traveller
our COUNTRY
UA LODGE B AM
out e r e th C
E
A PR
N OV I
S
urrounded by jungle in the Tari Valley, Ambua Lodge is in the heart of Huli Wigmen country in the mountainous interior of PNG’s Hela Province. The Huli, PNG’s largest indigenous group, are famously known for painting their faces yellow, red and white, and for wearing elaborate wigs. If you’re a guest at Ambua Lodge, chances are that you’re there to get up close with the Huli, as well as for some of the best bird watching in the country. The lodge arranges excursions to nearby Huli villages, where visitors can observe everyday life, are entertained at a sing-sing, and see how the Huli decorate themselves and grow their hair to make their wigs. Guided bird-watching tours, by vehicle and foot, are also on the agenda. The bird of paradise is among more than 200 bird species identified in this area. The walking tours include some trails with traditional vine bridges over crystal-clear streams, and secluded waterfalls. Ambua Lodge accommodation is in 32 round houses set in landscaped gardens. These en suite rooms resemble native huts, with the feeling of traditional authenticity enhanced with the use of local materials such as bamboo and kunai grass. Since being built in 1985, they have been refurbished. There’s also a two-storey building with 18 hotel-style rooms with en-suites and verandahs. The main lodge area has a sunken lounge with
56 Paradise – Air Niugini’s in-flight magazine
a wood stove (at 2000 metres it can be cool in the mornings and evenings) and a TV for watching documentaries about PNG. There’s also a bar and dining area.
PICTURE: DAVID KIRKLAND
HEL
The chefs utilise local fruits and vegetables such as pineapple, papaya, passionfruit, sweet potato, pit-pit shoots, choko, carrots, cauliflower and watercress. The watercress soup, with ginger and coconut cream, is a house favourite, or you’ll find the likes of barramundi on the menu, done with steamed pit-pit shoots and hollandaise sauce with rice pilaf. Ambua (meaning ‘yellow clay’ in the Huli language) is one of a collection of
wilderness lodges owned and managed by Trans Niugini Tours. Guests usually visit several lodges, packaged together in itineraries that include day tours. The 10-day ‘New Guinea Village Experience’, for example, includes Ambua Lodge, Rondon Lodge and Karawari Lodge. The cost for this tour is $US5691 a person, twin share, for accommodation, meals, transfers, tours and local guides. Flights are extra. If you want to visit Ambua Lodge only, the cost for meals and accommodation is $US378 a night. Tours, transfers and flights are extra. One of the easiest ways to get to Ambua Lodge is the direct Air Niugini flight from Port Moresby to nearby Tari. Trans Niugini Tours also provides air services to its lodges from Mount Hagen.
Mount Hagen Ambua Lodge Tari
Port Moresby
PNG
0 100 Km
For more information see pngtours.com, or contact service@pngtours.com. – ROBERT UPE