Miscellaneous Travel Tips for Papua New Guinea

1.  Western doctors will recommend you take anti-malaria medication unless you are only travelling in the Highlands.  I was a little skittish about the prospect, because I heard the drugs can cause nausea and -- get this -- nightmares.  Plus, I was only going to be in the country for 3.5 days.  Anyway, I thought I had better be safe than sorry, so although I did not have a chance to visit the Travel Clinic at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago in the few days I had at home before the trip, I made an appointment with a Travel Doctor clinic in Sydney before I even left the States.

The helpful doctor gave me some PNG travel tips and basically left the decision up to me: 1) I could take nothing; 2) I could take a drug called Malarone the night before my trip to PNG, each night during my stay, and one night afterwards, or 3) I could take a different, less expensive drug for 40 days.  I chose the Malarone and did not notice any side effects.  The doctor's visit and the pills cost $71 AUS, or about $60 US.  (On a side note, the Australian dollar is at a 4-year low right now against the US dollar, and it helps, because Australia is a very expensive country to visit.)

2.  Americans (and several other nationalities) can apply for a (free) visa at a PNG embassy, but really, all you need to do is show up at the airport in Port Moresby.  Australians, on the other hand, have some rigamarole to go through.  I don’t fully understand the situation, but it seems Australia requires visitors from PNG to go through several hoops before entering the country.  In retaliation, PNG requires the same now of Australians (despite the close economic, historical, and social ties between the neighbors).  I was told in Australia to be sure to sit toward the front of my plane because I would face a long line at customs in Port Moresby.

In fact, I sat in the middle of the plane, sauntered off, got into the terminal and saw a long line of Aussies in front of me.  Then I walked over to the lonely person at the “Visa on Arrival” desk, waved my US passport, and got my visa in about 90 seconds.  I felt a little badly for all the Australians watching me enviously, but not too badly.

3.  I saw some contradictory information on-line about this, so in case anyone comes here wondering, Americans do not need to bring passport photos for the visa.  I brought some new ones along, but found out that they would only be needed if, for some reason, I had applied through an embassy.  You don't need them at the Port Moresby airport -- they simply stick the visa onto a blank page in your passport.  

4.  If you're flying on Air Niugini -- and you probably are -- I have a few observations.  The surprising good news was that on my flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby, I had a selection of about 25 films to watch on a tablet-like device attached to the back of the seat in front of me.  Airlines in the US really need to get with the program.

On my exit, there were about 100 passengers on an almost completely full flight leaving tiny Madang for Port Moresby at 6:30 on a Saturday morning.  Since there are only a couple of flights leaving that airport every day, I thought there would be no need to get there too early.  I arrived at 5:30 and found most of those 100 people in front of me.  All luggage is screened by hand -- not by machine.  The plane departed 15 minutes late simply because of how long it took to process everyone.  A picture of the "departure lounge" in Madang is below.

All luggage is screened by hand at the table underneath the Hertz sign at the entrance to the Madang airport.

5.  The mask and figurines I purchased at PNG Arts in Port Moresby (and referenced in my earlier post), had to be inspected by Australian customs upon my entrance into the country, because they were made of wood.  I was warned at PNG Arts that this would happen, but after making me unwrap the packaging, the Aussie customs official saw no problem with the items.  And, while I'm on the topic, here's a photo of the 2-foot long mask, bought for about $16 US.