Product Description
Highlights
Still largely untouched by mass tourism, Papua New Guinea is a truly an off-the-beaten path destination, home to friendly locals and well-preserved customs.. The Goroka Show – which brings together over 100 tribes from across Papua New Guinea – is a brilliant display of PNG’s immense cultural diversity. Spend a full two days immersed in performances of dance, song and ritual.. Spend a day with the Simbu tribespeople of the Asaro Valley. Take part in traditional activities such as basket weaving, face painting and flute playing with local elders, and be welcomed to a traditional sing-sing gathering.. Visit the village home to the Asaro Mudmen, who once used intimidating clay masks to scare their enemies. While there, you’ll take part in a fire-making ceremony, observe a cultural show and join the local villagers in a traditional mumu meal.
Overview
Every year in September, over 100 clans gather in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea for one of the biggest tribal festivals in the world: the Goroka Show. Set to the beat of Kundu drums, thousands of painted, feather-adorned tribespeople come together in a huge sing-sing to perform traditional songs, dances and rituals. And in 2018, you’re invited. Join us on this Limited Edition adventure and discover the huge cultural diversity of PNG. Under the guidance of a local leader, you’ll spend two full days at the Show, as well as several days in the beautiful Asaro Valley, where you’ll interact with friendly villagers – including the famous Asaro Mudmen and Simbu tribes – through performances and immersive activities. Keen to step off the beaten path and learn about some of the world’s best preserved tribal cultures? This is your chance.
Breakfast Included: 5 Lunches Included: 2 Dinner Included:
Goroka
Welcome to Papua New Guinea! Today, on arrival day, travel through Port Moresby to Goroka, the capital of the East Highlands Province of PNG. You will be met on arrival in Goroka and transferred to your lodge.
Due to different travel times and schedules, please note that you are required in Goroka on the 09 Sep 2018 The tour officially starts this evening, with an important welcome meeting at the hotel. Here you will be introduced to your group and local guide, who will go through your itinerary and answer any questions you may have about the trip.
Asaro Valley Mudmen Village
After breakfast this morning, depart the hotel at 8 am and make your way to a nearby village, passing through the Daulo Passage (around 2,480 metres above sea level) on the way. Experience a cultural show put on by the Asaro mud men, who are famous for their eerie ceremonial masks and clay-like body paint. According to legend, the tribesmen were once defeated by an enemy clan and forced to hide in the nearby Asaro River. When they emerged covered in the clay, the enemy were scared off by their ghost-like appearance. The mud men adopted the intimidating costuming for subsequent battles.
While in the village, witness a fire-making ceremony, learn the art of fire-making and enjoy a traditional mumu lunch cooked in an earthen pit. Afterwards, take a trip around Goroka with your leader. Get a dose of history at the JK McCarthy Museum, discover how beans are processed at a coffee factory, browse the colourful produce stalls at a local village market, and visit Goroka's RaunRaun Theatre.
Asaro Valley - Simbu Village
Today, discover the culture and heritage of the Asaro Valley's Simbu tribes in a nearby village. You'll be invited to take part in a unique range of traditional activities, including having your face painted by local villagers, witnessing a courting ceremony, playing bamboo flutes with village elders and trying your hand at some target practice using a bow and arrow. You'll also learn the art of weaving baskets and bilums (colourful handmade string bags), and take part in a private sing sing (ceremonial gathering of local tribes). Enjoy lunch in the village.
In the late afternoon, after a full day of new experiences and cultural immersion, return to the hotel for some RnR.
Kemege Village
This morning we will have a fresh brew of coffee and take in the sights of the mountains.
We will be departing this morning to the nearby village of Kemege where we will be welcomed with sing sings.
We will then walk to the skull caves where there are some remains of the villages ancestors.
Goroka Pikini Day
Today is all about the pikini’s – the children of PNG's Eastern Highlands. They'll be performing traditional song and dance shows as a lead-in to the main festival events tomorrow. Take your camera and enjoy the show!
Goroka Show
Today is the first day of the annual Goroka Show – Papua New Guinea's biggest singsing and one of the most important events of the year. Over 100 tribes from around the country come together in a colourful, feather-fuelled celebration of culture, ritual, song and dance. The show originated in 1957, when a group of Australian patrol officers – known locally as 'kiaps' – invited tribes in their areas to gather in song and dance.
After your local guide has shown you around the show grounds, you'll be free to wander from performance to performance in your own time.
Goroka Show
Enjoy another full day of performances at the Goroka Show. Head out for an optional final dinner to say goodbye to your guide and fellow travellers.
Goroka
Your trip ends after breakfast today as you prepare to fly home via Port Moresby. You will be transferred to the airport for your onward flight.
