The Eastern Highlands Province is a one hour flight north from Port Moresby or half an hour from Lae or Mt Hagen. Once there, you are surrounded by steep, rugged mountains covered in dense rainforest graduating to sub-alpine vegetation.
The valleys are blanketed in the grass and the panoramic views contain every imaginable shade of green. Altitude varies from 600 meters in the south to Mt Michael’s 2750 meter summit. Goroka, the largest town, and capital lies at 1600 meters above sea level.
The Sepik River has no actual river delta and stains the sea brown for up to 50 kilometers. It is said that islanders off the coast can draw fresh water straight from the sea. The Sepik River is navigable for almost its entire length and winding its way through the land it resembles a huge, brown, coiling serpent. The force of the river tears great chunks of mud and vegetation out of the river banks and at times these drift downstream and appear as floating islands.
