Papua New Guinea

A Greentours Itinerary

The tour structure will be different from normal Greentours trips with more emphasis on being in the field at the best time for photography i.e. getting up early for the first couple of hours of light for landscapes, staying out later for sunsets, night walks. Most tuition will be in the field with the chance to review things in the evening on a laptop for those shooting digital. Since people will be of varying abilities rather than a formal series of lectures full of technical talk we’ll be opting for a relaxed approach with Chris providing pointers ‘in the field’ as they are needed and holding sessions as and when we encounter suitable subjects. These will be aimed at improving technique in terms of composition, depth of field and exposure. However, to set the scene there will be a discussion at the start to ascertain abilities and go through various aspects at some stage during some days when appropriate.

Papua New Guinea is a superb location for photography, especially macro, and there will also by night-time excursions to make the most of this. You’ll have the chance to photograph various species of Birds of Paradise displaying on this tour – you are likely to see around 15-17 species of these incredible birds and several of these species will offer reasonable to good photographic opportunities though all are in forest (or at least trees) and move around a lot with all the difficulties that that implies. This is a ‘no rush’ tour concentrating on photographic subjects. Nonetheless always have binoculars handy as the bird and animal watching will still be good, it’s just that building a big list is not the main aim with this tour.

It is important to be familiar with at least the basic operation of your kit. Endless fiddling as your subject slowly creeps away and other group members are waiting is not what you want, understand the buttons. There will be times where some of us miss out because a subject doesn’t wait around, please be patient as this is unavoidable and we’ll all get/miss our chances! Ideally we want to be concentrating on improving composition, exposure and sharpness not which button to press for this or that to happen.

Days 1 & 2 UK to West New Britain via Singapore and Port Morseby

An afternoon departure from the UK sees us heading east to Singapore where we’ll connect with the onward Air Niugini flight to Port Morseby. As we cross the remote Transfly region close to the borders with Irian Jaya we’ll start our descent into Port Moresby, crossing the wide expanse of the Gulf of Papua. Looking to our left we’ll see the impressive Owen-Stanley Range that rises to over 12,000 feet not far inland. In Port Moresby we’ll connect with our local flight to Hoskins on the island of West New Britain, and to get there we have a spectacular flight up over the aforementioned mountains before descending across the tropical blue Solomon Sea.

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Days 3 – 7(am) West New Britain – Walindi

New Britain is exceedingly exotic! The island has an impressive geography, the narrow ridge of land that separates the Solomon Sea from the Bismarck Sea tops 6,000 feet in a verdant and steep central mountain ridge. We’ll make the short journey from the airport to Walindi, formerly a coconut plantation, though for more than twenty years famous as one of the world’s finest dive resorts. During our stay we’ll enjoy the splendours of the lowland and hill forests inland of Walindi, we’ll take at look at the fauna of islands offshore of Kimbe Bay, and there will be opportunity for those that wish to enjoy some fantastic snorkelling in some of the world’s most diverse reefs.

However it will have been a long journey and we’ll want to enjoy the comforts and relaxation of Walindi so why not let the wildlife come to us. The grounds of the lodge offer great bird and butterfly watching not least because many of the commonest species are so colourful. Most noticeable are the noisy flocks of parrots. Brilliant Eclectus Parrots, the males green and red, the females blue and red – both of them just pure colour – are common, and we’ll see Singing Parrots and the magnificent Eastern Black-capped Lory, a tremendous bird, black and shiny bright red! Spectacular Blue-eyed Cockatoos will be difficult to miss and we’ll see the strange Channel-billed Cuckoo flying over. Pigeons are fabulous here with such delights as Red-knobbed, Bar-tailed and Blue-black Imperial Pigeons as well as finely attired Superb Fruit Doves. Flowering shrubs around the grounds bring in many butterflies with swallowtails such as the endemic novobritannicus race of Atraphaneura polydorus, a rose swallowtail that has around twenty often very different races spread through the Papuan and Moluccan regions! Rarer is the endemic Graphium browni, whilst we’ll soon meet our first birdwing, the huge Ornithoptera priamus.

