAL SHOW FIRST
(FA09A)
A one-off chance to combine a Middle Sepik River expedition, after attending the 2026 Goroka Show.
The Goroka Show runs mainly for two days on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September 2026. More than 90 different cultural groups perform, exposing their beautiful costumes with songs and dances.
ITINERARY
Day 1 – 18th Sept 2026 (Meals: Lunch, and dinner)
Check in at Port Moresby domestic airport for the 1hr flight to Goroka. Be met on arrival at 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 visit small markets along the roadside. Later retire to the guesthouse. Continuing with dinner and overnight there.
Day 2 – 19th Sept (Meals: B/fast, lunch & dinner provided)
After breakfast be transferred 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 performances. The show lasts for 2 days. Tourists will be allowed to enter the main arena with tourist’s badge. Tourists will have the chance of meeting performers and taking photos and even talking with them and learning about their cultures. Do your own study on cultures, costumes, music, and dances. The show ends at around 3:00pm. In late afternoon retire to hotel and continue to the Asaro Village and McCarthy Museum, scenic, coffee processing factory tour and then retire to guesthouse and overnight there.
Day 3 –20th Sept (Meals: B/fast, lunch & dinner)
After breakfast continue with the show and in the afternoon transfer to the Kama Asaro Mud Men village for village study tour – a Mud Men show, mask making, traditional cooking – Goroka style and general village study –. In the afternoon retire to guesthouse and overnight there.
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Day 4 – 21st Sept (Meals: B/fast, & packed lunch)
After morning breakfast be transferred by bus to the airport for your flight from Goroka to Wewak via Port Moresby. Arrive in Wewak from Port Moresby. Be met at the airport by the “In Wewak Boutique Hotel” Courtesy bus – check-in to standard double 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 5 – 22nd Sept (Meals: Breakfast, packed lunch & dinner)
After an early 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 6 – 23rd 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 opportunities 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 7 – 24th 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.
Day 8 – 25th 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. Overnight in the local guesthouse.
Day 9 – 26th Sept (Meals: Breakfast, & packed lunch)
The next morning you will go 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 10 – 27th Sept (Meals: Breakfast)
After breakfast, and perhaps a short relaxing time around the pool, be transported, on the hotel bus, to the airport to check in for the 2hr domestic flight to Port Moresby.
PROGRAM ENDS HERE.
Indicative Costing
Based on 12 people = US$3,750/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
Based on 10 people = US$4,000/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
Based on 8 people = US$4,250/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
Based on 6 people = US$4,500/person all-inclusive except domestic flights.
Based on 4 people = US$5,000/person all-inclusive except domestic flights
Based on 2 people = US$6,750/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 fruit. 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 in double bedded rooms, basic continental breakfast 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 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 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 50% to be paid. As soon as we have the deposit your 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 that a full breakdown of the tour cost cannot be provided. In Wewak we book you in and pay the accommodation and a continental breakfast for two nights/mornings in a standard air-conditioned double-bedded room at the “In Wewak Boutique Hotel” that is the 1st night when you arrive at Wewak and the last night before you fly off to Goroka. PNG FA pays for a continental breakfast at the Hotel and all food up on the Sepik River. Guests, if they require alcoholic drinks, can pay the hotel directly for these drinks. Guests must pay for any additional meals consumed at the hotel.
PNG Frontier Adventures does not accept liability for and indemnifies itself from any claims for loss, damage, 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.