EM209B 2018 GOROKA SHOW & KALAM CULTURE FESTIVAL TOUR FRI14-MON24 SEP 10 nights Goroka, Mt Hagen, Simbai, Sepik River (escorted small group tour maximum 12 people + guide) This small group tour EM209B begins in Goroka for the Show, travels overland to Mt Hagen then hops by charter flight to Simbai for the Kalam Festival then onwards to Wewak and the Sepik River including one night in a village on the mystical middle Sepik, home of the crocodile cult. The Goroka Show 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 to compete for prizes, 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 parts of the arena. Sparks fly occasionally on the field as jealousy and competition fuel conflict between tribal groups. At the end of the Show, judges award prizes to the best dancing groups. Cash awards have now taken the place of pigs. The Kalam Culture Festival on the other hand is a small local festival attended by only a few privileged outsiders. Once a year the people of the Kalam tribe around Simbai in the highlands come together to initiate their pubescent boys into manhood by piercing their nose septums, giving them their first pig to kill, and first occasion to wear the huge cane-framed head-dresses for which the tribe is famous. The festival gathering is also an opportunity for resolving disputes ( bel isi ), pay bride price and other compensation payments (in the form of cash and pigs), and feast and celebrate together the traditions of the tribe. This itinerary includes the Sepik River as a final stop to observe the lifestyle of a riverine people and see examples of exotic Sepik art and dance. You probably won t see a Sepik sing-sing at the Goroka Show because there are no road connections from the Sepik to Goroka and groups can t afford to fly. SPECIAL NOTE: EM209B is a wet foot and hands on tour that involves some moderate hiking to get to some of the villages, plus clambering in and out of canoes and a bit of squelching through mud, and several nights sleeping rough in very basic accommodation at Simbai and the Sepik River (village guest houses with clean bedding and hygienic food but rather basic outhouses and no electricity). Some physical agility and mental resilience is required for this tour on the other hand if you don t like to get your hands dirty this may not be the right tour for you. This is a unique small group tour program originally designed by Ecotourism Melanesia and not offered by any other tour company. The tour price includes a tour development levy to recoup our outlays on planning, reconnoitring and organising this remote area program, maintaining good relationships with the people living at each destination plus a share of the group leader s travel costs and various hidden costs like local permits and insurances, retainers for local guides, air-freighting of gear and supplies from Port Moresby etc. To keep the tour cost down we avoid paying high Show rates at the tourist hotels in Goroka on the Show weekend. Instead we stay in a smaller motel and eat out.
TOUR COST USD 7700 / AUD 9,600 per person based on twin-share or willing-to-share, includes internal air and most meals. Single supplement is USD 770 / AUD 960 (guaranteed single room at Goroka, Mt Hagen and Wewak only, possible single room at Simbai and Sepik River). The tour price is subject to change at any time prior to final payment if there are unexpected increases in costs of package components or any major fluctuation in exchange rates. TOUR INCLUSIONS (10 nights) Port Moresby airport meet and greet Port Moresby - scheduled domestic flight to Goroka Goroka airport meet and greet, transfer to accom Goroka - 3 nights 2.0-star accommodation, includes set-menu breakfast and dine-out dinner Goroka arrival day sightseeing tour of Goroka town Goroka - 2 x morning excursions to the Goroka Show with entry pass, bottled water, boxed lunch Goroka 2 x afternoon excursions to Goroka villages Goroka - road transfer to Mt Hagen with enroute stops (excludes lunch) Mt Hagen - 1 night 3.0-star accommodation, includes buffet or set-menu dinner and hot breakfast Mt Hagen return charter flights from Mt Hagen to Simbai Simbai - 3 days village culture tours and Kalam Culture Festival entry including all entry fees and gratuities Simbai - 3 nights 1-star twin-share accommodation at Kalam Guest House, including local style meals and bottled or boiled drinking water Mt Hagen scheduled domestic flight to Wewak Wewak 2 nights 3.0-star accommodation including set-menu dinner and hot breakfast Wewak overnight excursion to Middle Sepik villages including road and motor canoe transfers, village tours, basic village hut accommodation, local style food and bottled water, private sing-sing performance Wewak - scheduled domestic flight to Port Moresby Port Moresby departure day breakfast Port Moresby departure day ad hoc shopping or sightseeing (complimentary) Port Moresby - departure check-in assistance and farewell at airport Throughout the tour we provide: - services of a full time tour leader - all fees and gratuities for local villages, guides, demonstrators and helpers - all airport/hotel transfers - all road travel by late model mini bus or four wheel drive vehicle with bottled water on board - all water travel by open speed boat, skiff or motor canoe with life vests and bottled water on board - various additional gear that may be required for your safety and comfort in remote areas such as mobile satellite phone, tropical first aid kit, mosquito net, clean bedding, supplementary supplies - daily reconfirmation of flights and arrangements coordinated by our Port Moresby office - 24 hour emergency backup from our Port Moresby office EXCLUSIONS international airfares meals, bar drinks and bottled water at hotels except where stated as included tips (not expected, and only appropriate for exceptional service) souvenirs and items of a personal nature domestic airline excess baggage charges (the free allowance is 16kg + 5 kg). Personal items. Bring your own personal medications and first aid kit, personal hygiene requirements, brimmed hat or cap, amphibious footwear (sandals or quick-dry canvas shoes), insect repellent, sunscreen, battery-operated personal fan. Please note that pressurised aerosol spray cans are not permitted on domestic flights in PNG bring pump-action sprays or roll-ons.
