Think Papua New Guinea and ‘holidays’ in the same sentence and what do you come up with? For most people, the answer is Kokoda. 2 + 2 = 4, right?
At the risk of incurring the ire of those maths teachers out there, this answer is actually wrong!
Papua New Guinea is a magnificent country, amazingly biodiverse and with some of the most beautiful and rugged terrain to be found anywhere. For serious trekkers, this is a mecca and should be high on your ‘bucket’ list.
PNG holidays can be challenging. With very little tourism infrastructure you can feel like you’re stepping into the great unknown. But this is exactly what is so compelling about this country.
With an amazing biodiversity, Papua New Guinea is only one-ninth as big as Australia, yet it has just as many mammal species, and more kinds of birds and frogs. A mirror of Australia, both countries share a common history going back tens of millions of years. Australia, however, is flat and dry, while Papua New Guinea is wet and mountainous.
The capital Port Moresby is a bit intimidating until you get under its skin and see past the bad press. However our treks take you out of the city and into one of the planet’s most biodiverse regions. The mountainous terrain is home to unique fauna and flora, while in the lowlands there are jungles whose trees are quite similar to those in Southeast Asia. Yet the animals are often entirely different – cassowaries instead of tapirs, and marsupial cuscus instead of monkeys.
Papua New Guinea has several thousand separate communities, many with only a few hundred people. This is a country divided not just by customs and tradition, but by language. Home to over one third of the world’s languages. Some 800 languages have been identified; of these, only 350-450 are related.
Getaway Trekking offers adventures and treks in Papua New Guinea beyond the Kokoda Track. Check out the information on these holidays:
