We meet at the group hotel in Port Moresby. A single timed airport transfer is provided. KE Land Only package services begin with this transfer.

After breakfast at the hotel, we transfer to the nearby domestic terminal for your morning flight to Mount Hagen, the third largest city in Papua New Guinea. On arrival at an elevation of around 1677 meters, we are welcomed by our guides and we transfer to the Highlander hotel.
After some rest and lunch, we have an easy orientation tour through the town and the nearby gardens.

In the morning you drive up to the Kumul Lodge (2800m) for some bird watching. This is an incredibly scenic drive up through the mountains where we can see the agricultural practices of the highlanders as we travel the wide road up to the lodge.
Kumul is an excellent spot for birding and is the only bird lodge in New Guinea where Birds of Paradise are regulars at the lodge feeders, offering fantastic photo opportunities. Other regulars at the feeders include Brehm's Tiger Parrot, Smoky Honeyeater, Belford's Melidectes and Island Thrush. The Chestnut Forest Rail is occasionally seen beneath the feeder while Crested Berrypecker, White-winged Robins and a host of other birds are often seen at nearby sites.
Today will serve as an acclimatisation day for the upcoming climb. We will head out on a bush walk and have lunch near a waterfalls, immersing ourselves in the beautiful jungle environment.
In the later afternoon, we can take a calm moment and observe the diverse endemic bird species that visit the lodge’s feeder.

We have an early breakfast so we are ready to start trekking just after sunrise. We transfer for about 30 minutes to reach the start of our walk (2300m). Today we can really start to experience the variety of enrironments that PNG has to offer, we start in grassland and then up into the rainforest before reaching the summit and being rewarded with fantatic views of the Nebliyer valleys. Today is also a great introduction to the terrain we will experience over the next two weeks - very rugged under foot and often very muddy.

Today marks the beginning of the three-day trek. Early in the morning, we depart for the base of the volcano at Kagoba (2800m), an old high-altitude agriculture research station. Local porters and guides will meet us here. We spend a little time organising our luggage before we start walking. Today is mainly through tall grassland.
At the base camp, a group goes ahead of others to set up tents, prepare dinner, and build huts before nightfall. The night can be challenging due to the cold temperature (+/- 7C), so it's important to acclimatize and ensure you have warm clothing, a sleeping bag, and a cozy fire to keep you comfortable until morning.

We embark on an early morning hike (4:00am) to the summit, which is rarely visited and presents challenges along the way. The climb is expected to take around 4 hours, so caution must be exercised. Along the way our leader and support crew will be pointing out all of the fascinating flora and forna - a fantastic time to learn about the environments as we walk through them.
We reach the summit at approximately 8:00 am and enjoy the breathtaking views before returning to the base camp (3700m) for a fantastic meal.

We descend via a different route today to fully experience the diverse landscapes - the trail can often be very muddy here and so a slow pace will be set. From Mailka, we transfer to Mount Hagen (about 2 hour drive) and check into a comfortable room at the Highlander Hotel - in the evening we can take a few moments here to relax with a drink.

Today is all about experiecing, learning and the meeting of people and cultures. After breakfast we visit a Melpa village, the dominant tribe in this area in the Nebylar Valley. The Melpa women will present their sing sing in their traditional bilas.
After the sing sing, we are invited to a local house to meet some members of the group. The focus of this encounter is to understand the life of women in the PNG culture. Feel free to ask questions and exchange thoughts. It’s a great opportunity to immerse ourselves further into the culture.
We have a lunch in the village and then enjoy a tour in and around the village, learning about the local culture and lifestyle. A perfect way to discover the reality of the Highlands way of life.

After a hearty breakfast at the hote we embark on a rarely taken trek, climbing the highest peak of Papua New Guinea via the 'backroad'. This unique route allows for a three-day walk through pristine high-altitude landscapes. We travel to Womatne in the Simbu Province along the Gembogl road, and from there, it's a two hour walk to reach the remote village of Songo, where we spend the first night. We are among the first group of tourists to visit this area

We depart early in the morning and slowly trek up through the forest, again the terrain will be very uneven and depending on how much it has rained recently, there may be a river crossing or two. As always we can also spend the time talking to our crew, about the surrounding and about Papua New Guinea in general. In the early afternoon we come out of the forest into open grassland - where we will soon see our camp for the night. We spend a relaxed evening around a campfire with our guides and porters.

We have a shorter and slightly easier day today. For most of the day we are walking along a river, crossing waterfalls, and traversing wild mountainous landscapes adorned with fern tree forests - there is a real, wonderful feel of contrast from the previous days trekking. Our camp is set up at near Heart Lake (named for its shape) and we enjoy another evening around a campfire with your team.

We set out today at about 3am to ascend Mount Wilhelm, this gives us the best chance of the summit being clear of cloud - and of course the best chance of incredible views. We reach the summit in approximately 3hrs and witness the sunrise from the top of Papua New Guinea. We descend via the other side of the peak, trekking down to the Piunde Lakes, where we meet our porters for our final camp (3500m).

A much more relaxed start this morning as we set out on a scenic and extremly beautiful 3 hour walk to Gembogl station. Here we'll enjoy a delicious lunch at Betty's camp, known for its famous trout farm. Tonight, we rest in Betty's comfortable rural lodge amidst a beautiful garden setting with splendid mountain views.

We return to Mount Hagen along a scenic road, stopping to visit local villages and experience their cultures, including witnessing the famous Minidima play, which recounts a story of how the village overcame a dangerous jungle threat in the past.
Transfer time: about 2.5 hrs

After breakfast, we head to the airport for a mid-day flight to Port Moresby and transfer to a comfortable hotel in town and enjoy some rest.

Transfer to the airport for your international flight.