Trekking Companies
Most trekkers tackle the Kokoda Track with a guiding company, who smooth over the challenges of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) ways. Different companies offer various packages from basic tours with little support to large, caravan style treks with up to two porters to each trekker.
Each trekker pays for a permit to cross the Kokoda Trail. This permit is managed by the Track Authority who uses these funds to provide certain services to the villages along the track.
Food and Cooking
Larger trekking companies will have a porter team to carry the food, do the cooking and serve three meals a day. If travelling with a smaller company, a trekker may carry their own food and even help with the cooking. Some of the villages can provide meals, but this should not be relied on.
Porters
In the large trekking companies a team of porters carry the food, tents, cooking equipment and common use equipment, leaving a trekker to carry their individual equipment. A personal porter can be hired, leaving a trekker to carry only the bits they need for the day such as water and track snacks.
Tour Guides
The larger companies usually provide an Australian guide to accompany the trekking party over the Kokoda Track. These guides are passionate about the track and its wartime history and provide battlesite briefings at the significant sites on the trek.
The cheaper option is a local PNG guide who provides basic guiding services to get the trekking party from one end of the track to the other.
Villages
The villagers are friendly and welcome trekkers. Most of the villagers follow Christianity. The early missionaries split PNG into separate regions, allocating each church a specific area. The Kokoda Track section ended up with the Seventh Day Adventists.
The villagers might put on a “sing-sing” for a trekking party, a unique experience with the Melanesian voices singing in a remote jungle village.
Safety
Trekking parties are usually safe from crime. The locals are generally happy to have trekking parties come through as it provides income. However, trekkers should always be conscious of their own personal safety on the track.
The friendliness of the villages is a surprising contrast to the lawlessness in the PNG capital Port Moresby; which has been listed in the Economist magazine as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs states that visitors should “exercise a high degree of caution in Papua New Guinea because of the high levels of serious crime”. Most trekkers remain within the hotel precinct while in the capital.
Facilities on the Track
There are no shops on the track, though some villagers will sell fruit and cans of softdrink to trekkers. There is no power available in the villages. There is no mobile phone coverage along the track.
Trekkers should take some small amounts of PNG money (Kina) on the track. This is to buy fruit and drinks, pay entry to village museums and maybe buy souvenirs the villagers make for sale to passing trekkers. Also as a tip for the porters at the end of the trek.
Evacuations
Most of the larger villages have airstrips. A good trekking company will have access to a satellite phone, but the Owen Stanley Ranges is a remote location and emergency flights out is fraught with communication and logistics problems.
There are many matters to consider in planning a hike over the Owen Stanley Ranges on the Kokoda Track in PNG. Some are answered here, further information can be found in the following articles.
Tips for Hiking the Kokoda Track
Questions About the Kokoda Track
Kokoda Track Significant Sites
Bruce Iliff - Hello from an Australian freelancer! I’ve been scratching articles together in Australia in a range of subjects for a number of ...
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