We’ll visit the forests of the nearby Garu Wildlife Management Area where quiet tracks allow us access into some fine wildlife-rich forest. Skulking Violaceous Coucals provide a strange musical accompaniment to our walk, whilst flocks of Red-flanked Lorikeets and Buff-faced Pygmy Parrots are somewhat shriller. Glancing up we should watch for New Britain Honey Buzzard and Slaty-backed Sparrowhawk, whilst flowering bushes attract Dusky Myzomela and the lovely Black-and-Carmine Myzomela, as well as various Jezebels and Swallowtails. Kingfishers are very varied on New Britain, indeed on Papua New Guinea generally, but many of the most beautiful are secretive and crepuscular, however we’ve a good chance of unearthing one of the local species of Paradise- Kingfisher as well as Variable Dwarf and Bismark Kingfishers. Among a host of endemics are New Britain Flowerpecker and New Britain Pied Monarch. After dark we’ll look for the New Britain Boobook, a rare endemic owl, and just a few weeks ago the owners of the lodge found a roost site for the rare and beautiful Golden Masked Owl.

Taking a boat out into Kimbe Bay we’ll visit islands that harbour many unusual birds including the rarely seen Nicobar Pigeon, an elusive inhabitant of island forest

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understory. White-bellied Sea Eagles soar over the bay and we’ll likely encounter both Lesser Frigatebirds and Greater Frigatebirds and a number of terns, hopefully including Black-naped and Bridled. Mangrove Golden Whistlers and Sclater’s Myzomelas bring colour to the shoreline shrubs and where these are flowering we will see some fantastic butterflies. New Britain has very many butterflies that are endemic to this island group, the glassy tigers here being Parantica rotundata and dusky-winged Parantica fuscela. Rainbow-hued Delias salvini is restricted to New Britain though it has many colourful relatives in PNG’s high mountains.

Watching Beach Kingfishers catch their lunch we might consider it time for a snorkel. An incredible half of all known coral species are found in Kimbe Bay and the fish life is simply staggering. Anyone wanting to see some fine images of the lavish underwater life could try having a look at Neville Coleman’s guide to the World of Water Wildlife Guide to Papua New Guinea. The colourful corals are fantastic and include giant sea fans, their intricate and fragile growth all in one plane, and here reaching two metres across. Amongst Spikey Soft Corals of intense colour we can look for beautiful nudibranchs, as well as stunning flat worms and some beautiful shrimps, some still awaiting names! The fish are mind- blowing with a rich variety of elegant and strikingly marked butterfly and angelfishes as well as such impressive creatures as the Bignose Unicornfish and several surreal looking Clownfish.

Days 7(pm) – 10(am) Rondon Ridge above Mount Hagen

We’ll fly back to the mainland and then directly up to the famed Papua New Guinea Highlands. Our flight takes us up over a landscape thickly covered in forest then suddenly it changes to the richly-cultivated highlands before we land at Mount Hagen’s little airport. From town we’ll drive uphill to the Rondon Ridge, a new lodge perched high above the valley with superb views over the highlands and surrounded by some wonderful highland habitats.

In the epiphyte-laden cloudforests above Rondon, among strange trees related to our ivy, and many-footed Pandanus with lots of stilt-like trunks, is a world far removed from our temperate woodlands. At night we’ll seek marsupials such as the Striped Bandicoot and the rather adorable Mountain Couscous as well as owls the simply gorgeous Feline Owlet-Nightjar. Early in the morning our local guide will take us to a place where we can watch three or possibly four birds of paradise all from one spot.

The Superb Bird of Paradise wafts the iridescent blue-green feathers of its extendable chest georgette back and forth, often remaining in one spot for a goodly time, so easily viewed in detail through the ‘scope. Soon after dawn we’ll be regaled by the deafening machine-gun like calls of the Brown Sicklebill. The males are incredible, almost metre long birds with long pointy central tail feathers, All dark (almost) they might have been but they actually possess the most valuable (to the locals) of all bird of paradise feathers in those tail plumes. Which may seem rather strange when we meet the fabulous Stephanie's Astrapia.

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Another huge all dark looking bird of paradise but this time with 'inflated' central tail feathers, rather whydah-like, which curve elegantly as the bird moves about the fruiting trees. The head and chest are like a giant sunbird, a burst of metallic blues and greens offset by a narrow iridescent purple band. Breathtaking. The King of Saxony Bird of Paradise, its display song a cascading waterfall, is at the bizarre end of birds of paradise plumage. When displaying the King of Saxony thrusts out its shiny green breast and turns its head first one side, then the other, waving crazy long, curved and ratcheted plumes. These emanate from the sides of its head, are longer than the bird itself, and trail behind in flight! White-bibbed Fruit-Doves and fabulous Regent Whistlers, Black Pitohuis and Mountain Mouse Warblers, and Common Sooty Honeyeaters and Buff-faced Scrub-Wrens will have trouble attracting our attention away from these amazing birds.

