Madang

The wharf is located in the center of Madang. There will be large crowds watching your ship come in, as cruise ships are few and far between in this port.

No tourist facilities at the pier. Some vendors around to sell their often unusual wares. The wharf is located just 500m from the Madang Resort and Kalibobo Village Resort.

Printable map to take along.

Colorful Madang township has been called the "prettiest town in the South Pacific". Its peninsula setting is a show-place of parks, waterways, luxuriant shade trees and sparkling tropical islands. Although small, the town has modern urban facilities, including hotels, department stores, markets and artefacts shops. The town nowadays looks somewhat faded, with litter and roads in bad repair.

The people of Madang can be broken into four distinct groups - islanders, coastal people, river people and mountain people. These groups are similar in appearance except for the smaller Simbai mountain tribesmen from the foothills.

The area is world famous for its coral reefs and good visibility making diving good all the year round. There is a variety of easily accessible places to dive, including land based dive sites, an abundance of reef and pelagic fish, dramatic drop offs, shells and soft and hard corals.

Those who like diving on wrecks will find the area dotted with sunken ships and aircraft. Diving instruction is available from most of the hotels in Madang.

Game fishing is a popular sport and the coastal currents around Madang carry sailfish, kingfish, tuna, mackerel, barracuda, marlin, yellow fin and wahoo within 100 meters of the shore providing anglers with plenty of good sport. Fishing is especially good off the waters around Karkar and Bagabag Islands.

Two volcanic islands offshore from Bogia have volcanic cones rising 1,800 meters above sea level which provide a spectacular sight for visitors, and the South East Coast road which leads to Balek Wildlife Sanctuary has strange fish-filled sulphurous caves, jungle walks and hot springs.

Madang hosts the Mabarosa Festival each year, a colorful display of dancing, sing sings and bamboo bands.

Papua New Guinea is a strange place when it comes to travel. The tropical conditions, fierce geography, and lack of government capacity means there are very few paved roads in the country. With the exception of a brief span of road connecting it to the immediate hinterland, there are no major roads linking Port Moresby to any other city. On the north coast, a tenuous highway theoretically runs from Madang to Wewak.

The cruise lines generally suggest that passengers stick with organized shore excursions. Often in not so comfortable vehicles.

Tours can be arranged to visit the nearby villages of Bilbil and Yabob to see traditional clay pots being made or you can explore Madang harbor with a morning harbor cruise. The south Coast road leads to the Balek Wildlife Sanctuary, which has strange fish-filled sulphurous caves, jungle walks, and hot springs. The Sanctuary was also location for filming scenes into he Pierce Brosnan movie "Robinson Crusoe".

A variety of local markets sell artefacts, shell jewelry, cavings and pottery. The main streets, of which there are around 4, are composed of supermarkets or large stores. People from the outlying islands come in to shop and take their goods back.

kina (PGK)

Official languages English, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu

There is an internet cafe at Madang Resort, which costs one kina per minute. Often this stunning hotel is included in shore excurions. The gated resort is often the setting for shore excursions featuring a musical and dancing pageant with dozens of participants in traditional dress.