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Morobe Show Festival

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Detailed Trip Description

The Morobe Show is one of the oldest festivals in Papua New Guinea. Originally a purely agricultural show, it is now Papua New Guinea's largest festival, maintaining its agricultural focus, but with a large cultural component. The agricultural component of the show allows visitors to learn about the modern PNG economy and to learn about how various agricultural products are grown and processed. The Morobe Show has perhaps the greatest variety of sing sing groups of any of Papua New Guinea's cultural festivals - at the 2006 show, there were more than 80 sing sing groups in attendence, representing 13 of Papua New Guinea's 19 provinces. Your cultural experience begins in Lae at the Morobe Show, a gathering that unites a variety of different tribes and clans together into a exciting cultural extravaganza. From here, you will journey onward to Tari Valley, the home of the famous and colorful Huli Wigmen. Travel next to Karawari Lodge, perched on a ridge overlooking the Karawari River and the Sepik Basin. Here, you will learn about the amazing ecology, culture, and history of this remote and amazing corner of the planet. You continue your journey with a cruise on the Sepik River before heading to Mt. Hagen and the beautiful Wahgi Valley. Interact with the local Melpa people and then fly on to Madang. From your comfortable base at Malolo Plantation Lodge, you will experience PNG’s North Coast and enjoy nature-based touring and snorkeling at Tadwai Island. As your journey comes to a close, you'll head back to Port Moresby, the bustling economic center of Papua New Guinea.

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Trip Itinerary

Day 1 - Port Moresby

 
Port Moresby/Lae.
Airport Transfer

Upon your arrival in Port Moresby, you will be met and transferred to your onward flight to Lae.

Port Moresby Airport Transfer picture
Hotel

In Lae, you will be met and transferred to the Melanesian Hotel. Lodging: Melanesian Hotel.


Day 2 - Morobe

 
Morobe Show.
Performing Arts

Today you will enjoy a variety of sing-sing groups performing at the famous Morobe Show. You will be issued an exclusive pass that gives you access to mingle with the groups on the main arena for a certain period of time.

Morobe Performing Arts picture
Hotel

Later, you will return to the Melanesian Hotel for your overnight stay. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 3 - Lae

 
Lae/Port Moresby/Tari.
Commercial Flight

Transfer to Nadzab Airport for your flight to Port Moresby.

Private Jet

In Port Moresby you will transfer to your onward flight to Tari, over some of the most rugged and impressive landscapes in the world. Ambua Lodge is high on the slopes of the Tari Valley.

Sightseeing

The afternoon is spent exploring the area surrounding Tari - high mountain forests with roaring waterfalls beckon the intrepid traveler.

Hotel

Your accommodations this evening will be at the Ambua Lodge, an inspired mixture of local architecture, spectacular views, and modest luxury off the beaten track. This location promises you eternal spring weather and magnificent views of the Tari Valley. The forest canopy, a dense mass of interlocking tree tops of all shades of green and the occasional bright splash of color, provides a natural setting and an exhilarating climate for venturing along the nature trails, crossing traditional vine bridges, discovering a secluded waterfall, and spotting high altitude orchids and rhododendrons.

Sightseeing

Take advantage of the birding in the Tari Gap area where one may observe up to 13 species of birds of paradise. Tari is one of the few places left where men and women can be seen wearing traditional dress as part of daily life, and men's wealth is still counted by the number of pigs and wives they possess. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 4 - Tari

 
Eco-Tourism

Enjoy a full day of ecological and culturally based touring, sure to satiate those yearning for discovery. Learn how the Huli live and how they interact with and use their environment. The Huli people, famous for their elaborate and colorful dress, are proud warriors that have great reverence for birds, imitating them in ceremonial dances and decorating their wigs, woven from human hair, with feathers, flowers, and cuscus fur. Everlasting daisies are especially cultivated for use in the wigs while their faces are painted with yellow ochre. The women, by contrast, wear black for their wedding and coat themselves with blue-gray clay when mourning. Clans have a strong and intricate social system. It is one of the few places where the traditional way of life can be seen in everyday living. Ceremonial rituals are strongly observed, and men and women can still be seen wearing traditional dress, tending their gardens and pigs and building their bush material huts.

Hotel

Stay overnight at Ambua Lodge.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 5 - Karawari

 
Tari/Karawari.
Private Jet

Today you will fly by charter aircraft to Karawari. The country between Ambua and the Sepik region is an amazing array of jagged limestone that seems to rise and drop at impossible angles.

