EM209W 2018 GOROKA SHOW WEEKENDER THU13-MON17 SEPTEMBER 4 nights Mt Hagen and Goroka Semi-escorted package for independent travellers includes accommodation, excursions and some/all meals. Does not include flights. The Goroka Show (also incorrectly called the Goroka Festival) is partly an agricultural show and partly a highlands sing-sing. Since colonial days the people of the Eastern Highlands have come together once a year to display samples of their best crops and livestock, and to show off their most colourful and energetic dance traditions. The pride of each tribe is vested in its dancing groups which vie for attention and prominence on the dance ground often there are several groups performing at once in different corners of the sing-sing arena. Sparks fly occasionally as jealousy and the quest for first prize fuels competition between tribal groups. At the end of the Show, judges award prizes to the best performing groups. Cash awards have now taken the place of pigs. This four night program is designed for independent travellers requiring managed arrangements for visiting the Show. There is a selection of accommodation options subject to availability at time of booking and escorted excursions to the Goroka Show and other attractions. For the excursions you will share a bus, guide and Show seating with other Ecotourism Melanesia clients booking this package, but after dinner each night you will have time to yourself. Traditionally the Goroka Show runs Saturday and Sunday on the weekend closest to Independence Day, the 16 th September each year. However the Friday before this weekend is one of the busiest travel days of the year in PNG with thousands of Port Moresby residents flying to their home provinces to spend the holiday weekend with their relatives. Flight overbookings, delays and cancellations are unfortunately rather common on Friday and in past years some tourists have missed the start of the Goroka Show due to flight chaos and being stranded in Port Moresby on the Friday night. Accordingly we now offer the Goroka Show as a 4 night package flying in to Mt Hagen on the Thursday and transferring by private bus trip to Goroka on the Friday. This arrangement avoids the Friday flight chaos, enables a short tour of Mt Hagen and time for a couple of village stops in the rural Chimbu Province en route to Goroka.
On the Saturday morning and Sunday morning our guides will take you to the traditional sing-sing performances in the main arena at the Goroka Show while other attractions also take place on the sidelines including the Mr Goroka Show bodybuilding competition, the Miss Goroka Show beauty pageant and of course sideshow alley. The churches, charities, health and environmental organisations will also set up stalls to spruik their messages with megaphones and theatre groups performing comedy skits. At lunchtime the gates are opened to the public for free entry and the show ground becomes very crowded so this is our cue to exit. After lunch our guides will take you on village excursions. (If you prefer to skip the excursions and spend the whole day at the Show we can arrange a guide to stay back with you). On arrival and departure at Port Moresby our staff will meet and assist you with your onward flight connection or other arrangements. TOUR COST Standard package (4 nights accom and excursions with 3 lunches) Single supplement Optional airfare POM-HGU + GKA-POM (flat rate) BOOKING NOTES: 2.0 star Diwai Motel GK Motel (old wing) Klerht Cove Motel - budget motel room with small double bed (or dble + sgl), ensuite bathroom, includes light bfast and boxed lunch only USD 1800 / AUD 2250 3.0 star 3.5 star Emmanuel Motor Inn Bird of Paradise Hotel GK Motel (new wing) Pacific Gardens Hotel Hotel Phoenix - standard (small) hotel - standard motel room rm with queen bed (or 2 with queen bed (or queen sgls), ensuite bathroom + sgl), ensuite bathroom, includes buffet bfast, includes light bfast and boxed lunch, buffet boxed lunch only dinner ie all meals USD 2100 / AUD 2600 USD 340 / AUD 450 USD 600 / AUD 750 USD 225 / AUD 280 pp USD 2450 / AUD 3050 USD 1050 / AUD 1300 4.0 star Bird of Paradise Hotel Pacific Gardens Hotel - deluxe/premier (large) hotel rm with queen bed (or queen + sgl), ensuite includes buffet bfast, boxed lunch, buffet dinner ie all meals USD 2800 / AUD 3500 USD 1300 / AUD 1600 USD 225 / AUD 280 pp USD 225 / AUD 280 pp USD 225 / AUD 280 pp 1. Rooms are subject to availability at the time of booking. We do not hold block reservations at these hotels. 2. Goroka has less than 200 tourist-quality hotel and motel rooms and most properties capitalise on this shortage of rooms during the Show weekend by charging peak-season rates. This contributes to the high cost of this package. 3. Package rates for 3.5 star and 4.0 star include all meals because it is a condition of booking rooms at those hotels for the Show weekend that meals must be pre-paid in-house. 4. Star ratings are an approximate guide only and are not based on any published star rating system. 5. Package prices are subject to change at any time prior to final payment if there are unexpected increases in the cost of package components or major deterioration in exchange rates. For package modifications please enquire. 6. To book a Goroka Show Weekender package, simply e-mail a copy of your passport photo page and your request to ecotourism.melanesia@gmail.com We will then send you an availability confirmation and a quote. We will require a 40% deposit to hold your booking and secure your preferred accommodation. 60% balance is due 6 weeks before arrival. Our normal terms and conditions apply (see page 2 of your invoice). An early-bird discount may be available if you pay in full at the time of booking please enquire.
