Kimbe (PNG) Travel Blog
Where is Kimbe?
Papua New Guinea (PNG), The Land of the Unexpected. It is home more than 40 species of the Bird of Paradise which is a renowned symbolisation of the Melanesian people. The Island has more than 800 Indigenous languages, with the most widely spoken being Tok Pisin. The currency in PNG is called Kina (K) and Toea (roughly 40 (AUD) cents is equal to K1). Papua New Guinea features many different landscapes, from the harsh karst and rainforest filled lands in the north and the swampy south coast to the mountain’s zones found in the central parts of the island. PNG has 22 provinces.
Kimbe, West New Britain Province being has become an iconic Island tropical getaway. Kimbe Bay well known for palm oil, cocoa, logging and coconut plantations with most products being shipped to other provinces. Kimbe has a tropical rainforest climate like the rest of the country with heavy rainfall year-round. Kimbe Bay being tropical is quite dense with luscious vegetation all over the Island with soaring peaks that plunge into the unique coral reef. There are many low-lying islands scattered through the bay. I’ve decided to post my Kimbe (PNG) travel blog as the experience was unique and one of a kind.
How to get to Destination?
To get to Kimbe, we travelled from my then hometown (Goroka, EHP) by Bus to Lae, Morobe Province which was the first lag of the trip. Nothing different to our bus travels from- Boarding Train ‘to a lifetime of Adventure”. Several buses run at different times of the days at the main market in Goroka town. All public buses are private buses and not run by the government. This is how families who are able to afford a transport can make a livelihood providing bus services from one province to another. The buses would have a driver and a bus boy (or boss-crew). The boss-crew takes care of passengers and collects bus fares. He ultimately seats at the doorway, does head counts during breaks and becomes the main communicator to the bus driver for the passengers when they need to hop off along the way. You will find this in almost all third world developing countries.
Coming back to our trip, we hopped on the early morning bus at around 7am. Including stops and driving through the valleys and high terrains, it takes about 4-5 hours to get to Lae. We spent one night at a lodge and the next day we hopped on a passenger ship to Kimbe called the ‘Rabaul Queen’. On the passenger ship there is first class and second class, and the trip takes about 2 whole days to travel to Kimbe.
On the boat, we encountered flying fish gliding in the air while we were seating outside the cabin enjoying the calm sea, with the occasional splash. When we arrived, we were welcomed to the dock by a pack of dolphins leaping and gliding everywhere. Note that you can also get to Kimbe by flying (Air Niugini) to Hoskins Airport, our option was cheaper considering we were a party of 6.
Where to stay & how to get around?
The first 2 nights we spent with our aunts house who lived in a private gated community. On the third day, my mum’s uncle came to pick us up. They lived further inland and further from the main town so we would sit at the back of the ute with the wind in our hair for a good hour while travelling to his house. Our views would be surrounded by either palm trees, oil palm trees or the sea.
There are several hotels and lodges available for booking but be sure to book ahead of travel dates. They can be affordable for visitors out of country with the currency exchange but not for locals as it’s quite expensive. The hotels provide the same service as you would find in many other countries. It also provides safety and comfort as well as room service if required. Some hotels would also provide day activities to travel out scuba diving to explore reefs.
To get around I’d advise hiring a car which would be ideal to drive around the small Island. There will also be public transports, but this wouldn’t allow you to go driving and adventuring into some locations like a hired vehicle would. Precautions should be taken to whether or not it safe to drive around by yourself. May be useful to ask you hotel or lodge for advice.
Activities available to do
Kimbe is an ideal spot for a quiet, peaceful, and adventurous getaway for a couple or group of friends. There isn’t much to do apart from all thing’s ocean related, or vacation to rest and recharge. Either way, I’ve listed some activities that we did during our time there which includes Scuba diving, snorkelling, foraging, and swimming in pristine fresh rivers, picnics in oil palm plantations, volcano visits and lastly enjoying the scenic drives along the Bay/ Island.
Scuba diving & snokerling- Kimbe Bay is a world-renowned scuba diving hotspot that supports an incredibly diverse marine habitat – coral reefs, mangroves, seagrasses, deep ocean waters and seamounts. Over 900 species of fish have been identified here, and the bay is home to 76% of the world’s coral species. Link
Foraging and swimming in pristine fresh rivers- On day where the adults went around looking for food, we would walk down the oil palm reserve and just past the reserve we would hear the sound of heavy current hitting the rocks. Just beyond the hidden unpaved road, we would spot a yellow caterpillar machinery and past that machinery would be a glimmering emerald river shining in sunlight. The older girls (including myself) would swim and cross over to the other side, while my youngest sister would be told to swim in a shallow spot on the other side, collecting pebbles waiting for us. We would play around for up to 6 hours. We explored the vegetation near the river and played games. On our way back we would forage for garden ferns while making our way uphill house. Most nights after dinner, we were rocked to sleep by the minor earthquakes due to the volcano nearby.
Scenic drives: Each day (if we could) we would go to villages along the road and my dad would buy a rope of betal nut cut fresh from the betal tree. The beautiful scenic drives are always great and if you have a drone, it be ideal to fly along. Personally, I enjoyed the drives sitting at the back of the ute in the humidity.
There are many other things to do if you click here.
Hot Tips
Pack clothes for rain.
On nights where it rained, frogs came out onto grasses to enjoy the humidity and rain. Just a warning.
I would advise arranging vehicle or having some form of transport to drive around. Precautions must be taken, either ask your hotel how safe it is to drive about by yourself.
Food is obviously available, depends on your preference. I am unable to provide places to eat as, most day I ate at home with my family.
Drones and Go-pros would be very useful for this location to get amazing shots.
The day came where we had to board our ship (Rabaul Queen) and make tracks back home to Goroka. The goodbyes were dry and sour, we were all very quiet when we boarded our ship. The journey back was the same as how we got there. My dad then travelled back to site, while we carried on as usually with a Province ticked of our family vacation list.
(Kimbe, 2006)
