Explore: Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea with Mahonia Na Dari
Our expedition to Papua New Guinea is based in beautiful West New Britain Province, and led by Terra Expeditionary Systems Director and Terra Ambassador John Holder, an Ocean Ambassador for Mission Blue/Sylvia Earle Alliance, and Chairman of the Texas Chapter of the Explorers Club.
We will explore the region in association with our NGO partner, Mahonia Na Dari, which translates to Guardian of the Sea in the local Bakovi language. This trip is open to high school age students traveling with parents or a guardian, or adults traveling without children. Participants will obtain a Certificate of Proficiency in Marine Conservation.
MND’s Marine Education Environmental Program (MEEP) supports conservation of the natural marine environments and biodiversity of Kimbe Bay, increasing environmental awareness and inspiring local action to protect reefs, waterways, turtle nesting areas, sea grass beds, mangrove areas and cultural sites. The program includes practical sessions covering a wide range of subjects including marine biology, conservation, scientific survey methods, coral reef ecology, ecosystem connectivity, land use and human impacts on the marine environment and threats including climate change and adaptation practices. In addition, for the last 20 years, Professor Geoff Jones and his lab group based at James Cook University (Australia) have collected one of the most significant long-term reef monitoring data sets in the region and have published some of the most important studies to date in the fields of marine ecology and conservation. For the last three days of the program, we will move to accommodations at the adjacent Walindi Plantation Resort where you can relax, scuba dive and further explore the remarkable Kimbe Bay region, including WWII history, thermal hot springs and volcanoes.
DATES
June 19 – 30, 2023
ESTIMATED COST
$4,000 – $4,500, not including air fare to PNG
GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPATION
This trip is open to high school age students traveling with parents or a guardian, or adults traveling without children.
Our trips are intimate, hands-on experiences, maxing out at 12 participants.
Trip Highlights
Upon Arrival in Port Morseby, the group will spend one night in the city then fly to Mahonia Na Dari (MND), an NGO based on the shores of Kimbe Bay, situated in the West New Britain Province (WNB) of Papua New Guinea. After settling into their bunk rooms at the MND facility, and getting a night’s sleep, participants engage in an intensive five-day Marine Environment Education Program (MEEP).
MEEP is a home-grown WNB PNG marine education initiative run by Mahonia Na Dari whose mission is “to understand and conserve the natural environment of Kimbe Bay and Papua New Guinea for the benefit of present and future generations.” Topics covered in the MEEP intensive include Environment, Biodiversity and Conservation, Shoreline Ecosystems, Marine Ecosystems, Mangrove Nursery, Mangrove Rehabilitation Project, Marine Vertebrates, Marine Invertebrates, Fish Biology, Coral Biology, Marine Interactions, Threats to Marine Environment, and Marine Conservation.
After finishing 32 hours of coursework, field expeditions, and hands-on learning, students graduate with a Certificate of Proficiency in Marine Conservation. Upon completion of MEEP, students will move to the adjacent Walindi Plantation for three days at the Walindi Resort. Opportunities during the three days at Walindi will include SCUBA (if certified) or snorkeling on the outer reefs, Garbuna volcano hike, village walk, Garu hot river tour and nature walks.
Itinerary
Day 1 – June 18
June 18, 2022 Depart USA
Day 2 – June 19
Flight Transfers
Day 3 – June 20
Arrive Port Moresby, Overnight and Recovery at The Crown
Day 4 – June 21
Fly to Hoskins, transfer to Mahonia Na Dari; Settle in at MND
Day 5 – June 22
MND: MEEP course
Day 6 – June 23
MND: MEEP course
Day 7 – June 24
MND: MEEP course
Day 8 – June 25
MND: MEEP course
Day 9 – June 26
MND: MEEP course
Day 10 – June 27
Walindi Plantation Resort (2 dive trip or snorkeling)
Day 11 – June 28
Walindi Plantation Resort (volcano hike)
Day 12 – June 29
Walindi Plantation Resort (half day hot river tour and village walk)
Day 13 – June 30
Depart for USA
Terms of Payment
Your non-refundable $500 deposit is due on or before January 15, 2022
Payment in full is due on or before May 10, 2022
Upon receipt of your deposit you will be contacted by a Terra representative to schedule a Zoom call. We will assist you in answering questions regarding the expedition, including insurance, medical, and visa requirements, as well as in finalizing room and additional activity reservations.
Note that a portion of your payment is tax deductible as a donation through Terra Conservation Initiative, a sponsored program of Ngaren Inc.
Cancellation Policy
Cancellation 31 days or more before the arrival date: deposit not refunded.
Cancellation 30 days or less before the start of services: 0% refunded. Can be rescheduled if COvid-related disruptions occur.
Malaria: Malaria exists in PNG; please consult your family doctor to get the best form of prophylaxis for you.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Placement of an order with Terra on the Givvor fundraising platform for this trip is taken as acceptance by the customer of these terms and conditions.
