"Kainantu" a Kainantu Travel Page by Bwana_Brown

It had been almost 16-months since we had landed in Papua New Guinea, and my wife had only experienced one short trip outside of the hot, dry and isolated enclave of Port Moresby. Meanwhile, I had been all over the country from one end to the other, experiencing both tropical islands and the refreshing coolness of the central Highlands areas.

When another working trip to the Highlands surfaced, I thought it was time to bring my family along for the week, since the children were on a school break and I had free housing available at the Electricity Commission hydro facilities at the Ramu Dam. Having been there a few times already, I knew the pleasant climatic conditions would be a real change after the Capital city!

It worked out great! After flying over the central 14000+ foot dividing mountain range, we saw some nice scenery during our drive up from the north coast of the country. The people of the Highlands were friendly and it was nice to see what these more rural areas of the country looked like. This part of Papua New Guinea was only 'discovered' by white explorers in the late 1920s when Australians came looking for gold. Instead, they were astounded to find the broad open alpine meadows full of many villages and tribes taking advantage of the fertile soil. Kainantu was set up as one of the first government outposts in the early 1930s. Check out my page to see some of the sights, starting with the 'General Tips' if you want to have a look at a map of the area.