Join our 28th Expedition & our 3rd Collecting Expedition to Papua New Guinea’s Sepik
To Visit Remote Villages, Meet Crocodile Warriors & Sight Birds of Paradise!
Papua New Guinea is indisputably the most culturally diverse country in the world, with over 860 languages, and well over 1,000 distinct cultures. It is a land of stunning mountains, spectacular wildlife and one of the world’s last intact systems of tribes, clans and rituals. In many remote villages across the country, first contact with the outside world is well within living memory.
This expedition takes you to one of the most remote and little visited parts of Papua New Guinea… the Sepik River. At 1,126 kilometres, the Sepik River is Papua New Guinea’s answer to the Amazon. It is the country’s longest river and is often referred to as Papua New Guinea’s ‘cultural heart’ because it is so rich and varied in its tribal cultures.
Following on from Viktor Wynd’s 2018 & 2022 expeditions up the Sepik River, The Last Tuesday Society has developed this itinerary to focus on the most interesting villages that the Sepik River has to offer, and to venture even higher along the Upper Sepik to visit villages that are very seldom visited by outsiders. We will witness “sing sings” (gatherings of tribes for traditional dance and singing), as well as a mumu feast (involving cooking food on hot stones in an earth oven in traditional Polynesian style).
Life on the Sepik River, despite the best efforts of missionaries, is still dominated by Spirits, they are everywhere from The Haus Tambarans to the dark of night. People can change their forms and be possessed, ancestors are still present, not dead like ours; never far below the surface lies a society still very much involved with magic and ritual. In this expedition we aim to spend as many evenings as possible with friends we made on our last expedition in their Spirit Houses, sitting quietly in the dark as they play on garamut drums and Sepik flutes, watching and listening to the initiated, hearing them tell of their clans origin myths, of the spirits that surround them and of the time before first contact – still just within living memory.
During this 12 day trip, we travel by canoe to the Upper Sepik and Middle Sepik to visit villages with ancient beliefs and rituals. We will meet the famed crocodile men, known for their intricate crocodile-skin scarification marks. We will visit many varied and ancient Spirit Houses, and discover the Iatmul tribe’s mythologies of wayward spirits and animal gods that still hold sway over traditional village lifestyles.
Along our journey on the Sepik River, we will have many bird-watching opportunities (with good chances to see several birds of paradise), and we have the chance to spot diverse waterfowl as well as crocodiles on the Sepik River itself.
We will visit numerous villages for artefact buying opportunities, and may be allowed to go out with the crocodile warriors to observe their traditional livelihood of hunting crocodiles at night. Artefacts along the many (varied) villages along the Sepik River include exquisite wooden carvings (such as figures and masks), shields, spears, dancing sticks, stone tools, pottery, axes and traditional knives.
START POINT: Wewak, Papua New Guinea.
END POINT: Wewak, Papua New Guinea.
DATES: 4th – 16th November 2027 – please note the exact dates will be confirmed 6 months or so before to align with domestic and international flight schedules
GROUP SIZE: 6–10.
Email [email protected] for more information and to make bookings.
Provisional Itinerary – please note any itinerary in Papua New Guinea is always more of a wish list than a promise as conditions change. As the Sepik is almost entirely a subsistence economy & has little if any tourist facilities we will be taking all our food and sleeping materials in powerful boats – that gives us freedom and flexibility
Day 1. Arrive into Wewak.
Day. 2. Wewak to Pagwi and onto Kanganamun for the night. Welcome singing and evening in the Spirit House _ Haus Tambaran.
Day 3. Kanganamun onto Chambri Lakes. Sleep at Chambri after visiting the main Spirit House.
Day 4. Chambri village and onto beyond the Chambri lakes. To explore three very remote and unvisited villages. Village One.
Day 5. Village Two.
Day 6. Village Three.
Day 7. Return back up river and not the main Sepik River to Kimindibit village.
Day 8. Kimindibit & environs
.Day 9 Kimindibit & environs
Day 10. Explore MARAP or Torenbei villages 1, 2 and 3. Overnight.
Day 11. Up to Pagwi where the motorised private hire vehicle will take you all onto Wewak town.
Day 12. Fly out of Wewak ) have 2-3 days over on Kiereru Island, to the far side Guest house or another island setting.
Optional post – expedition extension: after your Sepik Expedition you can extend your stay by visiting the breathtakingly-beautiful Yuo Island (and other islands nearby) off the coast of Wewak. These volcanic and coralline islands offer spectacular treks, many WW2 war relics, birdwing butterflies, traditional way of life, excellent local food (including fresh lobster), world-class coral reefs snorkelling and even regular dolphins sightings. We also hope to be able to visit Vokeo – the famous island of Menstruating Men more details once the trip is confirmed