- INTRODUCTION
Please remember when reading through these terms and conditions that we would bend over backwards to try and solve any problems that could arise during your trip. We will do our utmost whenever necessary to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible, and 99 times out of 100 it does. Customers are asked to remember that things don’t always go quite to plan in Africa, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea as they do elsewhere.
- LIABILITY
The company takes no responsibility for loss, damage or injury arising from any shortfall, error or omission in the information passed to the customer during the sale or subsequent delivery of the product. The company takes no responsibility nor can be held liable for loss, damage, or injury that occurs on a supplier’s or service provider’s premises or transport, or between two such premises.
Some of the elements sold by us inherently have a risk factor involved for the customer (e.g. diving, safari, walking safaris, trekking, flying, mountain climbing etc.) and we take no responsibility for the consequences of the customer taking on such risks.
It is the responsibility of the client to check the correctness of the services invoiced.
- INSURANCE
Customers are required to provide for themselves all necessary insurances against personal injury, loss, medical evacuation, medical assistance, hospitalization, damage, theft, cancellation, delay etc.
All customers are responsible for ensuring that they have full insurance cover that includes rescue and hyperbaric recompression (if diving) from the moment that they first place their order and covering the whole period before, during and after travel.
We strongly suggest that you take out travel insurance to cover you in the event of inability to commence travel due to health reasons and medical insurance whilst abroad. This should be taken out in accordance with the terms and conditions of most travel insurance policies with cancellation and curtailment benefits.
- THE BOOKING PROCESS
To place a booking with the company, the client will make a non-refundable deposit of $500 through the GIVVOR platform.
In the case of a last-minute booking (less than 60 days in most cases but occasionally 90 depending on the service providers used) the booking must be paid for immediately.
- BOOKING AMENDMENTS
5.a Changes to a booking
Should you wish to make a change to your booking, then we may need to charge an amendment fee to cover additional administration costs. We will inform you of these before making any changes.
5.b If the changes involve the actual cancellation of any element of the booking, standard cancellation charges will apply. Changes which involve adding to an existing booking can usually be carried out without an amendment charge.
- CANCELLATION
We often use charter dive boats, small establishments that book up months in advance, or lodges within national parks that have to pay their park fees in advance. We work with a range of service providers in different countries and they often have different cancellation policies. We inform you of the cancellation policy applicable on your invoice and this is the one applicable. We will do our best to work with our suppliers and you to ensure that you can make a claim for a full refund from your insurance company.
- DENIED BOARDING
If your journey starts in the EU, you must work within the EU denied boarding law. Your airline must cooperate with you. You are however, still liable for the costs of your booked
safari/diving/hotels/tours/services etc. The company will make every effort to help re-arrange your journey, but you will NOT be entitled to any refund due to your non-appearance for any sector or sectors or services of your journey.
- TRANSFERS
The company is not liable for any knock-on effects arising from the failure of any one element of a sale, such as the non-departure of a boat or plane. Any cancellations arising thereof will be completely the responsibility of the customer. It remains the customer’s sole responsibility to arrive and depart and travel between all elements of a trip. The customer must check with local transport operators the exact times and schedules for transport. There are departures on which a failure can cause serious knock-on effects.
- INVOICING
Invoicing is in US Dollars. Once a booking is paid for, the price is guaranteed except in the case of surcharges.
- SURCHARGES
In some cases suppliers feel the need to pass on surcharges to us for exchange rate fluctuations, fuel price increases, extra government park fees, or changes to VAT regulations.
The company reserves the right to pass on to customers any increase imposed on us by our suppliers.
- IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier (hotel, safari company, dive center) immediately who will endeavor to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved, please contact us as soon as you can, and email or text message is generally the most efficient.
11.a You must communicate any complaint in resort to the supplier of the services in question. If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were on holiday. Most issues can be dealt with straight away.
11.b Usually we can act quickly to resolve any such problem satisfactorily. Claims arising from problems through which the customer has suffered in silence and not given the provider or ourselves the chance to rectify, only to issue a complaint well after the event, will not be entertained.
11.c Transport complaints.
It is not uncommon for the transport methods employed on our trips to run with delays, or to run below operational standards that would be regarded as normal in Western Europe or North America. We cannot accept any claim of any nature which relates to any failure of transport operators to conform either to timetables supplied by us or to their own timetables or arising from deviations from operational standards by transport operators whose services form part of our itineraries (whether original or amended).
11.d Post service complaints procedure
In dealing with an unresolved complaint post trip, you must contact us within seven days of the end of our service. Please bear in mind that when determining whether a refund is due, we will need to negotiate with the supplier in question after your return.
Please also note that placing negative feedback on the internet usually negates any power that we have to negotiate on your behalf.
- PASSPORT, VISA AND IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS
Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements.
ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
The placing of a deposit/booking with Terra for services implies that you accept these booking conditions.
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