PROPOSED ITINERARY DAY 1: FRI 14 SEP 2019 PORT MORESBY / GOROKA (Goroka town sights) On arrival at Port Moresby airport you will be met by staff from Ecotourism Melanesia who will assist you to check in for your connecting flight to Goroka. Where possible we will try to book all tour group members on the same morning flight but this will depend on your international flight arrival time, and seat availability to Goroka. On arrival in Goroka you will be met by Ecotourism Melanesia staff and transfer to your accommodation to check-in and have lunch. 13:00 Join the other tour group members for a half day sightseeing excursion around Goroka town, travelling by mini bus. This excursion usually includes the Mt Kiss lookout from where you will be able to see most of Goroka town and the adjacent Asaro Valley, the JK McCarthy Museum of Highlands Culture which has informative displays of highlands artifacts, traditional dress and customs, and the Goroka handicrafts market where a variety of cultural artifacts and made-for-sale arts and crafts are displayed for sale including the colourful woven string bags called billums. If the weather is dry it may also be possible to visit the fresh produce market (known locally as the kakaruk maket or chicken market) where you will see a wide range of sub-tropical fruit and vegetables, freshly killed meat and some live animals offered for sale by villagers squatting on the ground or at tables. Overnight Goroka (2.0 star accom includes dinner and breakfast) NOTE The two tourist hotels in Goroka (Pacific Gardens Hotel and Bird of Paradise Hotel) are always fully booked out one year in advance for the Goroka Show weekend, and charge higher peak period rates. Instead we book clean budget motel accommodation and we bus our tour group to other venues for dinner each night. DAY 2: SAT 15 SEP 2018 GOROKA (Goroka Show) 08:30 The group will transfer by mini bus from your accommodation to the show venue (usually the National Sports Institute athletics training ground) in time to settle into your seats before the commencement of the sing-sing performances around 09:00. The tourist seating area has good views of the performance arena 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 local guides and helpers will accompany the group today, to interpret the performances for you. You will also be joined by some other Ecotourism Melanesia clients taking a short weekender package for the Show these tourists will be following a slightly different itinerary and will move around in a different vehicle. Bottled water and boxed lunches will be provided. You are also free to poke around the handicraft and food stalls. 13:00 Depart from the Show venue and drive 30 minutes out the Highlands Highway through the Asaro Valley to Asaro village to see 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. Overnight Goroka (2.0 star accom includes dinner and breakfast)
DAY 3: SUN 16 SEP 2018 GOROKA (Goroka Show) Today is the second day of the Goroka Show and your group will attend in the morning as per yesterday. Different cultural groups will perform today. Generally after each group has performed they move outside the arena where it is possible to arrange posed photo shoots with selected individuals ( models ) and our guides will be happy to assist in organising this for you. Usually the groups or individuals expect a tip if being photographed in portrait after the Show, but there is no photography fee for capturing them while performing in the arena during the main program. 13:00 Depart from the Show grounds and head straight to a local village about 1 hour 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. 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. Overnight Goroka (2.0 star accom includes dinner and breakfast)
DAY 4: MON 17 SEP 2018 GOROKA / MT HAGEN (bus trip with stops) Today your group will travel by private bus to Mt Hagen with a couple of interesting stops along the way. For long trips like this (5-6 hours including stops) we do try to provide 2 seats per passenger in the bus so you can have some personal space. One hour climbing the Highlands Highway through a series of hairpin bends brings you 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. Near the peak of the pass, you will leave your vehicle at the road side and some local villagers will lead you on a walk through the moss forest. The forest 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. Continuing along the Highlands Highway across