Papua New Guinea Tours

Name:
Martin Charlton

EDUCATION:
Bachelor's Degree in Geography; further studies in Archaeology & Anthropology. Life's real education happens outside the classroom.

LANGUAGE:
English and some French & Spanish.

TOURS LED:
Having led tours for Adventures Abroad for almost 25 years, there are few corners of the globe where Martin’s left a stone unturned: everywhere from North Korea to Nauru, Saudi Arabia to Sudan, Guinea-Bissau to French Guiana. With over 200 tours through over 125 countries under his belt, it might be faster to list the regions where he hasn’t led a tour.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION:
"My love of travel and infectious enthusiasm for different cultures has taken me to over 155 countries. The further off the beaten path, the better. For a favourite place: perhaps South Georgia Island, the Canadian Arctic, or Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. World's best city = Istanbul!"

ABOUT:
"Don't pack anything that you would be upset to lose, that needs to be ironed, or is encased in glass." - words to live by.

Name:
Jonathan Hodgson

EDUCATION:
BA in Psychology at McGill University; MBA at the University of British Columbia; self-educated passion for history and culture.

LANGUAGE:
English; conversational French; improving Spanish and Russian. And a decent Scottish accent.

TOURS LED:
I have led tours in over 100 countries over the last 14 years of working for Adventures Abroad on all of the continents except for Antarctica.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION:
Where to begin? Each place has something that makes it a special destination. A few that spring to mind: Kaieteur Falls in Guyana; the snow-covered mountains of Ladakh, India; sipping tea in a chaikhana of the old town of Bukhara, Uzbekistan; and watching the changing colours of Uluru (Ayers Rock) at sunset.

ABOUT:
Jonathan has lived much of his life dedicated to the idea that he would rather have a wealth of experiences than a wealth of riches. Having taken up a nomadic lifestyle shortly after finishing his undergraduate degree, he has been on the move on and off over the last 25+ years. The wanderlust has taken him to basing himself in places such as Scotland, Australia and Uzbekistan, and to visiting many more locations around our planet. Now (sort of) settled in Vancouver with his wonderful (and patient) family, he still loves the idea of having the world as his office and always enjoys trying to capture the essence of the locations he travels and tours in with his photography.

Name:
Victor Romagnoli

EDUCATION:
HBA English BA History

LANGUAGE:
Being able to speak several languages has made travelling an enriching experience; the conversations one can so easily slip into with locals - who come from all walks of life - adds greatly to my feel for a place.

TOURS LED:
Over a span of almost 30 years, I have lead tours virtually all over the globe.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION:
Some of my favourite tours just come into being suddenly as a result of a request; someone will ask me to put together an itinerary that will include the highlights of several countries and the next thing you know we have, for example, a tour to Uruguay, Paraguay & Bolivia, or Lesotho, Namibia & Botswana. Sometimes I will be asked to arrange a detailed itinerary to just one region within a country - like a close up look at Sicily or Crete or the Basque Country or Newfoundland. Without the keen curiosity that so many of you travellers have, none of these "spontaneous" tours would come into being. But they do.

ABOUT:
I love the excitement of getting up each morning on a tour and not knowing exactly how a day will unfold. It keeps me on my toes so to speak, and adds a breath of excitement to each day on tour. With almost 30 years of tour leading under my belt, I thank all of you for being a part of this exciting journey.

Name:
Chris Tripodi

EDUCATION:
University for Mathematics. College for Music. But the greatest education I've received has come from Earth while travelling. "Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have travelled."

LANGUAGE:
I can ask 'Where is the toilet?' in 57 languages.

COUNTRIES VISITED:
80%. I need a new passport every 20 months.

TOURS LED:
West Africa to South Africa, El Salvador to Argentina, Samoa to Seychelles, Portugal to Romania, Jordan to Japan.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION:
Departures hall.

ABOUT:
I travel because it is the most interesting thing I can think of doing between meals. The magic and the challenge of this job is seeing the world itself as the tour with several smaller journeys along the way. I enjoy that time at the end of one trip, before the start of a new one, where the sadness of leaving one place mixes with the excitement of approaching another.

Papua New Guinea occupies an eastern section of the island of New Guinea - the west belonging to Indonesia - as well as numerous small offshore territories.

The lush tropical forests that blanket about 85% of Papua New Guinea serve as prime locations for bushwalking or exploring, as the country is home to a huge variety of exotic bird, including the majority of birds of paradise, and the 5,000 km of coastline provides a glorious palm-tree studded locale on which to soak up the rays.

The country is world-famous for its incredible diving areas, and travellers often return to Papua New Guinea to swim around the superlative corral reefs. Though if a tour to somewhere loftier is sought after, the majestic mountains that perforate the country boast the rare phenomena of equatorial glaciers and are perfect for hiking or mountain climbing.

In a world that is globalizing at an incredibly fast pace, Papua New Guinea has decidedly remained off the radar. With such limited outside influences on the country, Papua New Guinea tours are for the intrepid traveller keen on interactions with a myriad of cultures in vast landscapes.

Located in the South Pacific Ocean just north of Australia, Papua New Guinea is considered one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. The earliest inhabitants arrived approximately 45,000 years ago in one of the first great migration waves from Africa.

As time went on, inhabitants of the land formed clans and tribes that would adopt incredibly diverse languages and customs. There are currently more than 850 known languages of Papua New Guinea with many uncontacted tribes still existing within the country. Many of the tribes still delineated their lands with simple measures such as creating a network of trenches dug by hand with wooden spades.

With visits to some local villages possible, Papua New Guinea tours are best enjoyed during the festival of Sing Sing in Goroka. Meant as a time to showcase agricultural triumphs and a way to preserve traditional dances, the song and dance competitions have been performed for centuries passed along with each generation.

It is a place to witness hundreds of tribespeople as they proudly display their unique dances, chanting and drumming on the Kundu drums. Bodies are decorated with cassowary plumes, kina shells, aromatic leaves, brightly painted faces and elaborate head dresses.

As well as being one of the most culturally diverse countries, Papua New Guinea is also considered a megadiverse country ecologically. Large mountains isolate many areas creating unique flora and fauna across the small region. Jungle lowlands give way to elfin woodland which rises into being grassland alpine as the mountains climb to over 3,000 m.

The Tari Gap region, located around 2,100 m, is overflowing with secluded waterfalls, high altitude orchids, gingers, rhododendrons and 13 species of birds of paradise. Other areas of similar altitude, such as the Rondon Ridge in the Mt Hagen region, bird lovers rejoice with the opportunity to spy nearly 180 species of birds.

In the lowlands of the Sepik River region, one of the world's largest rivers in terms of flow, the peaceful river explorations include tributary rivers like the Karawari, as well as several swamps and lake systems. Lush tropical trees and the remote areas have left this area dripping in mystery, drawing attention from famed anthropologists like Margaret Mead.

The dense forests are home to more than just tribes people. Mammals such as the tree kangaroo, the cassowary, and marsupials make some of the fauna similar to what you would expect in Australia, but the country comprises a large number of species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and amphibians similar to what you would expect in Asia.

One thing is for sure, Papua New Guinea tours offer rewarding experiences to even the most well travelled and a chance to see one of the most culturally and biologically diverse countries in the world.