PNG Highlands

I'm off to the highlands of PNG in a couple of weeks. We'll be at Ambua Lodge for three days where we'll be seeing the Huli tribes. Then we fly to Mt. Hagen and are staying at Rondon Ridge.

This is my first trip there. Has anyone who's been there offer any tips on photographing the tribes and/or the area. I have heard that they do expect tips for taking their picture, but how much? Any dress code for myself that I should know about? Security or safety issues or concerns? Anything else?

Of course we're doing some diving too after this part of the trip, but that part I've done before.

Any info would be much appreciated!

Bonnie

Hello Bonnie,

I spent March 2007 in PNG, diving in Milne Bay and then heading to the Southern Highlands to visit the Huli. I also stayed at Ambua Lodge. Ambua has beautiful views of the surrounding valleys, the bungalows are nice, and the food is pretty good.

Depending on your fitness and interest, I would highly recommend taking a trek way off of the beat-and-path. If you really, really want to see how the Huli live you may want to take a several day trek away from Ambua. I found that the Huli are usually fine with having their photograph taken, but of course I always asked before I did so. You will have endless photo opportunities!

Many people warned me about travel into inner PNG. Of course I hear this constantly where ever I travel. I found that common sense goes a long way and of course if you trek away from Ambua, just go with a guide. I did not have any problems at all. I did fine the Huli to be very curious, especially the children who followed us for hours, just staring at us. It was definitely a unique experience, and I will guess that you will have no regrets...

I've spent a bit of time in the highlands. The mountains are beautiful and most people will pose to have their picture taken. They'll even ask for it many times. Intertribal skirmishes still happen and we passed the warring tribes twice in 2 days, each passing through to get some 'payback'. I was very tempted to follow them to shoot some of the fighting but since a few had handguns, my gf forbade me to go.

Trekking should always be done in a group. The issue with crime is real especially if you are carrying around cameras etc. Don't be alone even in the city if you are afraid. In the Hagen market place, 3 guys tried to rob me because I was solo. I managed to fight them off because they were sorta 3 stooges than real brigands. No one came to help but a shop owner drove me back to my hotel, fearing the guys would come back with 'back up' for some payback.

Basically, if you go anywhere, go in a group or at least with a guide. Obviously that doesn't guarantee your safety as the group that did the Kokoda trail after us got robbed by a gang with guns. But as anywhere else, the chances of that are very low and not worth worrying about. Otherwise we'd all be at home boarded up.

Hi Bonnie,

You're going to love Ambua & the Highlands! The lodge is situated ABOVE the rainforest so you can see the tops of the mountains through the clouds....spectacular scenery! They also have the biggest, most colorful butterflies I've seen anywhere in the world! Early in the morning they're resting on all the flowers around the lodge waiting to dry out so they're easy photo targets. We also did a bird-watching hike early one morning...there's lots of birds of paradise up there and the guides can name them all, but they move so fast & are so high up in the trees, we just had to take his word for which types they were! I'm not sure it's worth carrying a long zoom lens to try and get those photos if you've got lots of other lens for other reasons. It was a pretty hike, however. There's also a bunch of waterfalls near the lodge, some of them are across vine bridges but beautiful photo ops as well.

The Huli's who live around Ambua are very friendly and happy to show you their villages & way of life. We took lots and lots of pictures of them dancing and putting their make-up on, etc and no one ever asked to be paid. The kids stretch along the road hollering "Thank you for coming to Papua New Guinea!". They love to have their pictures taken but get a little rowdy when you turn your camera around to show them the pictures. The one thing I wished I had room to take was a small photo printer so I could leave them some pictures, but after we returned, I sent copies of the pictures to our guides in the different areas and hopefully they distributed them when they went back to the individual villages.

Have a great trip & take lots of memory cards! Oh yeah, the diving is darn good too

Hi Bonnie! Just returned from PNG, but not Highlands (went to Milne Bay and Sepik). Here's a tip: If you are flying AirNiugini - dont check in anything that you can't stand never seeing again. They lost a lot of my stuff, all my clothes, tripod, one camera bag (luckily only stuffed with filters and bits and pieces) and trying to get some compensation has been an exersise in infinite patience! Also, make sure you have LOTs of time and open ended schedules - do not count of flights leaving on time or even on the same day, and apparently a ticket and boarding pass is by no means any indication of actually getting on the flight. I don't think that ANY of the flights (I think I had 7 scheduled flights) I was supposed to fly on actually happened as planned, they were all either cancelled, reschedules or just overbooked. One time they even flew me ALMOST to where I had to go and then forced me to go back where I came from. There is a well known acronym in the airline industry: TANG FU. The T stands for "typical".