Orchids are plentiful in Rondon’s forests with some fine Dendrobiums, these including the congested pink blooms of Dendrobium pseudoglomeratum, the beautiful Bulbophyllum pulchrum and the amazing Bulbophyllum streptosepalum whose tepals has been pulled into very long tassels many times longer than the flower itself. The world’s second largest butterfly, the Birdwing, Ornithoptera goliath visits the flower beds right outside our rooms and several different Myzomelas (a kind of Honeyeater) bring shining blacks and brilliant reds to the garden. Nearby streams cut steep-sided gorges into the mountain sides and perched amongst all the mosses and ferns on the huge boulders we’ll see the distinctive Torrent-Lark whilst in nearby trees the flambouyant Blue Bird of Paradise holds territory. We’ll explore the Kip Valley and Huli Gap where Papuan Harrier, Brown Falcon and Variable Goshawk are among a good selection of raptors. Local villagers will show us a tremendous sight for in the trees around their houses the truly incredible Raggiana’s Birds of Paradise gather to flaunt their elegant yellow and red plumes, the males doing vigorous upside down press-ups to shake their flambouyant plumage!

Days 10(pm) – 15(am) Karawari Lodge in the great Sepik Basin

The flight to Karawari from Mount Hagen’s little airport is truly spectacular. This will be the first of two flights using light aircraft, most probably a ten-seater, dedicated to our group. These flights are great fun and you get spectacular views! We will rise quickly into a land seemingly untouched by man, leaving the intricate patterns of highland cultivation behind as we approach the last twelve-thousand foot ridge, before we start the long descent down to the vast Sepik Plain below, now passing over largely unexplored terrain. We’ll see virtually no sign of human life now until Karawari’s tiny airstrip hoves into view, not a track or a road. The scenery as we descend is totally spectacular with thick rainforest clothing near vertical gorge walls, huge cascades and waterfalls visible, and great rock faces, some looking like medieval castle towers, perfectly round. Then it is over the Sepik River lowlands, though we’ll never see the great river itself, having to content ourselves with many smaller ones (smaller is a relative term, many of these are three hundred metres wide!), lakes and swamps. The forest is pristine and uninterrupted save for some very small settlements along the river banks.

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Karawari is quite simply one of the most amazing wildlife lodges in the world. Set on the last ridge as the mountains behind disappear into the vast Sepik Basin, the lodge overlooks an endless landscape of pristine rainforest. Three hundred feet below is the Karawari River, which other than the airstrip is the only way in or out of the area. It is a nine hour motorised canoe journey downstream to the first village with a dirt track linking it with the outside world, almost a day’s motorised canoe journey in the reverse! It is difficult to overstate just how remote Karawari is. As a consequence we will be surrounded by a huge swathe of unspoilt rainforest that includes some of the most biologically complex habitats on Earth. This is Arambak country and many of the lodge’s staff are from this people that sparsely populate the riverbanks. About their only connections with modern technology (apart from in the rather swish lodge) are a very few motorised canoes (most are still paddled) and radios so they can listen to Radio Solomon Islands’ music programmes! Fish are an important part of their diet but not as important as the sago palm and we’ll get a chance see how they gather, prepare and cook this peculiar foodstuff. We’ll have plenty of chance to meet the local villagers and we’ll often pass fishermen in their canoes, or bunches of kids paddling down with water from a spring – the canoes are paddled from a standing position, something that takes a deal of getting used to and you are guaranteed to get wet if you fancy learning this technique!

One of the delights of Karawari is what one can see in the lodge grounds. So much so that we intend to spend a deal of time here. Strange shiny brown banana shaped skinks inhabit the lawns where we’ll encounter all sorts of beautiful insect life. Butterflies are outstanding and very few places in the World can hold a candle to Karawari’s diversity. New Guinea is synonymous with Birdwings, some of which are the largest of the world's butterflies. We’ll often see huge female Ornithoptera priamus, their black and white wings held on a yellow and red body the size of a human thumb. The males are quite different, a silken green with a hint of blue, the wings centred black. Smaller, but widely considered to be one of world's most beautiful butterflies, Papilio Ulysses is a shimmering electric blue jewel. Almost identically coloured but smaller are the oak blues, though the largest and commonest here is a sumptuous red admiral sized species – Arhopala herculina! Amongst many other species we’ll see huge flappy Terinos tethys, the very common large orange-striped Nymphalid Yoma algina, the pansy Junonia hedonia, a mid-sized black and white ‘helen’ type swallowtail Papilio albinus, and the much larger swallowtail Papilio aegeus. Black-tailed Antechinus are among the mammals we’ll likely encounter at night around the lodge though bats will be the most abundant and obvious mammal – especially hugely impressive Giant Fruit Bats.

