The Simbu Festival - Bordered by Madang to the north and the Gulf to the south, Simbu is the heart of the Highlands and home to the country’s highest mountain, Mount Wilhelm (4509 metres). For many visitors, the climb to the summit is a highlight of their stay, affording panoramic views over the Highlands.
Archaeologists believe that people lived in Nombe near Chuave 24,000 years ago. They have also found pig’s teeth in Chuave dated at 10,000 years. Pigs are still the main meat and are eaten at all ceremonial feasts. Pig killing was traditionally a great ceremony and is now re-enacted along with food exchanges, marriage and compensation ceremonies to encourage young people to value old traditions and to hold onto them. It is hoped that these events and the annual Simbu Women’s Show will be sufficiently attractive to draw more tourists into the Province. At present only 3% of the population are engaged in any form of the cash economy. Tourist revenue would be most welcome. There is plenty in Simbu to attract tourists. Both Simbu men and women are skilful at making artefacts, carvings and bilums. The crafts are sold along busy pathways or even taken into town and hawked from office to office. For daring and adventurous visitors, there is mountain climbing. Mt. Wilhelm has both a visitors cabin near the peak and a lodge. One guide book mentions the most delicious strawberries ever tasted, at the start of the walk. However, it is a very high mountain and should be treated with respect. It can get very cold, it often gets fog-bound and sometimes it even snows. Climbers can suffer from altitude sickness, sunburn and hypothermia all in one day. There are at least six other mountains with good walking trails, rich in flora and fauna. There are caves, rock shelters, rock paintings, burial sites, salt-making sites and an ancient stone axe quarry. What’s more, it has, reportedly, some of the most exciting white water rafting in PNG. The river Whagi goes through deep chasms, under small rope bridges over long stretches of rapids and past waterfalls. The northern half of Simbu is pretty well served with a dense road network reaching into just about every village in the area. The southern half has no form of the road network at all. The only way into some parts of Karimu is by plane. People there rely on the small airstrip for all their store goods, medical supplies and transport to the outside world. Road transport around Simbu is by any form of moving vehicle, from the back of an open pick-up truck to the occasional government vehicle. It is not uncommon to see people coming into town on big dump trucks. Simbu sits astride the Highlands highway, PNG’s central artery, between Goroka and Mt. Hagen.
NATURAL WONDERS:
- Nambaiyufa amphitheater (Cave Formation)
- Keu Caves (Cave Formation)
- Pindaunde Lakes and Mount Wilhelm
SING SING GROUPS