the border into the Chimbu Province we come to the snake village where the people keep a variety of native pythons and other non-venomous snakes in semi-captivity for visitors to see and handle. There are also some poisonous species like the Papuan black and the taipan kept in cages. The taipan is the most venomous snake in PNG. If you are not a snake person you can huddle in the mini-bus From the snake village, continue along the winding highway through the 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. You may get occasional glimpses of PNG s highest peak, Mt Wilhelm, as it passes slowly on your right as you wind your way to Kundiawa town, the capital of Chimbu. You will stop here at the local hotel (pub) for lunch (included). Basic bistro style food is available like roast chicken, steak, fish and chips, sandwiches. From Kundiawa the road continues in a westerly direction passing through the small towns of Kudjip and Minj before descending through the Wahgi Valley tea and coffee plantations to Mt Hagen. Mt Hagen is PNG s third largest town after Port Moresby and Lae. On arrival mid-afternoon you will check in at your accommodation with just a few hours before nightfall. Overnight Mt Hagen (3.0 star accom includes dinner and breakfast)
DAY 5: TUE 18 SEP 2018 MT HAGEN / SIMBAI (explore Simbai) 07:00 Check out of the hotel and transfer to Mt Hagen airport. 08:00 Your charter flight departs for Simbai, a 45-minute flight north of Mt Hagen, if the weather is clear at both ends. Otherwise, sit and wait. On arrival at Simbai airstrip you will be met by local guides with plenty of helpful hands to carry your bags for the 30 minute walk to the Kalam Guest House, a basic but comfortable facility built in local style. On arrival you will be met by a traditional dance group with a welcome singsing then have time to settle into your accommodation until lunch. Lunch at the Kalam Guest House will likely consist of a tray of salad vegetables and tinned meat or fish with locally baked bread buns make your own sandwiches. Dinner will be a hot meal. This afternoon will be an opportunity to hike around the satellite hamlets around Simbai, see the orchid gardens and inspect the Kalam tribal culture museum (if open!). Overnight 1 star Kalam Guest House (twin share cabin- includes all meals) DAY 6: WED 19 SEP 2018 SIMBAI (Kalam Culture Festival day 1) Today is the first day of the Kalam Culture Festival when the village people go about preparatory tasks such as collecting firewood and leaves for wrapping food in the earth oven, harvesting food from their gardens (sweet potato, yam, bananas), preparing the food for cooking, and sorting out their traditional dress which involves cutting fresh flowers, collecting fresh bird feathers for decoration, and repairing broken head-dresses. The traditional head-dresses or crowns worn by the young men at initiation are very elaborate and require a lot of care. Some initiation activities like pig killing and nose piercing will commence today, in preparation for the feasting and dancing tomorrow. Your group leader and some local guides will accompany you to witness the activities which may be in different locations around the Simbai area. Overnight 1 star Kalam Guest House (twin share cabin- includes all meals) DAY 7: THU 20 SEP 2018 SIMBAI (Kalam Culture Festival day 2) Today you will attend more activities of the Kalam Culture Festival. During the course of the day you may float back and forth between the guest house and the festival venue. Simbai is perfectly safe for you to wander around by yourself. Lunch today will probably be at the guest house your guide will advise. In the evening you will join the locals for the festival feast. This will include a range of local vegetables roasted in banana leaves under hot stones in a shallow pit in the ground (this is called a "mumu"). You will also be offered roast wild pork or other game meat hunted from the forest (eg wallaby, possum, cuscus, cassowary). Your hosts will not be offended if you sample only those foods that appeal to you. There will also be plenty of fruit. The two day festival may conclude with dancing around a night bonfire. Overnight 1 star Kalam Guest House (twin share cabin- includes all meals)