The most striking bird group are the parrots. These fly over in increasing numbers, thousands by evening time, and from time to time we’ll see them perched too. Magnficent Eclectus Parrots, the males pure green and traffic light red, the smaller females, brilliant pure red and deep blue, take the breath away. Fast-flying groups of Dusky Lorys often stop in riverside trees, their feathers dusky grey and rich red with a hint of orange. As the afternoon progresses we’ll see many hundreds, but

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these will soon be outnumbered by the smaller slimmer, and similarly coloured Rainbow Lorikeet. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are dwarfed by the rare and amazing Palm Cockatoo, this one grey and red. We’ll see Brightly-coloured Double-eyed and Edwards’s Fig-Parrots fly back and the fabulous Black-capped Western Lory will amaze us, so red! Pigeons are hardly less diverse with both Zoe's and Pinon Imperial Pigeons common and we’ll see Collared Imperial Pigeon, the shy Stephan’s Bronzewing, and the delight that is Orange-bellied Fruit Dove. Outrageous Victoria Crowned Pigeons, turkey-sized birds that walk through the forest, are hard to spot, but they do visit paths near the lodge sometimes – a sighting of these magnificent birds is something indeed. Pairs of Blyth's Hornbills fly over regularly and so too do striking Hooded Butcherbirds. Dapper Pacific Black Ducks fly off as we approach sandbars where Masked Lapwings loaf. Dollarbirds perch high atop trees as spectacular Channel-billed Cuckoo fly over the forest. Flocks of Metallic and Singing Starlings course up and downstream and in riverside trees we’ll see the rather beautiful Yellow-faced and Golden Mynahs.

Twelve-wired Birds of Paradise produce an extraordinary display for just a few minutes at dawn atop riverside snags so we’ll be in position early for them! Our local guide knows the territories of an altogether more glorious member of the same family. We’ll land to seek these, for hidden in the forest is the shocking red King Bird of Paradise. We’ll watch this amazing apparition display by waving its head plumes that are longer than the bird itself and are finished off with a tassel of brilliant emerald-turquoise. What an incredible bird. Here we might be introduced to the most spectacular of fruit doves, as the slow pigeony 'wom-poo' announces the arrival of the Wompoo Fruit Dove. There are more Birds of Paradise too, though the Jobi and Glossy-backed Manucodes are, well, all black! Upstream are large lakes fringed by a narrow belt of 'freshwater mangrove'. The trees are covered in epiphytes, most notably orchids and ferns, the latter including some huge 'birdsnest' ferns. Among the orchids are some of the most spectacular Dendrobiums on Earth. Dendrobium lasianthera’s sprays of bright pink and rose blooms, each flower topped with a dark ruby petals twisted upward are perhaps about as good as it gets in the orchid kingdom, though the intricate golden— yellow flowers of Dendrobium connantum push it close. If we are lucky we may see the rare New Guinea Harpy Eagle overhead and there’s plenty of water birds to see such as Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants, various egrets, Darters, and Kingfishers, notably Collared, Sacred and the brilliant Azure.

Days15(pm) – 20(am) Ambua Lodge in the Tari Highlands

Taking off from Karawari’s tiny airstrip we start to rise immediately heading for the twelve thousand foot ramparts of the Central Highlands inland. Below is virgin forest dissected by impossible looking gorges containing huge fast-flowing rivers draining these mountains. There is virtually no sign of habitation now, in fact it is likely that white man at least has not traversed most of the land visible below us. New tribal groups surface from time to time as ‘Western’ knowledge extends up the rivers! We’ll pass over some intriguing grassed table lands above the gorges, not high enough to be above the treeline but clearly not maintained by human

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hand. Then we’ll pass over a ten thousand foot ridge, and Mount Wilhelm, the highest in PNG at 4509m, will clearly be visible in front of us.

The fifty minute journey from Tari Airport to the lodge is fascinating, for here we are in the land of the Huli, a large tribal group that to a large extent have maintained their cultural traditions, their beliefs, and to a degree their dress and body decoration. Very many of the older men still wear a degree of traditional clothing though usually over a shirt. They have hats with extravagant decoration, and skirts of bamboo leaves. Many of the younger men wear a coronet of grasses or other vegetation. Arriving at Ambua the likely first reaction will be a collective 'wow!' The view is quite something, looking out across the valleys and flanked by epiphyte- laden forest. The lodge is very beautiful with each circular cabin topped with a traditional grass roof. The gardens are stunning with beautiful flowers everywhere, and we’ll encounter many fine birds in the grounds including strikingly-marked Yellow-browed Honeyeater, Hooded Manakin and Short-tailed Paradigla.