PACKAGE INCLUSIONS Port Moresby meet and greet, assist with arrival connection Mt Hagen - meet and greet, transfer to accommodation Mt Hagen complimentary afternoon sightseeing tour for early arrivals Mt Hagen 1 night accommodation and meals as per selected package (2 star Airport Motel, 3 star Hotel Kimininga, 3.5 star McRoyal Hotel, 4 star Highlander Hotel). Mt Hagen private bus transfer to Goroka with sightseeing stops and lunch (2 seats per passenger) Goroka arrival town walking tour and cultural museum (if open) Goroka - 3 nights accommodation with some or all meals as per selected package Goroka two morning excursions to the Goroka Show with tourist pass, boxed lunch and bottled water Goroka two afternoon excursions to local villages as per itinerary Goroka - departure transfer to airport Port Moresby meet and greet, assist with departure connection Mt Hagen/Goroka - all fees and gratuities for local villagers, local guides and helpers Mt Hagen/Goroka - on-site company tour leader to escort and manage daily arrangements 24-hour backup assistance from our office in Port Moresby EXCLUSIONS internal airfares (arrange your own or we can supply at quoted cost) any extra meals, snack or room service not stated as included in your selected package bar drinks including bottled water at your hotel (pay as you go) tips (not expected, and only appropriate for exceptional service) souvenirs and items of a personal nature TOUR ITINERARY DAY 1: THU 13 SEP 2018 ARRIVE MT HAGEN Arrive Mt Hagen by air from Port Moresby. For available flights see www.airniugini.com.pg and www.pngair.com A guide from Ecotourism Melanesia will meet you on arrival and transfer you to your accommodation to settle in. Lunch today is not included in the package. You can buy something at Port Moresby airport or at your hotel in Mt Hagen on arrival. 13:30 A complimentary sightseeing tour of Mt Hagen and surrounds is available for those who have arrived in Mt Hagen on a morning flight. Overnight Mt Hagen (selected hotel)
DAY 2: FRI 14 SEP 2018 MT HAGEN / GOROKA (private bus trip with village stops) 08:00-09:00 The bus will pick you up from your accommodation and commence the drive to Goroka. Normally the drive takes 4 hours but we will be making it a full day tour/transfer with sightseeing stops including lunch. The Highlands Highway runs east, passing first through the market gardens, coffee and tea plantations of the Waghi Valley. This valley is often called the food bowl of PNG because of the intensive agricultural activities and in fact at the village of Kuk near Mt Hagen archaeologists found evidence that the area has been planted with food crops for thousands of years. From the Waghi Valley the highway passes through the small towns of Kudjip and Minj then climbs into the alpine Chimbu Province with its precipitous ravines and steep mountainsides amazingly covered in furrowed gardens with people working away in them one foot uphill and one foot downhill to steady themselves. The first stop late morning will be at Mindima village in the Chimbu province to see the village boys perform the ghoulish but slightly corny skeleton dance and a demonstration of the local courtship ritual. Back on the highway PNG s highest peak, Mt Wilhelm, passes slowly on the left as the bus winds its way to Kundiawa town, capital of Chimbu, for a lunch stop at the hotel (included). One hour further on brings you to the snake village where the local people have a strange affinity for snakes and like to keep them as pets, although the poisonous ones stay in cages. You ll see the locals handling pythons and carpet snakes and have a chance to touch and take photos if you wish. If you are not a snake person you can huddle in the mini-bus From the snake village, continue another hour to the peak of the Daulo Pass, a high altitude biodiversity hotspot where the road winds through swirling mists past giant tree ferns and trickling waterfalls. Local children sell flowers on the side of the road here. If it s not raining by this time you will be able to take a guided walk through the ancient