How
can I get to PNG?
Air Niugini and Qantas operate codeshare flights into Port Moresby from the
Australian cities of Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns almost every day of the week.
Air Niugini also has weekly or twice-weekly flights to and from Singapore,
Manila (Philippines), Japan and Honiara (Solomon Islands). There are no direct
air or sea links between Indonesia and PNG. There is no sea ferry connecting
Australia and PNG. There is no air service between Bougainville and the Solomon
Islands. Travellers coming from North America should ask their travel agent
to compare the costs of flying via Manila, via Australia, via Singapore, or
via Nadi and Honiara. Travellers coming from Europe should compare flying
via Singapore or via Australia.
Are
there any special airfares?
There are
some good excursion fares ex-Australia to PNG which must be purchased in
Australia. Ecotourism Melanesia can assist clients from other countries
with purchasing these fares as part of their total package with us.
Will
I need a visa?
Citizens of Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and most West European
countries can obtain a tourist visa on arrival in Port Moresby. To be issued
with a visa on arrival you will need to pay cash for the visa and you will
need to have an onward ticket and evidence of sufficient funds to support
yourself during your stay (eg cash, travellers cheques, credit card). There
are very strict rules forbidding tourists from engaging in any kind of work
while visiting PNG. The fee is PGK100. Citizens of other countries should
obtain a tourist visa beforehand from a PNG embassy or high commission.
Normally the travel agent you purchase your air ticket from will help you
arrange this.
If intend to drive
a car while you are in PNG you should bring your drivers licence from your
home country. You do not need to have an international driving permit. You
can drive with a foreign licence in PNG for up to three months.
In
a nutshell, yes. In the large towns you have to keep your wits about you
to steer clear of pickpockets and scammers, but most of Papua New Guinea
consists of friendly, peaceful little towns and villages where visitors
are enthusiastically welcomed and very well looked after. Tribal fights
are common but crime against tourists is very rare. For more details see
our page on Personal Safety in PNG.
Since
there are no McDonalds restaurants in PNG we can't use the price of a Big
Mac to compare the PNG cost of living with other countries. However, here
are a few other approximate prices to help you get a feel for cost of travelling
in Papua New Guinea:
Which
are the best places to visit?
The answer to this question depends on what you want to see and do. If you
want your visit to be quick and easy you should stick to those provinces
which are better equipped with visitor-friendly infrastructure (accommodation,
public transport) and easy access to local attractions. These provinces
are:
-
Madang
[beaches, diving, village tours, trekking]
-
West
New Britain [diving, volcanoes]
-
East
New Britain [volcanoes, World War 2 relics]
-
New
Ireland [beaches, diving, island hopping, cycling, walking]
-
Morobe
[nature tourism, beaches, trekking, wildlife]
-
Milne
Bay [island hopping, culture, diving, walking]
-
Port
Moresby [diving, museums, walking]
-
Eastern
Highlands [farming, handicrafts, trekking, wildlife]
- East Sepik [culture,
artifacts, river tours]
- Sandaun/West Sepik
[beaches, surfing, Jayapura side-trip]
Is
it easy to move around?
Not particularly. In the towns buses are cheap but they are dirty and usually
crowded. Buses often do not complete their proper routes. Taxis can be found
waiting at airports and hotels but are not metered and they typically overcharge
foreigners. When using taxis it's best to ask somebody local in advance
how much they would expect to pay for the trip and then negotiate upwards
from that figure with the driver. You won't ever get a taxi fare as cheap
as a local passenger would because taxi drivers seem to believe that foreigners
should subsidise what they "lose" on local passengers.
In the rural areas
most travel is by PMV (passenger motor vehicle). A PMV may be a bus, truck
or even a motorboat. Tourists can travel on PMVs although they are not always
convenient as they don't follow schedules and they may make detours on the
way to the destination which can take up a lot of time. PMVs on the Highlands
Highway are occasionally held up and travellers robbed of their possessions.