Ambua has a very good trail network through virgin cloudforest taking one through a most beautiful elfin landscape with cascades and thundering waterfalls, the spray dripping from the mossy trees. Flying frogs and owls such as Papuan Boobook can be found at night in this deep green mossy forest whilst in daytime there’s many lovely birds including Papuan Sitellas, Black-breasted Boatbills, White- bibbed Fruit-Doves, and gorgeously marked Tit Berrypeckers. Careful examination of the moss covered tree trunks and rocks will regularly reveal orchids. Many are small Bulbophyllums, some still undescribed, and we will be fortunate that during our stay at Ambua one of the most knowledgeable members of the New Guinea Orchid Society will be able to help us put names to many of these beauties – the ones that do have names of course! Not all are small by any means. There are many large and colourful species too, yellow, white and chocolate Coelogyne fragrans whose specific name hints at its rich scent, and there’s the superficially similar Dendrobium hellwigianum (purple-red flowers) and Dendrobium violaceum (violet flowers!). We’ll find pink Spathoglottis plicata, elegant Bulbophyllum trachyanthum and the large hairy yellow and green flowers, etched with deep orange-brown lines, of Dendrobium finisterrae. The variety of Dendrobiums seems inexhaustible, there’s red-centred pink glomeratum, lovely caliculi-mentem and lots of Dendrobium subaclausum, this coming in a pretty orange and red form, var. phlox, and the yellow form pandanicola. Other orchids we’ll see include Epiblastus species, the red and green Mediocalcar bifolium, Diplocaulobium chrysotropis, and the tiny flowered Oberonia encaps. Back at the lodge after dinner we’ll find the outside of the restaurant building smothered in moths, thousands of individuals, hundreds of species. There are many exotic-looking species as well as some incredibly cryptic ones, and almost nightly the World’s largest moth, the Hercules Moth, visits the lodge!

From the lodge a road winds swiftly uphill and twenty minutes after leaving the lodge one is on the Tari Gap. Up here the land is covered in a fabulous looking and very stunted cloudforest, every tree thick with mosses, ferns, and the occasional orchid! This is great Bird of Paradise territory. The immaculate black Loria's Bird of Paradise may not impress as much as the Crested Bird of Paradise,

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the male a glorious sight in his satiny golden-orange attire. This beauty has recently been placed in a new family, the Satinbirds, however the affinities of the Lesser Melampitta, another denizen of mossy forest understorey are currently unknown. More traditional Birds of Paradise include the impressive Ribbon-tailed Astrapia, the males of this species are black with shimmering green-blue iridescence around the head and with elongated white, black-tipped central tail feathers, these sometimes a metre long. The birdlife is truly amazing on the Tari Gap. Parrots seem to be everywhere. There’s the lovely Goldie's Lorikeet, Orange-billed Lorikeets, tiny Red-breasted Pygmy Parrots, and elegantly marked Tiger-Parrots, both Painted and Brehm’s. We’ll see Belding's and Common Sooty Honeyeaters, fabulous bright Regent Whistlers, both Large and Papuan Scrub-Wrens, Garnet Robins, and dapper White-winged Robins. Field guides hardly do justice to that shimmering sky- blue crown of the Blue-capped Ifrita, and other avian highlights should include the enigmatic Wattled Ploughbill, Papuan Treecreeper, Brown-backed Whistler, Black Fantail and Papuan Mountain Pigeon.

Down below Ambua a number of local farms protect sites that host some truly spectacular birds. The emphasis is on the Birds of Paradise however there are many other remarkable birds to be seen on these farms, not least Sooty Owl, Papuan Parrotfinches and brilliant Papuan King Parrot, a parrot so big and bright that it seems it cannot be real. One farm protects the stunning Blue Bird of Paradise whilst another, the extraordinary Lawe's Parotia. This amazing bird is not so large but makes up for with its remarkable livery. Largely black, the males have a luminous blue eye, a gorgeous golden-green breast shield and six flag-tipped head plumes!

Days 20(pm) & 21 Varirata

An afternoon flight on Day 20 takes us back to the capital where we’ll spend the night in the secure and comfortable Airport Hotel.

