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The Tribal Highlights

Tari / Mendi / Mt Hagen / Simbu / Goroka Tour – 14n /15 days

The Tribal Highlights

USD6150 per person
15 Days 14 Nights
16+ Age
mkdf-tour-info-icon
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Photography Expedition
  • Dates Tour 9/11/2022 – 23/11/2022  – ↑↑↑↑ CLICK ON THE TABS ABOVE TO SEE TOUR PLAN, GALLERIES ETC  ↑↑↑↑
  • Price: EUR5170 per person or 6150 USD

From the Southern to the Eastern Highlands – The Huli Wigmen and the Simbu Tribes

The legendary Huli Wigmen, the Skeleton tribes of Kundiawa and the Jiwaka of Mount Hagen. These are some of the local communities we will visit on this trip with Witch Doctors, colorful warriors and traditional Tribal encounters. We are making an expedition allowing you to experience the wonder of traditional New Guinean culture, taste their local foods and see the traditional way of living. We will also see how to help the future of these tribes by consulting and donations to build their Eco resorts, where money goes to the local communities helping out tourism in the correct way. It’s also endlessly photogenic and a wonderful setting for a photography workshop.

Throughout the trip, you’ll be guided by David Van Driessche, who will provide tutoring along the way. The photographic guidance will be tailored to your level, making the photo tour suitable for photographers of all levels. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned photographer, you can expect to sharpen your skills and come home with an incredible portfolio.

It’s also endlessly photogenic and a wonderful setting for a photography workshop.

 

Photographic Highlights

  • The Huli Wigmen, a very colorful tribe from Papua New Guinea, spend years growing their hair to create wigs for ceremonial purposes. We see their customs and daily life in the Tari Highlands
  • The Foi Tribe of Mendi
  • Bird Photography at the Makara Bird View Lodge, where a local guide will show us the bird of Paradise.
  • The Jiwaka Tribe of Mount Hagen with impressive headdresses decorated with large feathers and shells, and their colorful faces and body paintings.
  • The skeleton Tribe and the Insect Hunters cultural groups of Simbu, with witch doctors and the traditional village life of the Narku Tribe in Kundiawa.
  • The famous Asaro Mudmen, their masks with sideways mouths, horns, elongated ears, and long eyebrows that touch the ear tips among others. Other decorations on the masks include shells and pig’s teeth which result in extremely terrifying tribal dress.
  • The Moko Moko dance performance and walk up the holy mountain.
  • Musmus and Madang cultural dances in Akameku village
  • The cane swallowing, Tongue  and nose bleeding ceremony in Benabena
NOTE:
    1. The schedule from Tari Airport to Port Moresby is not known at the moment. In case that flights are not present we might have to adjust the program on day 9 and head to Mount Hagen to catch a flight from there.
    2. Unexpected events (example road closures due to landslides, etc.) can change the program drastically, however we will always provide a good alternative in case this happens with equal value.
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  • Departure/Return Location
    Port Moresby
  • Departure Time
    Please arrive in Port Moresby on November the 9th 2022
  • Return Time
    You will be in Port Moresby on the 23rd of November 2022
  • Dress Code
    Adventure wear, easy walking shoes, long sleeved pants and shirt for jungle walks.
  • Included
    Accommodation
    Guide
    Meals
    Photography Guidance
    Transport
  • Not Included
    Breakfast
    Domestic Flights
    Flights
    Insurance

From our gallery

You can see the photos we took on our last trips here.

