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001 Ambua Lodge

June, 1998 we spent three weeks touring the highlands and lowlands of Papua New Guinea. We ended our stay at Walindi diving off of New Britain. The areas we visited around Ambua in the highlands and Karawari in the Sepic Region are amazing in that much of the original cultural practices survive. It is rare to find an indigenous people still living the way they have for 1,000's of years. In the highlands around Ambua, we had a chance to do some birding and see some rare birds of paradise. We toured a Huli Wigman village and got a glimpse of a sing-sing dance ritual. They demonstrated fire starting and archery skills. One unique aspect of the culture is that men and women live apart in separate areas of their villages. In the Karawari River area, malaria is endemic. The heat, humidity and bugs slow the pace of life. The diving off of New Britain is some of the best we have ever experienced. The diversity of sea critters around the bomies or coral heads is huge and the visibility was excellent. We did see some coral bleaching from the effects of the recent El Nino and the warming sea in the area.