Overview

Our Papua New Guinea Highlights tour has been specifically crafted to take in the region’s very best sites, from Mount Hagen and Rondon Ridge to the lowlands of Varirata and Kiunga, and is designed for those with less time to spare in the field, yet still wishing for a comprehensive overview of this exceptional land. We bird in areas rich with avian diversity giving ample opportunity for finding many of the area’s most sought-after species. Fabulous birds-of-paradise will feature highly, while we will also enjoy some incredible fruit doves, kingfishers, parrots, honeyeaters, bowerbirds and a couple of endemic families such as berrypeckers and longbills. This tour can also be linked with our New Britain Endemics Extension for a wonderful two week exploration.

Tour Facts Top Birds
Papuan Eagle, 15+ Bird-of-paradise species!, Zoe’s Imperial & Pheasant Pigeon, Wattled Ploughbill, Crested Satinbird, Painted Quail-thrush, Brehm’s Tiger Parrot, Papuan Lorikeet, Lesser Melampitta, Emperor Fairywren, Crested Berrypecker & Mountain Firetail
Top Mammals
Spectacled Dasyure, Black-tailed Giant Rat, Agile Wallaby
Habitats Covered
lowland and montane rainforest, secondary forest, Eucalyptus savanna, mangroves, grasslands, wetlands
Expected Climate
hot and humid with tropical showers, cooler in the highlands
Max Group Size
8 with 1 Rockjumper leader
Tour Pace & Walking
moderate pace with some longer hikes
Accommodation
comfortable to luxurious hotels and lodges
Ease of Birding
moderate, can be challenging at times
Other Attractions
traditional carvings, spectacular forest vistas and mountain scenery
Photographic Opportunities
good
Tour Route Map Route Map Client Testimonials

Birding in PNG was a little more challenging that expected, ..... the birds are as shy as anything I've experienced and the bird densities were extremely low. Of course that is not the fault of Rockjumper or the guides. The tour was excellent overall. The main guide, Stephan Lorentz, was really top class. His knowledge of the birds and calls and the fine id details was exceptional and his field skills were awesome, outdoing the local guides at times. And he is extremely personable and friendly. The local guides were also excellent and provided an exceptionally high level of field skill and support, and great enthusiasm in getting pax onto the more challenging birds. And physical support also, including even helping some of the pax on slippery slopes and cutting stairs on river landings at times!! The landed arrangements were generally slick and the accommodation of good quality. Some delays in getting collected at Kiunga airport were I think down to some communication issues with the local agent (Samuel) regarding the rerouting of our flights from Mt Hagen. And the offloading of three of our bags from the plane at Kiunga and delay in getting them back to us in Port Moresby was an Air Niugini issue. Overall it was an exceptional and really memorable tour with superb birds and birding, much or most of which would not have been possible without the Rockjumper team, slick tour planning and arrangements, Stephan and the local guides.

We thought the birding went very well. Both Dusan and Stephan were great guides - very knowledgeable, very dedicated, quite determined to get everyone onto pretty much everything, and they combined very well. And, they both tried very hard to help all the participants who needed it, whether it was locating a bird, getting up a steep section or getting in or out of the boats. They did an admirable job.

The tour was excellent overall. The main guide, Stephan Lorentz, was really top class. His knowledge of the birds and calls and the fine id details was exceptional and his field skills were awesome, outdoing the local guides at times. And he is extremely personable and friendly. The local guides were also excellent and provided an exceptionally high level of field skill and support, and great enthusiasm in getting pax onto the more challenging birds. And physical support also, including even helping some of the pax on slippery slopes and cutting stairs on river landings at times!! The landed arrangements were generally slick and the accommodation of good quality. Overall it was an exceptional and really memorable tour with superb birds and birding, much or most of which would not have been possible without the Rockjumper team, slick tour planning and arrangements, Stephan and the local guides.

This has been an incredible tour with Stephan Lorenz and Dušan Brinkhuizen as amazing guides. Experts in their knowledge of the New Guinea birds and wonderful companions who looked after the needs of all the participants. We all worked as a team under their guidance and saw many challenging as well as beautiful birds.

Adam Walleyn acted as a very experienced and skilful leader. He had an intimate knowledge of the birds and great skills in finding and showing them. His communication was extremely clear, to the point and flavoured with a good sense of humour. In the few difficult situations that arose due to flights, civil unrest, etc, he showed extremely good skills in handling these with a perfect balance between group decisions and executive decisions. A role model for a tour leader.

Dates, Leaders and Pricing
2023 DEPARTURES
2024 DEPARTURES
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