Spirit House on the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea

CRUISING THE SEPIK RIVER IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA, THE WORLD'S LAST FRONTIER
Papua New Guinea, a wild and mysterious land off the north coast of Australia, is known in the civilized world as the last frontier. Its largest river, the Sepik, is often compared with its even larger cousin the Amazon. Like a giant anaconda, its sensuous meanderings wander for 700 miles alongside lagoons, through swamps, grasslands, rainforests and between mountains to the Bismarck Sea on Papua New Guinea's northern coast.

An elder of the Iatmul tribe living beside the Sepik river

Home territory to crocodiles and vast flocks of birds, the Sepik region is a primitive paradise where many of the people live in stilt villages on the riverbank, much as they have for thousands of years.





Six intrepid females relax after Sepik exploration

Disembarking from a bush plane in the village of Timbunke, we six female adventure travellers were ready for a journey that would take us to places few westerners have ever seen. We were to explore the central section of the Sepik river watercourse.

Our companions hamming it up on the "Sepik Spirit"

The “Sepik Spirit”, a flat-bottom riverboat, was to be our night-time stop-over. Each morning we boarded a tag-along jet boat to explore villages, meet the people and stock up on Sepik art; masks, hand drums, shell jewellery, carved spirit figures and feather-trimmed headdresses.

Stephanie Michaels, America's famous Adventure Girl, hard at work on the Sepik

Speeding away from the mother boat each morning; engine full throttle, hair flying in the wind and a frothy spray jetting skywards on each side of the boat was a deliciously cool way to travel. Approaching villages, or at sight of a Papuan paddling a dugout, the jet boat slowed to a crawl. This was to be a trip of a lifetime and we six, strangers to start, were to form a close and friendly bond that continues still.

Watching him, watching us

I will continue to post blogs about this amazing destination, so if you're interested in hearing about the world's last frontier please return again and again.



Photographs copyright Anne Gordon



Posted by Anne Gordon on Sunday, 6th November, 2011