Safety Tips in Papua New Guinea

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Exercise caution, but don't dismiss it too readily. It's cheap, convenient, and shows a willingness on your part to do like the locals do -- something Papua New Guineans tend to respect in their visitors. Bus routes in the cities can be difficult to make sense of, so find out before-hand which bus to catch, where, and how you'll know that you're at your destination. Try not to look too obviously lost. Don't travel in city buses at night.

Long-distance travel (by PMV or Public Motor Vehicle) is uncomfortable and somewhat unpredictable (plan for the trip to take much longer than you expected), but it's cheap and it's a good way to experience a bit of what PNG is really like. Some PMV routes are notorious for armed hold-ups, so asked (hotel staff or whoever) about the route you plan to take before you get on the truck.

TIP: Wherever you go (other than the village), assume THERE'S SOMEONE WATCHING YOU and waiting for their chance to grab your purse, camera, bag, etc. With the high rate of unemployment and poverty in the cities, you -- the tourist who obviously has enough money to afford airfare and accomodation -- are fair game for a bit of redistributive justice. Follow all general travel precautions at all time: carry as little cash as possible, and keep it close to your body. Have smaller denominations and coins in your pocket so you don't need to sort through a wad of dough every time you want to buy something. Be modest is what you buy and how you present yourself (i.e., dress casually, not flashy).

SEPIK RIVER TRAVELLERS: If you want to see the MIDDLE SEPIK (via AMBUNTI), it's probably worth your while to FLY from Wewak. There is public transportation available, but it's a long and uncomfortable ride along a highway that is famous for armed hold-ups. Budget travellers should consider the Lower Sepik (via Angoram).

MALARIA. There is no malaria in the highlands and minimal risk in Port Moresby. However, if you're going anywhere else, take precautions and/or get tested for any symptoms immediately. PRECAUTIONS: take profilactic medication; wear long sleeves/pants to prevent mosquito bite, particularly at twilight in morning and evening; sleep under a mosquito net. SYMPTOMS - if you experience any of the following, get to a clinic and get tested: bad headache that persists for more than a couple hours; fever/chills; nausea; flu-like aches and pains in the joints; unexplicable lethargy. Malaria symptoms usually occur in cycles (every 48-72 hours). If you have a fever or bad headache one day but feel perfectly fine the next, you may have malaria. Stay close to a clinic for a couple days and get tested as soon as symptoms resume. PNG has several strains of malaria that are RESISTANT to many of the most popular medications. Consult a travel clinic to get the right drugs, and find out where the nearest clinic is wherever you travel in PNG. The plasmodium that causes CEREBRAL MALARIA (falciparum) is very common in PNG and can lead to BRAIN DAMAGE and DEATH. Malaria is treatable, but don't fool around - GET TREATED RIGHT AWAY. You're often better off getting treated in the local clinic where they know what strains of malaria are common and which medications work than you are waiting until you get home by which time your symptoms may be more severe and where they may not know much about malaria.

Australian residents of Papua New Guinea and Australians intending to travel to Papua New Guinea are reminded to exercise extreme care and maintain a very high level of security awareness in light of continuing law and order problems (12 March 1999).