More than 33 hours flying, 8 hours driving and little sleep to get to the destination, Tari in Papua New Guinea. Would you start? We do!

Thomas

Without luggage (which is still in London thanks to British Airways) but with a lot of sense we finally arrive in rainy Mount Hagen. Mount Hagen is a place in the middle of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea and is a stopover for us. We have to wait a while before a little man with beard comes running. He shouts “Melene” when he sees us. His eyes sparkle and we immediately feel at ease. “I’m Thomas” and he shakes a firm hand. We walk to the car and find out that we have to share the car with the 2nd governor of Tari, also called the President, he has eight wives and his latest acquisition is also with us in his car. There is also a helper in the back, in case something happens and Thomas himself. Later we pick up another acquaintance.

Thomas, onze fantastische gids

Thomas, our fantastic guide

There is at least 40 years difference between the president and his eighth wife. But she’s not bad I guess. He is a nice man and has enough money to support her. So she could have done worse.

Before we start the eight-hour journey, we must first stock up on some groceries. Thomas would rather not let us go out of the car, because danger is lurking in Mount Hagen. No real danger, but danger in the form of pickpockets. Well, we have those in the Netherlands too. Nevertheless, Thomas insists that he does the shopping and we mainly remain in the car with windows closed and doors locked.

After an hour or so we are on our way. That is, until we have to fill up and pump up the tires. We are immediately immersed in life in Papua New Guinea, life where waiting is the norm and time is relative.

Bad roads in Papua New Guinea

Two hours later we leave Mount Hagen, which is not much meaningful to say about it except that it is crawling with people, behind us. The road is still fine for the first few kilometers. The asphalt looks good and very few cars are driving. But that will soon stop. The February earthquake (with a magnitude of 7.5) made large holes in the road surface and here and there there are whole subsidence in the asphalt. The environment is green, banana plants with here and there wooden houses with thatched roofs. People sit in front of their houses and as soon as they see us they start to wave and laugh.

A little further on, the asphalt ends completely and we are at the mercy of stones, mud and potholes. The president happily talks about Papua New Guinea (from here PNG) and Thomas lets us hear the latest local hits on his cell phone. Because cell phones have them all. Often more than one, and they make continuous calls. Digicel is the major network in PNG and they can make mobile calls, up to a certain amount, for free. Calling country numbers may cost money, but you can buy credit anywhere. You can also charge your phone here and there, for 1 kina (0.25 €) your entire phone is charged.

Volleyball courts and banana plants

We drive into a beautiful area of ​​beautiful, not too high mountains. We follow a large river inland. Small villages alternate with waterfalls, fields and plants. We also see here and there a basketball and volleyball field, where children are playing. What is striking are the many amount of shoes that hang from electricity cables. We sometimes see this in trees in The Hague, but in a country where shoes are still a certain luxury, I had not expected this. The president explains that those shoes are really completely on. And when I look closely at the next shoe that is hanging on the electricity cable, I can indeed see that the sole of the shoe is half off.

At the last toilet stop, a police car suddenly appears in front of us. “Don’t worry, they are my friends,” the president explains.

Tari troubles in Papua New Guinea

For a few months now, emotions have been running high between two families in this area. This has to do with a piece of land. Because besides women and pigs, a piece of land is worth fighting for. The two families could not calm the argument and began fighting with machetes, bows and arrows and even homemade rifles. Because people have now been killed on both sides, the quarrel does not end. Because when someone is killed, he must be avenged. Eye for an eye.

In addition to the two families, there is a group the locals call “rascals”. They take advantage of the situation and rob tourist vans. They don’t shoot anyone, at least that hasn’t happened yet, but they love to rob you. These rascals are walking around with homemade three barreled guns in the same area of ​​the fight between the two families. The large luxury lodge here has been closed for a number of months and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a negative travel advice for this area.

Police escort

So we happily go through the area with a police escort. The president is convinced that nothing is going to happen because he is governor and so we are safe too. Still, he has his own rifle and machete safely next to him. “Just in case”.

The police drive into the area ahead of us, we follow from a distance. It is a completely different area than the one we drove through before and reminds us a bit of the highlands in Scotland. It is bare, wet, cold but beautiful! The former also ensures that no people live here. Although Thomas says that this is also partly because people have moved away due to the war between the families. The ride and escort does not take long. After about 45 minutes we drive into the outskirts of Tari. We thank the police and drive into the big city of Hela province.

De reden dat we in Tari zijn: de Huli Wigmen

The reason we are in Tari: the Huli Wigmen

Finally in Tari.
The suburbs are green with nice little houses with thatched roofs. The more we get to the center, the more bare it becomes. In the center we do not see houses, but large buildings. A medical center as it turns out later. And they are also building an office. But it will take a while before that is finished. There is a market and containers such as food, washing equipment and of course cigarettes are sold. There is little else to see and after we have dropped off almost everyone we start the last leg of the journey. The last stage will take another half hour. We drive past houses and markets and many people are still on the street. That while it is already dark. They gather around a fire or a shop. Get warm and chat. Eating is also done, all together. Because where we mainly share on Facebook, they do that here with food, clothes, etc. Everything belongs to everyone.

Lukwanda Lodge

And then we finally drive onto Thomas’ site. At least we stop in front of the door and have to walk a bit ourselves. In the rain and mud, quite a challenge in the pitch dark. But here we are. At Lukwanda Lodge, in the middle of the nature reserve of the Hela Province. The beds smell a bit musty, the towel (one for two people) is full of dirty stains and the toilet does not flush. But here we are. After 33 hours of flying, 8 hours of driving and without luggage, we start the adventure in Papua New Guinea!