Hotel

From the airstrip, you will be transferred by riverboat to Karawari Lodge. Sitting on a ridge above the Karawari River, Karawari Lodge boasts a spectacular view over hundreds of kilometers of dense tropical jungle. Inspired by local architecture and built with traditional materials, the lodge still provides modern comforts.

Adventure

You are now in the middle of “Arambak” country, where locals pole dug-out canoes, the drums throb, the wild birds call, and traditional village lifestyles continue unchanged.

Adventure

This afternoon enjoy a sago-making demonstration. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 6 - Karawari

 
Karawari/Sepik River.
River, Barge or Yacht Cruise

You will be transferred by riverboat to the air-conditioned comfort of the MV Sepik Spirit. Inspired by the architecture of the "haus tambaran," or spirit house, the MV Sepik Spirit has a truly unique design. With its shallow draught, it allows travel to rarely visited areas of the Sepik River and its tributaries in comfort.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 7 - Sepik Plains

 
Sepik River.
River, Barge or Yacht Cruise

A full day is spent exploring the many waterways of the Sepik and its tributaries, including visits to traditional Sepik Villages. The Sepik River is one of the largest rivers in the world in terms of flow. Steeped in mystery, the people of the Sepik area have fascinated anthropologists like Margaret Mead since the area was first visited. Part of the mystery and attraction of the Sepik peoples is their amazing carvings, now famous all over the world. The river banks where the vessel operates are dotted with many large traditional villages each with its own unique "haus tambaran," or spirit house, decorated with ancestral figures, carvings, massive garamut drums, and secretive ritual flutes.

Adventure

The Sepik is a gallery of tribal art: each village boasts a unique style, and every villager is an artisan. Mingle with the friendly people and experience a culture that encounters few outsiders each year.Long after you have left the lush jungle, raucous birds, spirit houses, carvings, and endless waterways, the mysticism of the Sepik will remain unforgettably etched in your memory.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 8 - Sepik Plains

 
Sepik River.
River, Barge or Yacht Cruise

Spend another day aboard the Sepik Spirit.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 9 - Mount Hagen

 
Sepik River/Mt. Hagen.
Private Jet

Fly by charter from the Sepik to Mount Hagen.

Sightseeing

During the flight mountains rise up to startling heights out of the flat lands of the Sepik Basin. Mount Hagen Town is in the upper Wahgi Valley - a valley with some of the oldest evidence of agriculture in the world.

Hotel

Stay overnight at the Highlander Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 10 - Mount Hagen

 
Mt. Hagen and Wahgi Valley.
Sightseeing

Spend a full day exploring the Mt. Hagen Area and Wahgi Valley. The Mt. Hagen area is the home of the Melpa people, a people with a strong culture, who, in the face of modernity, still live largely traditional subsistence lifestyles. In the mountains surrounding the Wahgi Valley lives a stunning array of bird, orchid, and plant life.

Hotel

Stay overnight at the Highlander Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 11 - Mount Hagen

 
Mt. Hagen/Madang & North Coast.
Private Jet

Today you will be transferred to the airport for your charter flight to Madang.

Private Car Service

From Madang, you will drive to Malolo Plantation Lodge, about an hour away.

Sightseeing

Then, enjoy a scenic drive along the North Coast Highway, stopping at two local villages for cooking demonstrations using traditional cooking pots and native foods as well as a demonstration of traditional costumes and explanation of herbal/plant medicines.

Hotel

Stay overnight at the Malolo Plantation Lodge for the next two nights.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 12 - Papua New Guinea

 
Tadwai Island.
Sightseeing

Today you will have a full day of nature-based touring. Paddle across the lagoon to Tadwai Island for a guided nature walk and snorkeling among an abundance of colorful fish and beautiful coral reefs.

Hotel

Later, you will return to the lodge.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.
Lodging: Malolo Plantation Lodge.


Day 13 - Madang

 
Madang/Port Moresby.
Airport Transfer

Today you will transfer to the airport for your onward flight to Port Moresby.

Sightseeing

Upon arrival, you will take a half-day tour of Port Moresby and the surrounding areas.

Hotel

Stay overnight at the Gateway Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.


Day 14 - Port Moresby

 
Port Moresby/Onward.
Relaxation

Spend the day at your leisure.

Airport Transfer

Transfer to catch your onward international flight.
Meals: Breakfast.


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