Day 1: Arrival
Today, you will arrive in Port Moresby, where you will be met by your guide and transferred to your hotel. We will have a welcome drink and a team briefing with your guide. We will have a dinner which will be included in your package. Here you will be given your backpacks which you will use for your tour.
Day 2: Port Moresby Highlights Tour
After breakfast, meet in the foyer where we check out of our hotel and begin our Port Moresby Highlights tour. We start off heading to Bomana War Cemetery where we see the final resting place of the brave soldiers who lost their lives on the famous Kokoda Campaign. From here we will make our way back to the National Art Gallery to view some of the diverse range of PNG art sourced from all of the country. Subject to availability, we will make our way to National Parliament House which is shaped in the Sepik Haus Tamabran. Take a final drive through town before we make our way back to the Yacht Club for lunch. After lunch, we make our way to the airport to check into our flight for Wewak. In Wewak we will be met by our guide who will transfer us to our hotel for the evening for an early dinner as we have an early start in the morning.
Day 3: Palimbe, Yenchan and Kanganamun
Breakfast will be ready for you from 6:00am. Please make sure that you are prepared to leave the hotel by 7:00am. This means checked out, eaten breakfast and prepared in the foyer to board our transport by 7:00am sharp.
We will board our vehicle and head for the Prince Alexander Ranges. Roads in Papua New Guinea are sealed in town centres; however, once you get into the regional areas, we see the end of sealed roads, so be prepared for some off road terrain. Our drive takes us through the villages of Passam, Kubalia, Yangoru, Hayfield/Maprik, Wosera, and finally ending in the Village of Pagwi. After Pawgi this is the end of our roads and the rest of the trip we will be on the majestic Sepik River. From Pagwi we will board our long dugout canoes to the village of Palimbe.
The three communities of Palimbe, Yenchan and Kanganamun are part of a group of villages that were able to resist the spread of Christianity and have kept their raw traditional customs alive. These villages still have their Haus Tambarans and practice their traditions and rituals. These include transforming the bodies of young boys into crocodile men by making incisions all over their bodies to depict the crocodile scales. It is a symbol of power and strength. These three villages are famous for their carvings, and you will be able to purchase authentic sculptures from the village woodcarvers. We will make camp here. Be sure to prepare for plenty of mosquitoes in these villages. We have sleeping arrangements in village guesthouses, and your beds will be covered with a mosquito net. However, it would be best to make sure you have insect repellent also.
Day 4: Ambunti Village & Wagu Village
Breakfast will be served in one of the village huts this morning. Feel free to explore the village, then depart by lunchtime to Ambunti Village by boat. We then travel to Wagu Village where we will spend the night. We love this area of the Sepik because of the Hun Stein Range, and it's wildlife management plan. The Sepik people are spiritually connected to their "Tubuna's" (their ancestors) through the forests and its natural landscapes. The Hun Stein Range area has a village-driven grassroots initiative that has attracted the support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The effort is to protect and preserve the last remaining rainforests and ecosystems in the region.
Wagu Village is the first village in the Bhinemo language group, and it extends to Gahom, Niksek, Kagiru and April River area. Birds of Paradise flourish in the surrounding forests, and you will spend the rest of the days searching for some endemic species of bird in the Sepik. The bird species that most people are on the lookout for are The Lesser Bird of Paradise and The Greater Bird of Paradise, found in the low lands of Papua New Guinea. We make camp in Wagu Village for the night. Once again, your bedding will have mosquito nets, but it would be wise to make sure you have insect repellent handy.
Day 5: Meno Tongijamb & Swagap Village
Breakfast will be served in one of the Village huts this morning. After breakfast, we depart Wagu village for Meno Tongijamb. Here we visit a cluster of five communities who speak the Kowma language. Here we witness a yam harvest ceremony and celebrations performed by villages of Yena, Minja and Nokwi. We enjoy lunch here and then return onto the Sepik River before continuing to Swagap Village, where we set up camp for the night. Once again, your bedding will have mosquito nets, and it would be wise to make sure you have insect repellent handy. After visiting these villages, we return to the main Sepik River and continue to Swagap village and overnight here.
Day 6: Swagap Village, Yesan Village & Ambunti
Today we explore the Swagap village before we travel via Yesan Village to Ambunti, where we overnight at the Ambunti Lodge. While on our way to Ambunti from Swagap, we will travel past the villages of Apan, Yambon, Prognaui, Yesan Mayo, Kumbawe. Here the Ngala and the Latmul share a mixture of languages and ethnic cultures. The more acclaimed are the Swagap people, whose culture and arts are known as the insect tribe because their artifacts are based on the praying mantis.
Day 7: Konebandu Village
Today we depart early to Pagwi village where we board our transport to Konebandu Village. Between the village of Ambunti and Pagwi are the villages of Malu, Avatip, Yaumbak and Japandai. Once again, you will see in such a small area the diversity of languages within the Sepik. The villages of Malu, Avatip, Yaumbak have their own style whereas the village of Japandai is part of the Yatmul language dialect. At the Konebandu Village, we will have a mini cultural show based around the yam harvest. This is a celebration, and the villagers will encourage you to take part the festivities. The villagers will also have on display artifacts and decorated yams. We then make our way toward Wewak passing through the Sepik Plains heading toward Maprik and then to Telofomin. Maprik and Wosera are areas known for their massive Haus Tambaran, and you will see where the National Parliament House took its inspiration from. We pass through Yangoru and Kubalia and then over the Prince Alexander Ranges into Wewak once again. Tonight we will have our final meal together and reflect on the past few days up the Sepik River.
Day 8: Departure
Today your adventure comes to an end and you will depart.
