Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Invite to Sydney event for outdoor enthusiasts 9-Nov-2013 At 7:59:35 AM Superstu

Message

On 8/11/2013 kieranl wrote:
"...getting rides from village to village and had a great time."

That's actually the best way to travel through PNG with minimum hassle and most safety, using a chain of introductions. Once invited onto someone's land, they will care and look after you obsessively (much like we might when a long lost relative comes to visit from overseas). They will travel with you across their land and when they near the end of their land they will pass you on to friends or family in the next village, and so on. Its when people try to travel independently that troubles arise with banditry and indifference, and its incredibly slow going rocking up to a village unannounced and tracking down the bigman, developing a rapport and arranging to stay or pass on through. And if you happen to stumble into a village with a heavy going on (a sort of internal conflict) then things can go pear shaped for no obvious reason. Similarly, travelling with guides who aren't from the area is also a recipe for problems (such as the case was with the Australian tourists on the black cat track that ran into trouble recently).

I've heard that adventurous backpackers have been making something of a trade route out of the journey up the Sepik river, crossing the Star Mountains and descending down the Fly river. I can't imagine doing that solo without using a chain of introductions.

Now if you're going to re-live the golden age of european exploration you might as well do it in style... We met this French guy who had been travelling down the Sepik for two months already and still had 500km to go. Love the explorer's outfit and trusty native companion standing up doing the paddling! (It's not an old photo, I was just playing with B&W in the last dying days of film photography)