TUFI RESORT

Tufi Resort is one of the few destinations in Papua New Guinea to offer all year round diving.

The clear, calm and protected waters of the tropical fjords are perfect for macro and muck diving, such as the popular House Reef, which is only three minutes walk from the resort.

The nearest open water reef is just 15 minutes by boat. This diving paradise has over 40 major dive sites in the nearby tropical waters of the Solomon Sea, with many uncharted reefs waiting to be explored.
 

The stunning marine biodiversity makes this a unique reef system. Coral outcrops are so abundant with fish, that the saying “more fish than water” is a common phrase. Pelagic schools of tuna, Spanish mackerel, barracuda, white tip and black tip reef sharks, hammerheads and the rare white hammerheads, inhabit these exotic waters. Turtles, manta rays and eagle rays are also seen cruising by.

Tufi offers a wide variety of diving experiences. From diving the fiords to unchartered reefs and WW2 wrecks. Constant visibility of 30 metres plus and water temperatures of 26°C to 29°C all year round.
 

Dive the fjords, experience our unique macro world and check out the WW2 PT boat wrecks. Day or night, a wide variety of gobie, nudibranchs, mandarinfish, ghost pipefish, pygmy seahorses and a plethora of other fascinating creatures can be found. A wonderful array of sponge and shelf corals that line the walls of the tropical rainforest fjord, a truly different dive environment.

The outer reef experience is unsurpassed with a choice of dozens of world-class dive sites. Moor onto a few of our favourites, Cyclone Cay, Black Rocks, Stewarts Reef and Shark Tip.

Click here for more on the reefs.

Click here to read an article about Tufi diving

Dive the famous Dutch cargo ship the “S Jacob” or Blackjack – an intact B17 bomber – as specialty charter dives. Spectacular marine life in abundance: schooling barracuda and reef fish, hammerheads, reef sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, grouper and cruising palegic as well as soft and hard corals.

Click here for more on Tufi’s wrecks

The fjords are excellent for macro diving with gobies, nudibranch, shrimps and clams. These animals can be seen by diving, but conditions are also ideal for snorkelling.

Because there is very little current movement in the fjords, many sponges and coral species grow prolifically and there are some very large sponges and shelf corals that are not common on the outer reefs.

 

 

 

CULTURE

Papua New Guinea is the land of a million different journeys. Tufi explores many of these journeys and allows you to uncover culture and traditional ways that one thinks do not exist anymore. Tufi is a great location to combine with other cultural festivals taking part in the country to give you a mix of the different provinces and their cultural differences. Tufi’s cultural festival will enlighten you into the traditional Oro ways of food gathering and hunting, village life, spiritual beliefs and  will introduce you to their language "Karafe". 

Daily life for local villagers includes building their traditional homes and canoes from sago palms, traditional gardening and fishing and processing their food, making ropes for hunting pigs, fishing nets and processing various trees for tapa cloth, a traditional fabric.

There are different ways for guests to experience this culture fist hand, from half-day cultural tours to village stays, either staying in one village for a night or several nights (the choice is yours), or taking a boat up the fjord and walking a few hours to villages further inland every day, staying in a different village every night. Alternatively, embark on an outrigger safari around the coast, spending two to three hours on the water snorkelling at your leisure,  and then discovering a different culture every day. You can try your hand at traditional line fishing or lobster catching. Again, the choice of duration is yours - outrigger trips can be made from two to six days.

Click here for a sample itinerary
 

Nature trails are also possible, to find out more about the forest flora and fauna, and over 120 bird species have been listed in the vicinity of Tufi resort (e-mail us for the list). Tufi is surrounded by a wide range of diverse habitats including beachfront coastal, mangroves, lowland rainforest, hill rainforests, littoral forests, coconut groves, plantations and grasslands. All have their own unique flora and fauna, but of particular importance are the butterflies and birds.

Tufi is home to the world’s largest butterfly, the Queen Alexandra Bird Wing, that can have a wingspan of up to 28cm, and the males have a fantastic iridescent green and yellow colouring. The blue Ulysses butterfly and bright green Priam’s Birdwing are also common visitors to the grounds of the resort, attracted in by the variety of nectar bearing colourful plants, such as Hibiscus, Poinsettia and Frangipani.

The world’s largest grasshopper, longest stick insect and longest beetle also live in the Tufi area.

 

There is a stand of trees just above one of Tufi’s fjords where Birds Of Paradise display at dawn and at dusk each day. It is a fifteen minute boat ride from Tufi Resort to the sandy beaches at either Kaviana or Jebo village and then a forty five minute hike along a well-worn bush road to the hill village of Orotoaba, located immediately above the 150-metre high Jebo waterfall. An overnight tour to view the birds departs Tufi Resort immediately after lunch and returns at lunch-time the next day, with homestay accommodation in Orotoaba village.

Whilst the mammal fauna of Papua New Guinea can be somewhat secretive, there is the opportunity to occasionally see cuscuses, wallabies, echidnas and tree kangaroos, some of which are kept as pets in local villages.

The Goroka Show or Sing-Sing

On September 16 - 18, close to 100 tribes will gather at Goroka for a three-day celebration of their cultural diversity. Only a couple of hundred foreigners attended this spectacular and unique event last year. I was one of them, it was my first time, but will surely not be my last. It is a riot of colour, singing, dancing, and feathers.

 

 

Wandering through the field of performers, you are free to take pictures and try to chat with the different tribes (a Tok Pisin translator can be arranged). You can stay in the madly expensive Bird of Paradise hotel in town, or use the basic but clean and safe accommodation we have found right next to the showgrounds and save about 150 euros each per night.

 

See galleries below for many more images of the show.

How to get there:

You can go through Singapore (from £540 return) then take Air Niugini to Port Moresby (from £805 return), or via Brisbane (from £890 return) and take Airlines of PNG (from £530 return). There are also weekly connections via Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Honoraria, and Nadi.

Port Moresby - Tufi return: from £230 with APNG

Port Moresby - Goroka return: from £160 with Air Niugini

Port Moresby - Kavieng return: from £220 with Air Niugini

We can book your tickets with these two airline companies.

It is now possible to by "straight0through" tickets with KLM, Air France, and Emirates to Port Moresby, meaning your bags go all the way and you stay in transit rather than having to clear immigaration in Singapore or Brisbane, Tickets around £1400 from London.

Liveaboards

We can organise trips on the Star Dancer out of Milne Bay and the Febrina out of New Britain, either as a stand alone trip our as part of a complete itinerary. Trips are 7-12 days long, depending on the time of year. COntact us for more information on routes, dates, and availability.