Papua New Guinea Getaway

Papua New Guinea Getaway

The main reason to visit Papua New Guinea are the Birds of Paradise. There are about 40 kinds of Paradise Birds. You find them all in Papua New Guinea. A few birds of this large family can also be found in the Indonesian part of the Island (Irian Jaya) and Eastern Australia.

It’s not easy to get there. We first flew from Amsterdam to Taipei. Then on to Manilla. In Manilla we transferred to a different departure hall to get the flight to Port Moresby – the capital of Papua New Guinea. Upon arriving there a small plane took us to Mount Hagen. After a long car drive, we finally made it to our first lodge called Rondon Ridge. As we entered we already heard the American manager: ‘Hi guys, how are you?’

At dinner we meet our guide Joseph. A nice man, who is planning to show us a lot!

One of the requirements of a nature trip is waking up early. So we rise at 5 in the morning. We are well on our way as the sun wakes up. It is incredibly beautiful outside. Joseph shows us various birds, and even one Bird of Paradise. However taking pictures tends to be difficult. These birds are very continually active, and moreover the rain forest is very thick.

Next day Joseph and I climb the mountain behind the lodge. He takes a stick to walk with. I refuse and when I fell because it is so slippery I regret it. Joseph gives me his stick. Hiking on slippery ground is difficult. Most important of all is protecting my camera. On top of the mountain we enjoy a beautiful view. We manage to see a paradise bird called the King of Saxony.

Hiking down is even worse than hiking up. That is to say I succeed in staying on my feet. My shoes are so muddy that you can’t see the color anymore.

We drive to Kumul Lodge. Here there’s a big feeding place where all kinds of birds visit. From the balcony this provides good photo opportunities. It feels a bit like cheating but the pictures are excellent!

Karawari Lodge is our next home. When the small plane touches down a lot of people await us. Mainly mothers with small children. We talk to them but they don’t understand a thing. Even gesture language doesn’t work. OK. However in their way they are welcoming us.

After a long boat trip and a car ride, we finally arrive at the lodge. The lodge sits on top of a mountain, overlooking the Karawari river. To sum up: a splendid view. The lodge was built in the sixties of the last century. The maintenance of the lodge was overlooked for some years.

The day trip starts like this: first the guests are put in the car. Then the car is pushed by the serving people to the point where the road goes down. In this track the car finally starts its engine.

Close to our lodge we spot a beautiful dove. The guide puts it on his hand – it stays a while there!

We are on the Karawari river traveling in a boat. The guide spots a bird of paradise. Unfortunately, the bird is quite far away. We see some movement but our camera’s can’t catch it.

Walking in the jungle we spot a very large kind of pigeon (Victoria Crowned Pigeon). Nice. There many mosquito’s here. Most you cannot even see – but you do feel them. They don’t care where they bite you. They bit on literally every place of your body that is not covered twice by clothing. In the lodge they have some good repellent to take care of the bites.

Before dinner starts we wait for the other guests. Their boat engine stopped on their return trip. Because the lodge owns only two boats however they had to peddle back which took some time. During dinner they can laugh about the incident. The wine helps.

We are surrounded by an immerse jungle. People are living in small villages scattered along the river. This area is protected. No hunting allowed. Therefore it’s strange that every evening we hear the sound of gunshots…

We arrive on the small banana-shaped island New Britain in the Bismarck Sea. Named after Bismarck the German politician? Yes, because from 1884-1914 New Guinea was a German colony. After World War I, Australia took care of the territory till New Guinea became independent in 1975.

We stay in the Walindi Plantation Resort. To make things easy our guide is called Joseph again. We spot a lot of unique birds here too. We see four kinds of kingfishers: the white-mantled, the collared, the sacred and the common.

While driving to the nature area we pass soy plantations for one and a half hour instead of jungle like it used to be. All the soy plantations are Japanese owned.

The capital of New Guinea is a small town built around a mountain close to the sea. The hotel we stay at is called Airways hotel. Subsequently the main view is the airport and its several runways. The main attraction here is an old World War 2 plane.

The city tour takes you to one of the highlights; the Nature Park. Here they have all the birds and animals of Papua New Guinea – in cages that is. Well at least that gives us a photo opportunity for the Blue-winged Kookaburra. We also saw this one in the wild. It’s family of the Kingfishers. But unlike these they don’t eat fish, they are carnivorous, eating mice, snakes, insects and small reptiles.

We are incredibly lucky to see a large dance group. They are nicely dressed and painted to perform. It’s a kind of a dance contest. Beautiful dancers make beautiful pictures.

Then the City Hall. And a place close to the water where people live in tiny houses above the sea. After that we visit the National Parliament. An impressive nice shaped building. There is a sign ‘Chewing of betel nut is prohibited in the National Parlement Building & Precincts!’

^{Raggiana Bird of Paradise}

Next day we go to Variata National Park. Here we spot the Raggiana Bird of Paradise! Also interesting are some leftovers from a railroad built by the Japanese in WW2. On our way back we stop at the Sanctuary Hotel. Here they have an ‘Aviary’, a big cage you can walk in filled with domestic birds.

Though they are difficult to spot we were lucky to have seen some of these domestic birds in the wild!

After this trip we continued to the Solomon Islands.

This trip was made in 2018.

If you have any thoughts or questions feel free to leave a comment!

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