► Trip to Papua New Guinea - Mt. Hagen Festival

11 - 31 August 2023 / TRIP COMPLETED

Located below the Equator and just above Australia, Papua New Guinea, “Land of the Unexpected”, is the second largest island in the world. With less than nine million inhabitants, its more than 600 tribes speak more than 800 languages. The cultural and natural richness and diversity of Papua New Guinea is beyond anything you could have ever imagined.

Papua New Guinea is cultural mosaic and country of great contrasts. An independent nation since 1975, more than 85% of its population still maintains a subsistence and exchange economy. Its orography is extremely complex, crossed by mountain ranges whose peaks exceed 4,000 meters and resting on vast flood-prone regions in coastal areas. In addition to the main large island, its territory includes numerous archipelagos with more than 600 other islands, some volcanic and other coral. It is for all these reasons that it offers such spectacular and unique cultural diversity and natural richness on our planet.

Our trip is focused on obtaining a general and balanced knowledge of Papua New Guinea, visiting three of its four regions. We will not only enjoy spectacular natural settings, but we will also be in daily contact with the people and communities we will visit. We will immerse ourselves in the Melanesian culture and we will enjoy the kindness and spontaneous smiles of its people. All this in a society in constant transformation, whose ancestors saw a white man for the first time less than 100 years ago and maintains their traditions intact.

From the Coral Sea to the Bismarck Sea across the Highlands

On our route we will discover little known corners of PNG, while enjoying the spectacular Mount Hagen tribal festival in the Highlands. We will explore three eco-regions of the country: Kairuku, on the southern coast facing the Coral Sea, with its tattooed Mekeo and Roro ethnic groups and spectacular dance costumes, the place where missionary activity began at the end of the 19th century. The second stage will be the Highlands, reached for the first time in 1930 by Australian gold prospectors, where we will visit numerous tribes that were still in the stone age at that time. An essential moment will be the Mount Hagen Festival in which more than 70 tribes meet and where we will enjoy their dances and a profusion of colorful costumes and dance helmets. Finally, we will descend towards Madang, on the northwest coast facing the Bismark Sea to visit and live with the Bosmun tribe in the lower part of the Ramu river, one of the ethnic groups that best preserves its rich and ancestral traditions.

The most brilliant tribal traditions

The complex orography as well as the ancient rivalry between tribes are the reason for an ancient isolation that has resulted in a unparalleled richness and diversity. Tribes of a few thousand members separated by only a few tens of kilometers speak completely different languages and maintain unique traditions and aesthetics.
On our trip we will have the opportunity to visit and live with 9 different tribes from very distant regions, which will give us a good idea of this diversity. Additionally, at the Mt. Hagen Festival we will witness the spectacular and colorful dances of almost another hundred more tribes. Although the country, given its size, offers itself for many more months of discoveries in the ethnological aspect.

Fusion of tropical ecosystems

Papua New Guinea offers a diversity of spectacular and pristine ecosystems. The central mountain range, with peaks higher than 4,500 meters, and which hides hidden valleys and dense tropical forests (the third largest in the world by extension), descends towards vast flooded areas on both coasts where innumerable rivers wander towards the sea. in meandering meanders for hundreds of kilometres.
In its more than 20,000 kilometers of coastline we find beaches adorned with immense palm groves, but also tropical forests with volcanoes that dramatically merge into the sea.
In addition to the large main island, Papua New Guinea has more than 600 other islands, some of volcanic origin and others coral, grouped into numerous archipelagos of unparalleled beauty and spectacularity.
On our trip we will have the opportunity to visit the coastal areas of Kairuku in the Coral Sea, Madang in the Bismark Sea, the deep and fertile mountain valleys of the Highlands and the final coursel of the great Ramu River, between whose meanders lives the Bosmun tribe.

A paradise of endemic flora and fauna

Our trip will allow us to enjoy the unique wealth of flora and fauna throughout Papua New Guinea.
In the coastal areas there is an abundance of butterflies, highlighting the Queen Alexandra, the largest known and whose brightly colored wings can span up to 30 cm. The Goura Victoria pigeon, with its spectacular crest, is the largest on the planet. With its height of up to 70 cm, it is usually seen in the Ramu River region.
But Papua New Guinea stands out above all for its variety of birds of paradise, the Raggiana being the most beautiful. The many varieties of birds of paradise can be seen courting at dawn in forests across the country. A great variety of marsupials are also found in the areas that we will visit.
Lovers of botany will find themselves in the orchids paradise. Papua New Guinea is home to more than 3,000 endemic species, two-thirds of those on the planet
. Finally, the entire coast and inter-island waters offer a great wealth of marine species between its estuaries and the maritime coral zone. During our stay in Port Moresby we will also have the opportunity to see all this richness when we visit the Nature Park.

Mt. Hagen Tribal Festival

The Mt. Hagen Festival, along with the Goroka Festival, is one of the biggest annual events in Papua New Guinea. These festivals were created in the 1950s by the Kiap, Australian patrols, for the tribes to fraternize and stop warring among themselves. Currently they attract hundreds of tribes and thousands of warriors dressed in spectacular costumes and dancing helmets, all with their distinctive facial paints. We will have VIP passes which will allow us not only to witness the show in unbeatable conditions but also to access the reserved area where the tribes camp and be with them during the process of decorating and painting their faces.

Do you want to see the detailed itinerary of the trip to Papua New Guinea?

This trip to Papua New Guinea is specially designed for those who want to travel back in time to one of the few Last Places on earth.
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