SEPIK ADVENTURE TOUR 23 TO 29 SEPTEMBER 2025

Designed to fit in with the Highlands Tribes Tour that ends on 23rd September, the Sepik Adventure Tour flies you up to Wewak for a night at In Wewak Boutique hotel where you will meet your guide. The following morning you, are driven through the Prince Alexander range to Pagwi, stopping for lunch at a roadside market along the way.

The Sepik River stretches from Telefomin in Sandaun Province to its outlet into the Bismarck Sea at Kopar village. There are many villages and hamlets in this culturally and environmentally rich area.  The largest local animal is the wild pig - which is tamed and kept in the villages for use at cultural gatherings and compensation ceremonies. There are many other natural animal inhabitants, such as snakes, lizards, bandicoots, and above all birds. Many of the village songs and dances centre on indigenous animals and birds - the largest of which is the angry-looking flightless cassowary, a relative of the emu and the second heaviest bird on the planet.

The Middle Sepik is the last remaining area where the crocodile skin cutting initiation is still practiced. The villages in this region are more accessible and not so far apart in terms of travel time than on the more remote Upper Sepik. These villages have stood firm against the invasion of Christianity. They still retain their Haus Tambarans and practice their traditional customs including the initiation and scarification of young “crocodile men”. Also, the villages are home to famous artists and their sought-after birds’ head carvings.

On one day, we will have a “village day” where you can participate in village life. This can be local cooking, vegetable gardening, seeing sago being made and having a go yourself, helping with house maintenance, giving a lesson at the village school, running a sports activity with the kids, or anything that you have skills for.