Papua New Guinea Overview

Overview

Intact rainforest with a size only beaten by the Amazon, white beaches and challenging mountains demonstrate how easy it would be to while a trip to New Guinea. Orchids have a sizable representation with two thirds of the world's species living here. These and other exciting flora can be seen in an organised fashion near the University of Papua New Guinea and the Rainforest habitat next to the University of Technology at Lae. Divers will not be disappointed as there is the full range of coral, drop off and varied wreck including aeroplanes. Surf at Vanimo, trek around the Kokoda Trail and Mount Wilhelm and marvel at the Tavurvur Volcano. These are just a few of the activities available. The two national parks, Variarata National Park on the Sogeri Plateau which is near Port Moresby and McAdam National Park near Bulolo offer yet more opportunities to experience the flora and fauna of the country. Ensure permission is gained from local each time a new location is entered and remember that the political problems have not entirely dissipated. Papua New Guinea offers the traveler a true paradox. With little to no tourist infrastructure, getting around can be tough. Illness and crime are also obviously a problem in a place without a well-developed healthcare system or a strong police force. But Papua New Guineans themselves are wonderfully welcome people who will go to great lengths to accommodate strangers. Don't be under any illusion - apart from a very few, very expensive package tours, PNG is 120% adventure travel and not for the inexperienced or faint of heart. But then again, not every traveler is inexperienced or faint of heart, and for people who can make it out to PNG, the experience is unforgettable. PNG's incredible natural beauty is simply undescribable. Its unique flora and fauna includes enormous radiations of marsupials and birds, including the Raggiana bird-of-paradise (PNG's national symbol) and several species of tree kangaroos. Untouched coral reefs compete with spectacular WWII wrecks for the attention of divers, and the hiking is out of control. The central highlands of Papua New Guinea were not mapped until the 1930s and not effectively brought under government control until the late 1960s. As a result, the people of PNG are even more interesting than the countryside. Papua New Guinea is a place that often markets itself as 'the Last Unknown' or a place where you can still find 'Stone Age People'. Of course, telling a Papua New Guinean that you consider them a stone age savage is incredibly rude. And while you can - if you try hard enough - find old men who remember the first time they or anyone in their society saw metal you'll also have trouble finding anyone who hasn't seem Titanic. Indeed, what makes Papua New Guinea so interesting today is not the fact that it is some sort of living museum, but its incredible dynamism. In the hundred-year shift from stone to steel to silicon, Papua New Guineans have turned the shortest learning curve in human history into one of the most colorful - and often idiosyncratic - experiments in modernity ever produced by human being. Featuring ritual garb made of human hair and rolled up Instant Noodle wrappers, rap in Pidgin English, or tribal warriors named 'Rambo' for their valor in combat, Papua New Guinea's collision with global culture has been intense and fascinating. So don't worry about the fate of 'traditional culture' - in the bar-room brawl between PNG and the global culture industry our biggest worry is keeping PNG from pummeling global culture to a pulp.