Explore Papua New Guinea an island nation in Oceania, with its many cities to visit.

• Port Moresby — the capital city with its interesting Zoological gardens, the Parliament building, the museum, and general Melanesian atmosphere.
• Alotau — laid-back capital of Milne Bay province and gateway to some fascinating but remote islands.
• Goroka — an attractive highland town with pleasant climate and the annual Goroka Show. Centre of the country’s coffee industry.
• Lae — the country’s second city, main commercial centre and gateway to the Highlands.
• Hagen — the ‘wild-west’ frontier town in the Highlands, which will introduce you to the cool, crisp Highlands weather and Highlands culture.
• Madang — a beautiful city with breathtaking flights of bats in the evening (it is illegal to hurt them), and even more breathtaking diving.
• Rabaul — the city at the foot of an active volcano which was evacuated and severely damaged by a major eruption in 1994.
• Vanimo — the border town if you want to make you way to or from the province of Papua in neighboring Indonesia. Popular surfing destination.
• Wewak — the gateway to the Sepik river, where you can experience Sepik culture, the river itself, and the elaborate carvings typical of the region.

Other destinations

• Kokoda Track — an ancient trail across the Owen Stanley Range which became especially famous for its part in WWII.
• Louisiade Archipelago — beautiful island group well off-the-beaten-path; world-class diving and yachting heaven.
• Trobriand Islands — referred to by the anthropologist, Malinowski, as the “Islands of Love”.
• Papua New Guinea’s fjords — fascinating scenery, great diving, and tapa cloth made from mulberry bark, in the Tufi area.

There is evidence of human settlement as long ago as 35,000 years in what is now Papua New Guinea. This comes from an archaeological site at Matenkupkum, just south of Namatanai in New Ireland province. Other archaeological digs at several locations in New Ireland have discovered tools and food residue dating back 20,000 years.

For people who can make it out here, the experience is unforgettable. The incredible natural beauty is simply indescribable. Its unique flora and fauna includes enormous radiations of marsupials and birds, including the Raggiana bird-of-paradise (the national symbol) and several species of tree kangaroos. Untouched coral reefs compete with spectacular World War II wrecks for the attention of divers, and the hiking is out of this world.

With rugged terrain, inter-tribal mistrust, and diverse languages, intermarriage between the peoples has, until recently, been very limited. Physical and facial appearance varies significantly throughout the country; from those who look almost Polynesian in some coastal areas, through the short, stocky Highlanders, to the tall and statuesque people of the area around Rabaul in New Britain and the dark-skinned inhabitants of Bougainville, who could almost come from Africa.

The central highlands of Papua New Guinea were not mapped until the 1930s and not effectively brought under government control until the late 1960s. As a result, the people are as interesting as the geography, flora, and fauna. Papua New Guinea is a place that often markets itself as ‘the Last Unknown’ or a place where you can still find ‘Stone Age People’.

Papua New Guinea is just to the south of the equator and has a tropical climate. In the highlands, though, temperatures are distinctly cool. The (very) wet season runs from about December to March. The best months for trekking are June to September.

The country is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the point of collision of several tectonic plates. There are a number of active volcanoes, and eruptions are frequent. Earthquakes are relatively common, sometimes accompanied by tsunamis.

The country’s geography is diverse and, in places, extremely rugged. A spine of mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, runs the length of the island of New Guinea, forming a populous highlands region mostly covered with tropical rainforest. Dense rainforests can be found in the lowland and coastal areas as well as very large wetland areas surrounding the Sepik and Fly rivers. This terrain has made it difficult for the country to develop transport infrastructure. In some areas, airplanes are the only mode of transport. The highest peak is Mount Wilhelm at 4,509m (14,793 ft). Papua New Guinea is surrounded by coral reefs which are under close watch to preserve them.

Most foreign nationals who wish to enter Papua New Guinea are required to obtain a visa.

Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby is the nation’s main international airport.

A car or motorbike hire, taxi is required

Papua New Guinea is a strange place when it comes to travel. The tropical conditions, fierce geography, and lack of government capacity means there are very few paved roads in the country.

With the exception of a brief span of road connecting it to the immediate hinterland and a road that will enable you to follow the coast southeast for a few hours, there are no major roads linking Port Moresby to anywhere else.

The big exception to this is the Highlands Highway, which begins in Lae (the country’s main port) and runs up into the highlands through Goroka to Mt. Hagen with a fork going back to the coast and Madang. Shortly outside Mt. Hagen the road branches, with southern line going through the Southern Highlands to Tari while the northern line runs through Enga province and ends in Porgera.

Traffic moves on the left. Road signs are based on the Australian standard, and distances are posted in kilometers.

Lae, Madang, Goroka, Tari, and Mount Hagen are all connected by a good highway. As a newcomer it is probably advisable to get help from locals (e.g., hotel-staff). Most towns have several starting points

Talk

With over 820 languages – 12% of the world’s total – spoken in Papua New Guinea, it was pretty difficult to get everyone talking to each other.