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Napatana's Village Stay Programme
Napatana Lodge has a network of village stay destinations and has put in a lot of work developing these for specialist experiences and each offers a unique taste of rainforest, reef and village contact. Napatana maintains contact with all and can advise you on how to get there.
Ulumani Treetops Lodge
A 20 minute trip across the Bay by dinghy will bring you to the beach at Wagawaga. This is a great place to spend a day. The sandy beach at Bisimaka Point is a great place to chill. The wreck of the wartime coal boat, MV Muscoota, is just off the coast and is excellent for diving or snorkeling and so accessible from the shore. It has become the habitat of a rich diversity of marine life and is well worth a visit. There is also reef that is for snorkeling. If you are interested in eels, a walk around to the other side of the cove brings you to the women’s washing pool where these eels live. Learn the legend of the underground serpent that fathered them.
Ulumani Treetops Lodge is nestled in the canopy overlooking the Bay. It is a really comfortable place to stay on several levels up the mountain at Wagawaga. Ulumani is excellent for birdwatching with professional guides and a birding guide book available. The main lodge has all mod cons, power, hot water, tv, music and most important of all is the wonderful veranda sitting on top of the canopy so you can enjoy a quiet sun-downer while you watch all the birds flying home to roost. Ulumani staff can organise a side trip along the Dawadawa River which meanders through virgin rainforest for several kilometers. There are also several exciting treks that can take you to the end of the mainland where a short ride on a dinghy will take you to the Samarai island group.
Saidowai Guest House
On Normanby Island in the D’Entrecasteaux group, Saidowai is a true village experience. It takes just under an hour from East Cape to get there. Set right on the beach in Saidowai Village, in Sewa Bay, this is the place to come for bird watching in Milne Bay. The guides are professionally trained and know where to find the birds, especially the endemic Goldie’s Bird of Paradise, the Curl Crested Manucode as well as other special birds such as the Papuan Boobook, The Claret Breasted Fruit Dove, Nicobar Pigeons and the White Eye. Orcas can be spotted here at Easter and this is the home to the giant pitcher plant as well as many other endemic plants. The sacred Mountain, Bwebweso, can be reached by traditional sailing boat and there is an excellent rest house at the water’s edge nearby for those who want to commune with nature in solitude. [View brochure]
Galahi Island Village Resort
Just twenty minutes away from Samarai Island, Galahi Island Village Resort offers the true island experience. You can join people and participate in their daily village activities of gardening, fishing, cooking as well as visit sites of local interest. These islands are in the Bwanbwana group, the first cluster of islands east of the Bay, leading out to the Engineers, the Conflicts and the Louisiades. Samarai is easily accessible by public transport from Alotau and takes about an hour and a half. [View brochure]
Village Bungalows around Alotau
Along the coast on the East Cape Road are a number of village bungalows built of traditional materials in villages along the coast. This is an excellent opportunity to try living in the village in your own house as a part of the village community.
The North Coast Experience
This is an interesting trek that can take as long as you like. Starting from Alotau, you take a truck across the ranges to the north coast and then jump on board a dinghy along the coast to Wedau, where the Cathedral dominates the plateau on top of knife edged mountains that plunge into the sea below. From here the walk begins along the coast through villages as the vegetation changes from lush rainforest to savannah as the climate becomes drier. The villages along the way are hospitable and well used to travellers as this is the main track along the north coast to Oro Province. The culture here is very different from that of the islands and the Bay and there is reef all along the way for snorkelling.
Boianai has a very old church and mission station all made from blocks of coral and is well worth a visit. Boga Boga village on Cape Vogel is a pretty place with powdery white beaches, excellent reef for snorkelling. Nearby highlights are Wabubu where the worship of the giant clam shell still survives. The lagoon here contains giant clams that are sacred. Dabora has deep caves to be explored. No one knows where the caves end but it is believed that they go in for several kilometres. From here you can catch the Star Ships passenger boat on a Sunday to Tufi to stay at the Tufi Dive Lodge, or the boat to Lae. From Boga Boga it is also a short dinghy ride to Goodenough Island, where you can climb to the peak of the mountain that has the tallest height to base area ratio in the world. Then you can trek back through the D’Entrecasteaux Islands taking in craters, hot springs and stunning scenery. You can end up staying at Sewa Bay before taking the dinghy back to East Cape and thence to Alotau.
There are other guest houses all over the province. Some are just being set up and expect to be ready within the next few months. The situation changes from month to month so it is important to check out the details properly before setting out.
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About Milne Bay
Terrestrial Tourism
