Papua New Guinea
One of the most amazing, colourful and unexplored countries on this planet. Not only is this the place to watch the bird of paradise dance the night away, it is also the place where people know how to make use of colours. It’s where there are more airports than roads and battles are fought in a dance off (sometimes). One of our most precious journeys.
MYlights
Fun Facts
Papua New Guinea Profile
The local currency is Kina.
Here you find the current exchange rate.
Roman Catholic 27%, Protestant 69.4% (Evangelical Lutheran 19.5%, United Church 11.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 10%, Pentecostal 8.6%, Evangelical Alliance 5.2%, Anglican 3.2%, Baptist 2.5%, other Protestant 8.9%), Baha’i 0.3%, indigenous beliefs and other 3.3% (2000 census)
Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian, Polynesian.
Tok Pisin (Melanesian Pidgin, the lingua franca), Hiri Motu (in Papua region) less than 2%, English 1% or 2%; 836 indigenous languages.
Where is Papua New Guinea?
Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, just north of Australia, and many outlying islands. The Indonesian province of West Papua (Irian Jaya) is to the west. To the north and east are the islands of Manus, New Britain, New Ireland, and Bougainville, all part of Papua New Guinea.
Is Papua New Guinea safe?
Armed robbery is rare in PNG, but pick-pocketing and other opportunistic crimes do happen, especially at local markets. If something doesn’t feel right, trust your gut. If someone makes an unusual offer, say thank you (politely) and walk away.
Do I need a visa for Papua New Guinea?
It depends on the country you are from. Check here if you need a visa to travel to Papua New Guinea.
Stories
The most famous tribal show
Those beautiful people, the cheerful colors, the great headdresses. More than 800 languages and as many different tribes, each with their own culture. The reason I have dreamed of going to Papua New Guinea for years.After staying with the Huli Wigmen for a week, it...
Papua New Guinea: a negative travel advice
Rightly so! It's a dangerous country. If I have to believe the locals, thieves are everywhere. Especially in Port Moresby, Mount Hagen and the other major cities. Shutting windows and doors does not apply here in the event of a fire or flood, but in the case of a car...
The first white people in Polongo Village
A mud bath. In the Netherlands it costs money and in Papua New Guinea it is insurmountable. The trek to the middle of the jungle in the Hela province (Pilongo village) starts with an unplanned mud bath. On the way to Pilongo village We walk a few meters over the road...
Hunting crocodiles in Papua New Guinea
Thousands of crocodiles live in the Sepik River. We don't see one. But that's because they are scared, and that's not surprising. They are hunted a lot.Many crocodile farms can be found along the Sepik. They remind me of mega stables in Europe. The booths are too...
Burned eyes on the Sepik river
Burning your eyes hurts. My eyes are my everything and my greatest fear is not death, not even deep water, but blindness. Being blind really seems like the worst of all. On the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea I burned my eyes for the first time in my...
From making mumu to machete attack
I did not sleep well. The mattress should not bear the name. It's so thin, with a hard wooden bed underneath that only allowed me to lie on my back. The pillow smells like the many people who used it for me and the beetles outside kept roaring. I also heard a lot of...
Arrival in Tari, with police escort
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...
An adventurous journey
As always we have to wait. This time not on a non-working ATM, not even on our forgotten lunch, but on our driver. At half past eight we have arranged to meet at the guesthouse, now it is half past nine and no trace of...