KOKODA Trek – 10 Day

Today you commence your adventure, beginning with your flight from your chosen departure city to Port Moresby’s Jacksons International Airport where you will be met in the arrivals hall by our friendly and efficient Advance Native Tours staff.

We then move on to afternoon tea at a nearby hotel to enable the group to meet each other and listen to our short induction. We will also use this time to confirm your luggage weights. For those guests continuing on with a Kokoda Trek, it is important to remember that trekking weights are controlled by the Kokoda Track Authority and rangers do weigh luggage at various points along the track. If you are not continuing on with a Kokoda Trek, your checked luggage is restricted to 16kg plus a further 7kg for carry on items and if you are continuing with a trek, you are restricted to 16 kg in total. Should you have additional luggage you don’t want to take with you, we will arrange for it to be kept securely at the hotel with no additional charge to you.

Following these formalities, we will transfer you to the domestic airport for your short flight to Girua in the Northern Oro Province. At Girua, you will be met by your host for the next few days, along with some of our exceptional carriers, who have already arranged your transfer to Buna, including a drive along a disused war era airfield runway and a chance to explore the remains of a relatively intact but crashed B24 Liberator bomber!

Upon arrival in Buna, you will receive an extraordinary welcome by our family clan including a lei gifting ceremony, welcome drinks of freshly cut coconut and our traditional Oro dancers, clothed in our uniquely Oro Tapa Cloth and adorned with all manner of shells, feathers, bone and natural paints!

You will then be shown your accommodation for the next couple of nights and allowed time to settle in and familiarise yourself with our guest haus site. We include for your convenience, a solar charging station for your electronics. We have designed this facility to be of most use to you and is capable of charging phones, cameras, Go-Pro’s, drones or even a CPAP machine if you require it.

Finally, we serve you your dinner and allow you time to absorb the many highlights from your first day of this exciting adventure! You are free to retire for the night at any time you wish.

This day is all about exploring, absorbing, relaxing and experiencing!

Buna is such a unique village. It is relaxed and laid back, yet holds so many reminders of those tragic times, so many years ago.

Today is really taken at your leisure. You can do as little or as much as you like, however your host has arranged for you to visit the Buna War Relic Museum, take a paddle across a magical lagoon setting in traditional canoes, view a genuine Japanese anti-aircraft gun still in the same position in the field where in 1942/43, it was actively defending the Buna Japanese airfield that you will be also shown, along with the original trenches and bunkers from that era. Of course, you will also see the many remnants of the downed aircraft, still lying where they contacted the ground. These remnants include whole wings, weapons and engines and you’ll be left in disbelief at the many bomb craters around the village, including one right beside your beautiful guest haus.

As a highlight, only available to our tour guests, you have the opportunity to have your photo taken at the exact spot where Raphael Oimbari was photographed helping the wounded Aussie digger, George “Dick” Whittington, get to the safety of the Red Cross field hospital at Dobuduru.

Needless to say, all these activities are included in your Buna Experience Tour, at no additional cost to you.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served to suit you. You may wish to have a swim in the inviting waters of the Solomon Sea, have a go at shooting a traditional bow and arrow or simply chat with locals as they go about their daily lives which may include unusual sights like making bilum rope down at the river!

In the afternoon, those guests that are doing a Kokoda Trek will be assigned their personal carrier and together, the packs will be loaded and again weighed in preparation for the trek starting in the morning.

The day starts early and as you are going forth to tackle the Kokoda track on foot, you’d best get used to it! Breakfast is at 6am and it is envisaged that everyone will be fed, washed and ready to hit the road by 7am!

Today is a pretty full day and it’s common for excitement to permeate the group with the expectation of the thrills of the days to come. A short drive will see us visiting the village of Dobuduru where you will once again receive a warm traditional greeting consisting of dancing, lei’s and smiles all round. More importantly, Dobuduru all those years ago, hosted the Red Cross field hospital that treated Pte. George “Dick” Whittington following his rescue from the front lines by our wantok, Raphael Oimbari. Remarkably, there are still remains of that field hospital right here, exactly where they were left and the Dobuduru residents are very keen to share this with Advance Native Tours guests.

Here you have the opportunity to explore these remains, snap some memories to share with friends at home and to further reflect on the hardships that faced the troops back then.

After bidding the friendly Dobuduru villagers goodbye, we set off for Kokoda which again takes us past Girua airport where our non-trekking guests will leave us to continue on with their tour, We continue by road to Kokoda Village, traversing the wonderful Oro province, taking in sights that are daily tasks for villagers, but somewhat unusual for tourists, like washing clothes and doing the dishes down at the river, manning the many Beetlenut (buai) stands, walking to work, the shops or school and of course you will never reach the end of friendly, smiling pikininis waving at you excitedly as we pass by, on the climb up towards Kokoda and the start of your next fabulous adventure!

Once at Kokoda, you will be able to ponder the history of the monuments and the relevance to the troops of the war (both sides) as well as visiting the interpretive centre to read the storyboards and view the bronze statues. We will serve lunch here whilst you reflect at this very poignant site.

Following lunch, group and individual photo opportunities at the Kokoda Arch are possible, marking the start of your much anticipated Kokoda trek. We start by following a gentle gradient toward the picturesque village of Hoi, where we’ll stop for a quick afternoon tea break before continuing on to our overnight camp at Deniki Village. Although today’s start on the track is reasonably easy, it is certainly enough to give the idea that Kokoda trekking is no walk in the park. This is a great first day warm up for the challenges that lie ahead.

As our team sets up camp (either in the traditional huts under mosquito nets or in our screened tents), you will be free to explore the village, wash up and prepare for the evening meal that will be cooked and served to you by our team. After dinner, you can relax for a bit or head to bed for some well earned rest, ready for our early start tomorrow morning.

This is a day

After

Sadly, the moment has arrived to bid you farewell. Breakfast can be taken at your leisure and you may relax around the pool until the time comes to depart for the airport and your return flight home or onto your next adventure.

As airline timetables vary, unfortunately we cannot program any activities for today, but we can arrange for your transfer back to the airport with plenty of time for relaxing in the lounge at Jacksons International Airport. In the international terminal, there are many activities to occupy yourself, from duty free shopping with an array of PNG specific items (carvings, books, copper imprints, clothing, bilums etc), right down to having a relaxing Highlands grown coffee in the coffee shop or if you have access, relax in the enjoyable Air Niugini Lounge! Perhaps you may wish to visit the small Kokoda display! In any respect, we here at Advance Native Tours, wish you the very best for your future and we hope to serve you and your friends again in the very near future!

Lukim yu behain wantok na tenkyu tru!
(See you later, friend and thank you so very much)