Travel by air is
the only way to get to many places. Air travel in PNG has a mind of its
own. The national airline, Air Niugini flies a fleet of Fokker 28 jets and
is reasonably reliable although late afternoon and evening flights are sometimes
delayed if the aircraft get behind in their schedules during the day due
to weather conditions, late-boarding passengers etc. The smaller ("third-level")
airlines can be unpredictable and sometimes cancel flights if there aren't
enough passengers booked. It is important to take these factors into account
when planning travel itineraries in PNG.
Is
it backpacker-friendly?
Not particularly. Catering specifically for backpackers is only economical
when there are enough backpackers passing through to make the small profit
margin work. Papua New Guinea has so few tourists (15,000 per year) that
it isn't profitable to cater specifically for this niche market. There are
a couple of lodges in Port Moresby which advertise backpacker accommodation
but the cheap, shared rooms seem to be full of locals most of the time.
There are no backpacker places where you will go and find a crowd of other
backpackers to swap stories with. One backpacker would be lucky to meet
one other backpacker anywhere in PNG.
Public transport
is often crowded with no room for big packpacks in the town buses although
the highway PMV trucks generally have room. There are no discount meal or
travel schemes for backpackers. Cheap food (cooked and uncooked) is available
at village markets and greasy food bars (kai bars) and the usual two-minute
noodles and tinned foods are available in shops everywhere.
What
form of money should I carry?
You may find it hard to obtain PNG currency overseas. We recommend you bring:
-
Cash
in a major currency. This can be converted to PNG currency at the foreign
exchange counter at the international terminal on arrival, or at any local
bank branch. Most large hotels will convert foreign currency for you but
using a less favourable rate than the banks.
-
Travellers
cheques in a major currency. These can be cashed at banks and major hotels.
-
Visa
card or Mastercard. This can be used to withdraw local currency from an
Automatic Teller Machine at any ANZ Bank. There are no ATMs at the airport
however and you would have to make a special trip to an ANZ Bank on arrival.
There are ANZ ATMs in Port Moresby (Town and Waigani Drive), Lae, Goroka,
Mt Hagen, Madang and Rabaul (Kokopo). ATMs always have a security guard
on duty. Some of the larger supermarkets accept credit cards for purchase
of groceries.
Will
I have to pay bribes to corrupt officials?
There are two types of official corruption in PNG. One is the white-collar
corruption operating at a high level involving millions of dollars at a
time. The other is lower-level corruption where poorly paid government officials
solicit payments for services that are supposed to be provided free of charge,
or intimidate foreigners into parting with money under threat of being reported
or charged for some trumped-up offence.
Thankfully this doesn't
happen to tourists very often. Resident foreigners are more commonly targeted
for extortion by lower-level officials because their businesses or employment
are often at stake and they are more likely to pay up.
The main situation
where you as a tourist may find yourself being solicited for money is where
you find yourself alone with a policeman who says you have to pay an "on
the spot" fine for something. Police constables only earn about USD$50
per week and there are a few who try to make a few bucks on the side.
If you are sure you
haven't done anything wrong, or you aren't afraid to face the music if you
have, then could pretend not to understand, pretend you don't have money
to pay, or ask if you can have an official receipt. Official fines in PNG
are very lenient (usually only around USD$10) so if you have been pulled
up for running a stop sign or littering or something it's better to insist
on being taken straight to the police station to pay the official fine.
Police are not authorised to collect fines out on the road under any circumstances
- all "on-the-spot" fines must be paid at the cashier's office
at the police station and an official receipt issued. Of course the occasional
hungry cop may try to tell you otherwise. "On-the-spot" means
that the penalty applies automatically, not that the money itself must be
paid out on the road - even many policemen don't seem to understand this.
Whatever the case,
if you make it clear that you are a tourist there's no way you'll end up
in jail on a trumped-up charge or anything like that. The government and
the community in general are very protective of tourists (PNG desperately
needs tourism dollars) and policemen know they will be in deep wallow if
they do something to a tourist that gets into the overseas newspapers.
