Fully booked – waiting list only. To join the waiting list, please use the enquiry button on this page.
This will be a true voyage of exploration and adventure off the beaten track, far, far from the modern world. In 2019 we went to the Trobriand Islands (Malinowski’s Islands of Love) and learnt about the Kula Ring, made famous in Bronislaw Malinowski’s 1921 book Argonauts of the Western Pacific. The Kula Ring spans 18 island communities of the Massim archipelago and involves thousands of individuals. Participants travel, at times hundreds of miles, by canoe to exchange Kula valuables: red shell-disc necklaces (veigun or soulava), traded to the north (circling the ring clockwise), and white shell armbands (mwali), traded in the southern direction (anticlockwise). If the opening gift was an armband, the closing gift must be a necklace, and vice versa. The exchange is also accompanied by trade in other items known as gimwali (barter).
We will travel by boat and visit remote island communities, staying in village houses or tents, eating delicious local seafood, meeting locals and exploring the islands on foot and by boat, researching local beliefs and practices. The expedition ends at a wonderful dive resort, offering the opportunity to extend the trip for some world-class diving, snorkelling or just relaxing in comfort.
Tentative itinerary. Before our arrival our guide will spend a month visiting the islands and arranging the trip; as they don’t get (m)any visitors, there will probably be some modifications, changes and improvements.
Day 1 – Port Moresby / Gurney Airport / Alotau / boat to Goodenough Island
Day 2 – Goodenough Island
Welcome party with frangipani flowers; traditional singsing groups; visits to villages and schools to learn about their way of life.
Day 3 – Amphlett Islands
Traditional net fishing, clay-pot making and cooking, island village visits.
Day 4 – Tewala Island
Snorkelling, fishing, visits to legendary cultural sites, and the legendary story of Tewala Island.
Day 5 – Fergusson Island
Birdwatching for Goldie’s Bird of Paradise; nature walk; visit to Mt Lamwanai crater / Esa’ala cave.
Day 6 – Fergusson Island
Catholic choir group and dance performance based on The Sound of Music, by old students of Maria’s daughter of the von Trapp family; the ancient church building on Dobu Island; the famous Deidei hot springs; meet and greet the Kula trading chief and his family.
Day 7 – Fergusson Island
A Kula trading expedition performance by both parties: learn the cultural significance of the voyage and its trading commodities.
Day 8 – Normanby Island
Sewa Bay highlights, including primary school and community health centre visits, and a stop on one of the islands in the centre of Sewa Bay.
Day 9 – Normanby Island
Traditional gardening skills, harvesting local organic vegetables for dinner, planting crops, the roles of women and men in everyday life, and the matrilineal culture of inheriting chieftainship and wealth through the generations.
Day 10 – Normanby Island
Traditional herbal and nature study tour through the rainforest with local herbalists: survival with nature.
Day 11 – Sewa Bay, Normanby Island / Tawali Resort
Morning birdwatching, then by dinghy to Tawali Resort after lunch.
Day 12 – Tawali Resort / Gurney Airport / Port Moresby
Nights: 1 Goodenough Island · 2 Amphlett Islands · 1 Tewala Island · 3 Fergusson Island · 3 Normanby Island · 1 Tawali Resort.
£3,300 per person, excluding flights
This expedition is full – waiting list only. Please use the enquiry button to join the waiting list.