The next morning we’ll wind our way up the pleasant valley that leads eventually to the Sogerai Plateau and the Varirata National Park. Once inside we’ll head straight to the Raggiana's Bird of Paradise display site. Strident vocalisations emanate from close by in the forest. Walking just a few metres in we’ll be confronted by an amazing sight. A male sits on a branch, his plumes elegantly coiffured, ready to dance. Sure enough he does some press-ups and bows, shaking his plumes, and then bowing again with wings arched. His magnificent plumage shivers and shakes all the while as he throws back his head and yodells to all and sundry.

As Purple-tailed Imperial Pigeons fly over we can start to get accustomed to the richly diverse birdlife of these foothill forests with species such as New Guinea Friarbird, Red-cheeked Parrot, Pale-billed Scrub-Wren, Mimic Meliphaga and Slender-billed Cuckoo Dove all evident. There’s another bird of paradise too, the Eastern Riflebird, and an improbable array of fruit doves: there’s the lovely Pink- spotted Fruit Dove, the aptly-named Beautiful Fruit-Dove, a diminutive species

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whose yellow and orange belly grades into a pale lilac breast, and the Superb Fruit Dove, a bird of such intricate pattern and varied colours that it really belongs in a coral reef.

Butterflies are exceptional. The lovely Danis danis is common and we’ll soon start to see the ‘White Owls’ (Taenaris species) notably the largest of this genus, the huge Taenaris schoenbergii flapping its long white falcate wings ghost-like through the forest. The Birdwing, Ornithoptera priamis, courses up and down in front of a viewpoint overlooking distant Lion Head Island in the sea east of Port Moresby. We’ll see metalmarks, the jezebel-like Cepora adnormis with yellow, black, white and red wings, the 'jester' Symbrenthia hippoclus with brilliant orange brown- marked uppers and complicated undersides, and the large swallowtail Papilio aegeus.

We’ll be shown roosting Barred Owlet-Nightjar and we’ll see Yellow-eyed Cuckooshrike, Cicadabird, Zoe Imperial Pigeon, and a selection of Monarchs including Spot-winged Monarch, Black-faced Monarch, and the fabulous male Frilled Monarch, ivory white with black wings and a black front to the face, coupled with huge blue-frilled eye-wattles. A highlight is sure to be the kingfishers with many species possible here – we’re very likely to encounter the uncommon Yellow-billed Kingfisher, and perching unobtrusively in the understorey, the quite stunning Red-breasted Paradise Kingfisher and the equally dazzling Brown-headed Paradise Kingfisher.

Day 22 Morning Visit to the Pacific Adventist University and afternoon departure

The extensive grounds of the Pacific Adventist University, a few miles inland of Port Moresby, offer superb birding and as the birds are completely used to people the photographic opportunities are amazing. Port Moresby’s tropical savannah habitats are quite different to anything we’ll have yet experienced on the island and will be full of new bids not least because of a series of small lakes and streams that are also very rich in dragonflies and damselflies. Black-backed Butcherbirds and Orange-fronted Fruit Doves are in the trees and under them are Fawn- breasted Bowerbirds, likely busy with their bowers. We’ll certainly see these extraordinary structures and with a little patience should be able to photograph these interior decorators of the avian world in action. The little lakes host Australian Ibis and abundant Little Black and Little Pied Cormorants. Comb-crested Jacanas, their luminous red combs shining in the sun, will wander to within feet of us as will numerous Black-backed Swamphens and Dusky Moorhens. There are ducks too – many Pacific Black Ducks, as well as Spotted Whistling Ducks, Plumed Whistling Ducks, and Wandering Whistling Ducks. Marbled Frogmouths perform dead stump impersonations almost to perfection opening their big reddish eyes to peer at the lenses trained on them!

After a morning enjoying this productive site we’ll return to the hotel for a superb buffet lunch before heading to the airport for our flights home.

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Day 23 Arrive UK/Europe

Call 01298 83563 or visit www.greentours.co.uk for the latest trip report from our tours to Papua New Guinea. If you would like to ask about any other aspect of this holiday, please call us, or email us at [email protected].

To Book on this Holiday please fill in the booking form which you can download from www.greentours.co.uk (also found in the Greentours brochure) and post/fax to Greentours, PO Box 148, Buxton SK17 1BE, UK. Tel/Fax +44 (0)1298 83563. After booking your place you’ll receive a confirmation letter and a detailed information pack will be dispatched twelve weeks prior to departure. Bird, butterfly and mammal checklists are available.

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