DAY 8: FRI 21 SEP 2018 SIMBAI / WEWAK Today is a travel day involving a morning charter flight back to Mt Hagen followed by a midday scheduled flight to Wewak. The exact departure time of the charter may not be known until the day of the flight ie today but it will likely be first flight of the day for the aircraft. On arrival in Mt Hagen you ll walk with your bags 10 minutes from the MAF terminal to the main passenger terminal 11:55 Air Niugini flight PX departs Mt Hagen for Wewak (flight time 40 min) On arrival in Wewak, transfer by hotel shuttle to your accommodation and have lunch (pay as you go) then enjoy a few hours in the pool, on the verandah staring out to sea or walking around the area near the hotel as it s already too late in the day to travel to the Sepik River today. Overnight Wewak (3.0 star accom includes dinner and breakfast) NB If the group size is sufficient to charter a larger aircraft and one is available the charter may today proceed direct from Simbai to Timbunke airfield on the Middle Sepik instead, thus allowing two nights on the river and more time to explore the crocodile cult villages. DAY 9: SAT 22 SEP 2018 WEWAK / SEPIK RIVER 08:00 Depart Wewak by private four wheel drive vehicle to Pagwi, the jumping-off point to the Middle Sepik River. The road from Wewak to Pagwi is tar sealed most of the way and quite a scenic four hour journey. First you climb steep winding curves from the steamy coastal strip to the cool forests of the undulating Prince Alexander Range. Two hours into the trip you can stop at a roadside market to buy tropical fruits, cooked vegetables and delicious green coconuts to drink (pay as you go). A packed (boxed) lunch is also provided by the hotel. Descending onto the savannah grasslands of the Sepik Basin, you pass through a number of villages before arriving at Pagwi station on the Middle Sepik by midday. At Pagwi the group will board waiting motor canoes and head down-river approximately one hour to the first crocodile cult village, Korogo, arriving mid-afternoon. A cultural group will perform a Sepik River sing-sing for you and our local guide will show you around the village and get you back to the village guest house before the mosquitoes come out. (September is the dry season along the Sepik and the mosquitos will not be too bad but it s preferable to avoid being bitten at all). Overnight 1 star village guest house, Korogo - includes local style meals.
DAY 10: SUN 23 SEP 2018 SEPIK RIVER / WEWAK Today will be a whistle-stop visit to the heart of the crocodile cult at Kanganaman and Palembei followed by the return journey to Wewak. Departing after breakfast around 8am, a 90 minute canoe ride brings you to the twin villages of Palembei and Kanganaman, known as the heart of the Middle Sepik due to being geographically central and also the venue for many of the regional elders meetings and the annual Middle Sepik Festival. The two villages are located on opposite banks of the main Sepik River and both villages are around 20 minutes walk inland from the riverbank (many Sepik villages are sited back from the river bank to avoid houses being washed away by floodwaters and king tides). The spirit houses here are very large and contain a variety of artifacts produced by the initiated men, many of whom are skilled carvers. Anything new-looking is usually for sale whereas anything old and dusty is usually a cultural artefact and not for sale. Being a Sunday no traditional dancing will be available today according to village rules but we will still be able to explore the village, visit the spirit houses and inspect the crocodile skin scars of some of the initiated men. If the weather conditions are good there will be time to visit both of the twin villages and their spirit houses. Bottled water and lunch is carried from Korogo. 14:00 (approx.) depart Palembei by motor canoe for Pagwi. 16:00 (approx.) depart Pagwi by bus for Wewak 20:00 Arrive in Wewak in time for late dinner at the hotel. Overnight Wewak (3.0 star accom includes dinner and breakfast) DAY 11: MON 24 SEP 2018 WEWAK / PORT MORESBY / FLY OUT 03:45 Awake, pack your bag and check out of your room. The hotel restaurant is not open at this hour so just have a cup of tea or coffee in your room when you wake and you will have breakfast when you arrive in Port Moresby. 04:15 The hotel shuttle bus departs for Wewak airport. Passenger check-in usually opens at 04:40 06:10 Air Niugini flight PX125 departs Wewak for Port Moresby via Madang 08:20 On arrival in Port Moresby, transfer with your group to one of the hotels for a lazy, late buffet breakfast (included). Complimentary sightseeing or souvenir shopping is then available this morning until you fly out. TOUR ENDS