moss forest which is populated by flowering and non-flowering trees and ferns which form a substrate for the growth of a wide variety of saprophytic native orchids, green mosses and colourful fungi, lichens, liverworts and leafy epiphytes: real Lord of the Rings stuff. Birds of paradise also frequent this area. From the Daulo Pass the road descends through the fertile Asaro Valley and finally into Goroka town. 15:00 (approx) On arrival in Goroka there will be a comfort stop at one of the hotels followed by a guided walk to the cultural museum and handicraft market (leave your baggage in the bus first) followed by drop-off and check-in assistance at your hotel. TOUR NOTE: meals in Goroka Breakfast is included in all packages and boxed lunch is included with each day s excursions. Dinners are only included in the 3.5 star and 4.0 star packages and must be taken at your hotel. If you have booked the 2.0 or 3.0 star package you may have dinner anywhere you like (pay-as-you-go) and our bus is available to transfer you to your preferred dinner venue. May we suggest: (1) the bistro/pizzeria upstairs at the Bird of Paradise Hotel (cash or credit card) (2) the a la carte restaurant downstairs at the Bird of Paradise Hotel (cash or credit card) (3) the bistro at the Pacific Gardens Hotel (cash or credit card) (4) the Mandarin Chinese café in the main street (cash or credit card) (5) the Goroka Steak House at Hotel Phoenix (6) Groceries for self-catering can be purchased from the supermarkets, most of which close at 17:00 but there are one or two smaller ones that close at 18:30. Please note that some all of the 2.0 star motels are alcohol free. Alcohol is only available at the larger hotels. Also note that the Bird of Paradise Hotel eateries are always closed for a private function (the Show Ball) on the Saturday evening.
DAY 3: SAT 15 SEP 2018 GOROKA (Goroka Show + village excursion) 08:00 You will be picked up from your accommodation and transferred to the show grounds in time to settle into your seat before the commencement of the sing-sing performances around 09:00. The tourist seating has good views of the performance area and your tourist pass (provided as part of your tour package) gives you blanket permission to enter the performance area if you wish to take close-up photographs. Special toilets for tourists are situated nearby. A number of our guides will accompany our group today to interpret the performances for you. Bottled water and bananas are supplied. 13:00 Depart from the Show grounds and head straight to a local village about 30 minutes drive out of town. This is a typical semi-rural highlands village with round huts made of bush materials, smoky cooking fires and pigs and chickens wandering around. At the village some traditional-style food is ready you to taste. Chicken and vegetables has been wrapped in banana leaves or stuffed into the nodes of giant bamboo stalks and cooked in a pit under hot coals or hot stones. The food has taken several hours to slow-cook this way and when it comes out of the oven it has a delightful smoky barbeque flavour. At the village you ll see local people engaged in a variety of daily activities such as gardening and tending their coffee crops. Organic coffee grown on smallholder blocks is the major cash crop in the highlands. 17:30 Drop off at your accommodation. DAY 4: SUN 16 SEP 2018 GOROKA (Goroka Show + Asaro Mudmen) Second day at the Goroka Show as per yesterday. 13:00 Depart from the Show grounds and drive 30 minutes out the Highlands Highway through the Asaro Valley to Asaro village. ee a performance of the Asaro mudmen in their home environment. Yes it s staged for you and it s a little corny BUT it s brilliant entertainment and fantastic photography in the forest setting without the festival crowds and fences in the background. 17:30 Drop off at your accommodation. DAY 5: MON 17 SEP 2018 DEPART GOROKA Depart Goroka by air (own arrangements). Your guide will farewell you at Goroka airport and our Port Moresby staff will meet and assist you with your connection in Port Moresby.