Tour Plan

1
 Day 01: 9th of November 2022 - Your destination – Port Moresby
Arrival on Port Moresby Airport and domestic flight to Mt Hagen. Your guide will be there for you at Mt Hagen Airport and you will be taken to Kuri hotel. We have lunch, and dinner near the hotel and explore Mount Hagen to do some local shopping for our trip tomorrow. This day will allow you to relax a bit because the upcoming days we will be quite busy exploring many locations and tribes. Overnight at the Hotel.
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Day 02: 10th of November 2022 – Mount Hagen to Mendi (127 km, about 3 hours driving time)
After breakfast, our journey to Mendi will start. Your lunch will be planned at the Kiburu lodge. After lunch, cultural 'sing sings' or shows performed by local villagers, as well as introducing visitors to traditional customs of basket and bag/bilum weaving. We see the Foi and the Surup tribe. After an exciting and interesting day spent in the town of Mendi, you will spend your night at Kiburu lodge.
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Day 03: 11th of November 2022 – Wakwak village
Full day photography with our mobile studio to photograph the Foi and the Surup tribes in Wakwak village. Lunch provided by our Lodge. Overnight at the Kiburu lodge.
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Day 04: 12th of November 2022 – Mendi to Tari
After our breakfast we head to Tari by private vehicle which is a journey of 3 to 4 hours on the Highlands Highway. You will have your lunch along the way with some beautiful photography on your journey while we make a few stops to enjoy the landscape.
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Day 05: 13th of November 2022– Huli Wigmen village
The next 2 days of your itinerary will be spent a Tari village. As the excursion is focused on tribe experiences so you will have some unique encounters with the Huli people, who have unique traditional decorations that stand out as soon as you see them. The men wear a cassowary quill in their nose, hornbill beak on their backs, snakeskin belt on the forehead, and kina shells on the neck. You will also get to see some other cultural activities in Tari Village. In the late afternoon we head to Makara Lodge for our check-in and prepare for the bird shooting the next day
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Day 06: 14th of November 2022 – Makara Lodge Birding Experience
Our guide will show us the birding areas around the lodge. Species of birds we might encounter are Forbes’s Forest Rail, Papuan Lorikeet, Yellow-billed Lorikeet, Orange-billed Lorikeet, Red-breasted Pygmy Parrot, Brehm’s Tiger Parrot, Painted Tiger Parrot, Papuan King Parrot, Sooty Owl, Papuan Boobook, Mountain Kingfisher, Spotted Jewel-babbler,Blue-capped Ifrit, Garnet Robin, Lesser Ground Robin, Wattled Ploughbill, Yellow-browed Melidectes, Tit Berrypecker, Great Woodswallow, Archbold’s Bowerbird,Lesser Melampitta, Loria’s Satinbird, Short-tailed Paradigalla, Princess Stephanie’s Astrapia, Lawes’s Parotia, King of Saxony Bird-of-paradise, Superb Bird-of-paradise, Black Sicklebill, Brown Sicklebill, and Blue Bird-of-paradise (not guaranteed). You will need at least a 200mm lens for this, a 400 to 600 is even better.
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Day 07: 15th of November 2022 – Tari to Mt. Hagen
We leave at first day light after breakfast to Mt. Hagen. A 6 hour drive on the southern Highlands highway. We stay at the Kuri Lodge and after dinner overnight in Mount Hagen.
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Day 08: 16th of November 2022 – Tari to Mt. Hagen
At Kumdi village we will study the Jiwaka tribe. The people from Western Highlands and Jiwaka Provinces are well known for their impressive headdresses decorated with large feathers and shells, their colorful faces and body paintings made from local dyes mixed with oil from plants, pig’s fat, clay and mud. You will stay overnight at the Kuri Hotel.
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Day 09: 17th of November 2022 – Mt Hagen to Simbu
We will depart for the Skeleton village by a journey of Hagen to Simbu. The road trip is about two hours long. Simbu or officially known as Chimbu is a beautiful highland province in North Guinea and just like its name suggests, it gives you a pleasant surprise upon entering this part of Papua New Guinea unfolding the mysteries of Skeleton tribe and Mindima village along with the Narku tribe, who have huge headdresses made from different birds with some feathers being as long as one meter. The people also love decorating their bodies to make them shine, keep warm, and in some cases intimidate their many enemies. Overnight at the Mountain Hut in Kundiawa Village
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Day 10: 18th of November 2022– Simbu and the Narku Tribe
Today we spend a full day at the Skeleton village, in Mindima. We will be enjoying the exciting and unique encounters of this unique Chimbu tribe who used to paint their bodies like spooky Skeletons, and they will reveal the origin of this tradition by a Sing Sing show to explain the legends of their ancestors. We will also see the secret Tribe of Insect hunters of Simbu.  Dinner and overnight at the Mountain Hut in Kundiawa Village.
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Day 11: 19th of November 2022 – Simbu to Goroka and The Mudmen Tribe
Today after breakfast we leave Kundiawa and head to Goroka, We visit the Asaro Mudmen on the way. According to Asaro folklore, the introduction of masks was necessitated by an earlier defeat that made the tribesmen flee to River Asaro. In the river, they got covered with white mud which scared off their enemies as they tried to crawl out of it. Their enemies believed that spirits from the river had returned to battle them and retreated to their villages. In response, the Asaro decided to make masks from mud to ward off any more attacks. Dinner and overnight in Goroka Town.
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Day 12: 20th of November 2022 – The Asaro Mudmen and the Moko Moko
Today we head back to The Asaro Mudmen Village and take a small walk up to the magic mountain, see the view of the Valley and back in the village we can see the performance of the Moko Moko Dance. We will also make many portraits with our small mobile studio to get some tack sharp images of the local tribe people. Overnight in Goroka town.
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Day 13: 21th of November 2022 – Akameku Village and Madang Cultural groups
After breakfast depart for Akameku village for Musmus and Madang cultural dance. Akameku is a typical semi-rural highlands village with round huts made of bush materials, smoky cooking fires and pigs wandering around free.  We will photograph the local people engaged in a variety of daily activities such as market gardening, harvesting, food preparation, billum weaving, hunting wild pigs with bows and arrows, and tending their coffee crops.
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Day 14: 22nd of November 2022 – Bena Bena Village
After breakfast we head for Bena Bena Village and see the local tribes doing many rituals like Cane swallowing, Tongue  and nose bleeding. After lunch you will do a town tour. Back to Goroka and overnight at the hotel in Goroka.
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Day 15: 23rd of November 2022 – Goroka – your home
After breakfast we head to Goroka airport for your connecting flight through Port Moresby to your home.            
Including:
  • 9 nights of accommodation during the trip in shared double room.
  • Meals included (From Mount Hagen onwards and according to the program)
  • Driver for the whole period + gasoline and taxes
  • Accommodation for the guides and drivers + Meals
  • Shows and local Sing Sings
  • Tribe donations
  • Local guide and western guide
  • All cultural shows and activities
Excluding:
  • Visa (we can provide support if needed)
  • Domestic flights (Port Moresby to Mount Hagen return flights) About 240 to 260 USD one way – Total about 500 USD (price confirmed at time of issued tickets)
  • International flights to and from Papua New Guinea
  • Drinks and personal expenses
  • Tips for the local guides and drivers
  • Extra tips and donations for the tribe (Not obliged but appreciated)
  • Single Supplement
  • Visits not mentioned in the program