©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd

The Sepik POP 530,000 / AREA 79,100 SQ KM

Why Go? ...... 117 The mighty Sepik is one of the great rivers of the world. In ser- ...... 117 pentine fashion it fl ows for 1126km through a largely undis- Around Wewak...... 123 turbed environment of swamplands, tropical rainforests and Sandaun Province ...... 124 mountains. However, the Sepik is more than just a river – it’s also a densely populated repository of complex cultures, dy- ...... 124 ing languages and the most potent art in the Pacifi c. The Sepik & Its As you motor around one of the endless river bends, the Tributaries ...... 127 scale of the river, the towering facades of the haus tam- Upper Sepik ...... 131 barans (spirit houses), the bird life, the eerie lagoons and Middle Sepik ...... 132 the beautiful stilt villages make it all too easy to believe that Lower Sepik ...... 134 you’ve travelled clean out of the 21st century and straight Tributaries & Lakes ...... 135 into an adventure. The Sepik region also takes in the sleepy provincial capi- tals of Wewak and Vanimo, two beachside towns that attract a small trickle of surfers who come to tame the seasonal B e s t P l a c e s t o swells. Stay » In Wewak Boutique Hotel (p 120 ) » Auong Guesthouse (p 123 ) W h e n t o G o » Vanimo Surf Lodge (p125 ) Wewak °C/°F Te m p Rainfall inches/mm 40/104 24/600 Best of Culture 30/86 » Garamut & Mamba 16/400 Festival (p 120 ) 20/68 8/200 » Crocodile Festival (p 131 ) 10/50 » Middle Sepik Haus Tam- 0/32 0 barans (p 132 ) J FDNOSAJJMAM » Maprik Haus Tambarans (p 126 ) Jun–Oct The dry Mid-Oct–late Dec–Apr Expect season has fewer Apr Monsoon drenching rain mosquitoes but swells bring waves at any time, but temperatures between 1m and during the wet vary greatly be- 2.5m to PNG’s season it’s virtu- tween regions. northern coast. ally guaranteed. 117 THE SEPIK EASTSIGHTSWEWAK SEPIK PROVINCE

PARK pis, BEACH shing fi WATERFRONT . Further down . Further marks the mass which is perhaps ap- sh pond and the gen- sh pond and the fi MV Busama MV sh. Thus, to most locals refer fi pis park, pis sh pond. doesn’t have sh pond. Tok War Memorial War fi Near the main wharf lie the rust- Near This peace park contains a memo- ) ) at land and headland peninsula on fl Sights Activities 122 122

Wewak was once the site of the largest once the site of the was Wewak Wewak itself is an attractive town, andan attractive itself is Wewak A short distance inland the coastal moun- There’s excellent snorkelling around the excellent snorkelling There’s the nearby islands. Like many coastal many the nearby islands. Like ff at Kreer, on the road to the airport, there’s on the road to the airport, there’s at Kreer, the wooden hulk of a Taiwanese Market Kreer junk. On the beach between and the hospital are some rapidly disappear- The landing barges. ing rusting Japanese grave of many troops. The of many soldiers’ bodies grave were later exhumed and returned to Japan. while most people pause only long enoughwhile most people pause to arrange their Sepik expedition and stock its charms. have up on provisions, it does golden sand andA series of beaches with palm trees start here and by swaying backed stretch along the coast. which Wewak is built. which Wewak Japanese Park Memorial Peace Japanese (Map p 2 & Snorkelling Swimming excellent beaches are – long Wewak’s gently un- stretches fall away of sand that The water is clean and clear, der the water. warm and very inviting. headland, over the outer reef and Wewak o tains of the Prince Alexander Mountains tains of the Prince from the narrowseparate the Sepik Basin band of 1 to Cape Boram Point Mission (Map p and a glut on the international market international on the a glut and have per US$500 highs of 2004 record seen the kil- per US$20 to a mere nose dive kilogram hardships placing additional in 2010, ogram communities. on impoverished Wewak As Guinea, New airbase in mainland Japanese it was subject during to a barrage of bombs WWII. ing remains of eral ambivalence that many modern Papua modern Papua eral ambivalence that many towards WWII. Guineans have New a word for peace; ‘peace’ sounds like sounds like a word for peace; ‘peace’ which means the park as propriate given the rial and a c expedition to ex- fi rst contact the outside with fi rst European contactrst European came in 1885, fi Sepik’s Sepik’s Vanilla, once a lucrative crop for Sepik vil- Vanilla, The The Germans established a station at Ai- The early 1930s in the gold rushes saw held the Sepik region for The Japanese nally surrendered to the Allies and vari- History EAST SEPIK PROVINCE EAST SEPIK is much more developed East Sepik Province and includes thethan Sandaun Province populated sectionsmost-visited and heavily of the Sepik, as well as several large tributar- ies. It was here, in 1945, that the Japanese fi ous vehicles of war can still be seen, rotting where they were left. lagers, has seen its price spiral downwards of buyersin the last few years. A scarcity tape on the coast in 1906, and in 1912 andtape on the coast in 1906, 1913 sent a huge scienti low-lying basin.plore the river and its vast, They collected insects, local tribes studied such accuracyand produced maps of that Angoram, the they’re still referred to today. Sepik, was estab- major station in the lower lished at this time. but around Maprik, and hills behind Wewak development and exploration ceased when WWII started. Australian forces pushed most of the war. along the coast from and , and early withdrew to the west. In the Japanese 1944 the Americans seized and the Australians moved west from there. When a huge American force captured Hollandia in April, the Papua) in West (now Jayapura were completely isolat- in Wewak Japanese fell and 1945, Wewak in May ed. A year later, withdrew into the the remaining Japanese in its last days, with the war hills. Finally, General Adachi surrendered near Yangoru. The formal surrender took place a few days Point later on 13 September 1945 at Wom troops, Of 100,000 Japanese near Wewak. only 13,000 had survived. The bird-of- with Malay was probably world from these– the feathers hunters paradise in Asia popular birds were beautiful long European millinerybefore fashionable in- them into late-19th-centurycorporated headwear. women’s of the Germanwith the arrival Guinea New named the river Finsch Dr Otto Company. afterKaiserin Augusta, wife of the Ger- the man emperor.