Speaking of Air Nugini, I had an interesting experience on my flight from Port Morsby to Tari. I was checking my luggage and turned around and saw a man with a coffin behind me on a roller. I assumed, of course, that this was just an empty coffin that he was transporting, or maybe even transporting beetle nuts or something in it. I went about my marry way. The flight landed at Tari and the luggage was being taken out of the plane, including the coffin. About a dozen people were let through the gate and came over to the coffin and proceded to pick up the coffin as if they were ballbearers. I was informed that the coffin was not empty, but rather there was a body in the coffin just being shipped with the rest of our check-in luggage! After an initial WHOA moment, I figured that how else would the body get to Tari? To me it was just very fascinating that the coffin - and body - were checked in at the airport like it was a generic piece of luggage. Just one of my interesting experiences on Flinstone Air - I mean, Air Nugini.

I was informed that the coffin was not empty, but rather there was a body in the coffin just being shipped with the rest of our check-in luggage!

When we flew into Alatou in 2000 there was a coffin, complete with body, in the cargo also. And the whole village showed up to welcome it! It was quite exciting. After our liveaboard trip on the Chertan we went up to the highlands, Mount Hagen area.

Bonnie, we were there in November and EVERY afternoon the sky opened up and it poured! Right around 1:00 pm, so make sure to always have something waterproof handy to cover your camera with. It was quite beautiful and we visited several different tribes the most dramatic being the mud men. You'll love it!

Best,

Kathy

Thanks everyone for the info. I also spoke on the phone to a friend who was very helpful. Once I get back, I'll write up a trip report so others can learn from our experiences. Hopefully they will all be good, but I've traveled enough to know to expect anything. I'm really looking forward to this trip.

Last time I went to PNG my friend Donna and I had been traveling for more than 38 hours via Narita, Houston, and LAX. We also ran into problems with the weight of our carry-on bags, but fortunately all our luggage did make it. By the time we got to Port Morrisby we were concerned that we might be getting a bit "ripe". When we got on the small Air Niugini flight to Rabaul we found that we were the best smelling people on the whole plane. One can do all the pre-trip research possible, but the smells of a foreign country can only be experienced when you get there. No PNG travel guide or website has "scratch-n-sniff" yet. Maybe I'll work on that for my post-trip report.

Bonnie

I posted an extensive travel journal on my website from my last trip to the PNG highlands.

http://echeng.com/travel/papuanewguinea/

It was my best land trip ever -- you will have an amazing time!

Last time I went to PNG my friend Donna and I had been traveling for more than 38 hours via Narita, Houston, and LAX. We also ran into problems with the weight of our carry-on bags, but fortunately all our luggage did make it. By the time we got to Port Morrisby we were concerned that we might be getting a bit "ripe". When we got on the small Air Niugini flight to Rabaul we found that we were the best smelling people on the whole plane.

That reminds me of a story. On one of our hikes we ran across a US anthropologist who'd paid $100 a day to stay at one of the tribes to study them. She was on her way out to one of the lodges to "lavish out" after 4 days with the tribe. Within the first few lines, she was complaining about how she was having a good time but she wished the tribes people would bath more often so her olfactory senses would be more comfortable. I was laughing so hard I got a sore throat. Fly 9000 miles, pay to stay and study a village in the highlands and the biggest gripe is that the people smell bad and need a bath.

Air Niuguini is constantly battling to not overload the plane so they will throw out bags once they hit a 'limit'. The liveaboards work very hard with Air Niuguini to make sure bags arrive with guests but still occasionally they don't.

We spent 3 days in the Eastern Highlands in July. No one expected tips for allowing me to photograph them. In fact, everyone was so excited to see themselves on the LCD screen that I spent hours just doing snapshots for everyone. At the end of each village visit they did show us their wares, mainly string bags and pig tooth necklaces. I think we came home with about 8 bags, 5 of which we bought and 3 were given to us as gifts for visiting the village. It was just such an awesome experience I still have trouble describing it.

As for photographic needs, I mainly used my 28-135 IS for the people pictures and broke out my 10-17 Fish eye to take a few pictures of the huts.

The biggest tip for dealing with Air Niugini is to where a backpack when you approach the counter. No one questioned the weight of my backpack, which was about 20lbs heavier than the max. allowed. We were only charged over weight charges when we left Hoskins and even then we were able to bargain down from 150 kina to 60 kina since we were pretty much out of kina at that point. Everywhere else, including the Highlands allowed the extra baggage since we were divers.

i dont know if you are aware or not but PNG independence day is on the 16th of September and every village in PNG will have some kind of event for it.