Normally as soon
as corrupt cops realise that you're not going to pay up easily, they will
issue a "warning" and send you on your way.
Are
there any health risks?
Yes. Papua New Guinea is in a malaria zone and travellers should take anti-malaria
medication while visiting the country and for a period of time after returning
home. Tuberculosis, tetanus, hepatitus B and HIV are also a problem in the
country although tourists are unlikely to come into contact with any of
these illnesses if precautions are taken. Take the advice of your doctor
or travellers medical centre as to what vaccinations are currently recommended
for Papua New Guinea.
There are also some
nasty bugs which you can catch from dirty water, including typhoid, cholera,
shigella and giardia. These are very difficult to shake off once you catch
them so be careful what you drink. The water quality in Port Moresby and
other major towns is variable and although the residents drink the water
all the time it would be advisable for visitors to drink bottled or boiled
water in the towns. Water supplies in village areas are usually drawn from
underground springs and are generally clean and safe as long as they are
not polluted by stormwater. Travellers should carry medication to control
diarrhoea symptoms, such as Imodium or Lomotil. You are unlikely to suffer
any diarrhoea from eating village food, because everything is well cooked
by boiling or baking under hot stones and eaten while fresh.
Malaria
is an infectious illness caused by protozoa (single-celled animals) of the
genus Plasmodium. This parasitic organism can only survive in two places:
the salivary glands of the female Anopheles mosquito, and in the human liver
and bloodstream. The organism is passed to humans via the saliva of the mosquito
when it bites. The Anopheles mosquito is most active in the period either
side of sunset and sunrise, so these are the most important times to avoid
being bitten. Apply repellent to exposed skin about 5pm every afternoon, and
again before going to bed if you are sleeping in a room without insect screens.
The minimum incubation period for a malaria infection is about 7 days, although
several weeks is more common. Most short-stay tourists who are unlucky enough
to contract malaria do not actually get sick until they are back home. Accordingly
if you fall ill after returning home from a malarial area you should make
sure to mention the possibility of malaria to your doctor.
In times past, chloroquine
- derived from quinine - was the most efficacious drug for preventing and
curing malaria. Weekly doses of chloroquine before, during and after visiting
a malarial area were sufficient to kill Plasmodium organisms as soon as they
entered the bloodstream. Chloroquine was also used as a standard treatment
drug. These days the two main species of malaria in PNG (P. falciparum and
P. vivax) have developed some degree of resistance to chloroquine, which means
it is no longer as effective in prophylaxis or treatment as it was before.
A range of other drugs are now being prescribed for travellers to take while
in PNG. Some are very expensive even though they still don't give 100% protection.
In the last few years, common antibiotics such as doxycyclin and vibramycin
have been shown to have some efficacy as malaria prophylactics. These are
usually taken daily, and have the added advantage of preventing bacterial
infections. Do discuss the various options for malaria prophylaxis with your
doctor before travelling... if you are not confident that your regular physician
is familiar with travel medicine then don't be afraid to contact a traveller's
medical centre.
Infections.
While travelling in the villages you will inevitably accumulate a few nicks
and scratches on your skin while snorkelling, bushwalking, climbing etc. In
the humid tropics, antiseptic creams are virtually useless, and to prevent
skin wounds becoming infected you really need to apply an antibiotic cream
immediately. You might want to ask your doctor to write you a prescription
for a tube of broad-spectrum antibiotic cream or powder to take with you.
Alternatively you can wait until you arrive in PNG and buy antibiotic cream
over the counter (for about K10). If you are taking daily antibiotics for
malaria prophylaxis you may not have much trouble with skin infections.
While in the villages you may come across locals - particularly children -
with infected skin wounds, usually on the legs. If you have enough first aid
gear to spare, you will be most welcome to apply a few dressings. Villagers
often have difficulty getting to the nearest clinic for treatment and children
tend to just put up with running sores until they eventually heal.