In places like Mt Hagen and Goroka, they have big cultural festivals. It is the best time to be in PNG for photographing traditional costumes and people.

I was in Milne Bay a few years ago for it and its the best day not to be on the ocean. You would want to spend it on land where ever you are. So hope you are there for that.

Also one of the most touching things I have seen some one do, is take a battery opperated mini printer that prints straight from the memory card. Taking a photo and then printing it for them on the spot will go along way. Offering cigarettes or "Spears" as they call them, will get you a long way too, even if you dont smoke, dont go to PNG without some cigarettes from anather country. Any magazines you take to read on the plane, keep them as they go mad over glossy magazines. Taking small gifts for village children is greatly respected, pens crayons, colouring books etc. But dont give them things like lollypops with wrappers, as once after a big session of giving all the kids in the village lollypops, they tossed all the wrappers into the ocean and I spent my next dive picking up all the wrappers off the divesite!!!!

What ever you do, any small acts of generosity will help you alot and you will be greatly recieved by the lovliest people on earth.

hope you have a great time and look forward to hearing about yor adventure.

Thanks everyone for the info.

We were there, in PNG 3 years ago. It was one of our best trips. The primitiveness of it all, especially when we were trading with the locals off New Britain. We took tee shirts and coloring books, pencils and crayons, they traded with us their fruit and veggies. The cook on the StarDancer prepared what they gave us.

Our luggage made it and we were charged on the return trip out of Hoskins for weight also.

Here's a few pics to wet your appetite

You will really enjoy the highlands and the cultures you find there. The people are very open with photographers and usually don't expect compensation. I travel with a backup polaroid so that I can leave them with photos of themselves as a gift. That is ALWAYS a big hit and well worth the extra weight.

From the coastal regions to the highlands you will find the children will fight for the chance to be photographed.

Always give them a chance to see themselves if you can. They love seeing their pictures.

While they don't expect compensation, a pocket full of "lollies" (candy) goes a long way, too. DO get a guide who knows the area and DO follow what the guide says. They will know when things get a bit dicey and will steer you away from problems. You never know when a tribal tiff is underway that could mean a certain road should be avoided or a village should be bypassed. We narrowly missed a machete slaying in the Inga provence during a tribal "failure to communicate". We saw several newly burned huts in areas with a feud going. PNG is a highly litigous society where any wrongdoing is a situation demanding compensation from the offending clan. Any failure to make proper compensation is a reason for immediate and sometimes violent confrontation. So, listen to your guide.

Ask your guide what village he is from. Often they are very happy to take you to their village and show YOU off. Sometimes you will have to hike off the road to get there, but you will see the true PNG, off the tourist track, if you do. Once, we had to drive down a section of road "belonging" to a tribe his village was having a feud with. It caused some tense moments. Luckily, no one from the other village saw us using "their" section of road.

You will have several villages perform their tribal dances and songs for you.

Be aware that the songs often have lyrics made up on the spot. If your guide starts snickering, be sure that you are the subject of the song. One of our songs was a lament about how they would be working in their kau kau fields if they didn't have to entertain us....! That's OK. We sent them a VHS tape of their performance. They will be able to find a machine, possibly at one of the local lodges who will allow the village to watch the tape. It will cause a real celebration when they all get to see themselves perform.

As far as clothing taboos. Be aware that they don't mind seeing a woman topless, but they don't appreciate a woman showing anything between the waist and knees. Thighs should not be visible. Be careful about wearing shorts or bathing suits away from the lodges. keep a lap-lap (sarong) close by to throw over yourself. I only wear knee length shorts or long pants with no problems. Informal wear is OK everywhere, and t-shirts are fine. If you carry a bunch of t-shirts you can afford to lose, leave them with your guide before you leave. It is HIGHLY appreciated and they will be put to good use.

All in all, you will love it! I will be back for a month this Feb/Mar, but will not be getting to the highlands this time. Use care and common sense and you will be fine!

This is a late post but I did some birding in the highlands for the Birds-of-Paradise. Take a look AFTER the dive shots, credit of which goes to my UW buddies, here: http://packerlighting.com/PNG_Web/.

ZD

Can't remember if I ever posted my highlands trip report. Just in case I didn't, here it is. It was an amazing trip and I highly recommend anyone going to PNG to not miss the highlands.

Nicely done Page! ZD