Rabaul and Kokopo

Welcome to East New Britain
Hotel – Twinshare accomodation at the Gazelle International or Kokopo Beach Bungalows
INCLUDED ACTIVITIES: Transfer to hotel and tour briefing
Meals Included – Dinner
Itinerary
Welcome to Rabaul !!

Your local tour leader will arrange for your complimentary airport shuttle from Tokua Airport to your hotel.
Check into your hotel and meet in the foyer at 630 pm for your tour briefing, which will be held at a suitable location within the hotel grounds. Make sure you have your insurance details ready for collection by your guide this evening. After dinner, settle into the hotel for the evening.

Firedance Festival
Hotel – Twin-share accommodation at the Gazelle International or Kokopo Beach Bungalows
INCLUDED ACTIVITIES: Firedance festival Village
Meals Included – B / L / DMeals Included – B / L / D

Today we head up to the mountains of the Gazelle Peninsula where we will spend the next two days at the Firedance Festival. As we near the Village Show Grounds, we will witness a traditional Melanesian welcoming ceremony. It is common within a Melanesian culture that a host welcomes guests into the village; it shows the rest of the villagers that these are welcomed strangers. There are no hostilities between the village and the visitors.

Once at the showground, you are encouraged to walk around and enjoy the interaction with the local villagers. Stay near your guide, who will be explaining every dance that performs throughout the today.

We ask you to observe the cultural rules and laws when it comes to certain dance groups. Your guide will also inform you of the do’s and do not’s when it comes to conducting yourself around the performers.

Today’s performances are from the Bainings region. Over 25 different masks will perform culminating in the Linganga the famous Firedancers. Each performance has a significance to the final spectacle, which is the Linganga. Your South Sea Horizons tour guide will explain this to you as the performers emerge to perform.

This evening will culminate in the Firedance which will be performed shortly after sundown

Firedance Festival
Hotel – Twin-share accommodation at the Gazelle International or Kokopo Beach Bungalows
INCLUDED ACTIVITIES: Firedance festival Village
Meals Included – B / L / D

Duke of York Island
This evening we are guest of the Island
INCLUDED ACTIVITIES: Island Tour, Village guest homestay
Meals Included – B / L / D
Each island around East New Britain has its own personality, its own story and its own set of traditions. The Duke of York Islands is the place to really explore and experience the real PNG. We will cruise around the islands and hear some of the histories whilst taking in the wonderful array of colours and vibrancy of this small archipelago. On our voyage watch out for dolphins, the fanciful dugong and local fishing canoes.
The waters around here are crystal clear, azure blue lagoons with white sandy beaches and lush green vegetation, paradise in its truest form!
On the Island, we will be hosted by the village and learn more about traditional weaving, cooking and fishing. Your leader will arrange for an island tour.
It is advised to wear some comfortable water shoes such, as crocs are sandals.
After our tours relax and unwind and forget about the world for the evening and enjoy the hospitality of the Local Duke of York Islanders.

This includes a traditional sing sing and overnight stay in the village.

This evening’s hotel – Gazelle International Hotel

INCLUDED ACTIVITIES: Island Swim , Island village experience
Meals Included – B / L/ D
Wake up early to take in sites of the island life. Take a quiet stroll around the village again and interact with the locals.
After an early breakfast your guide will give you a brief on what to expect today before we depart the Duke of York Islands. Your guide will choose a reef that would be best suited for snorkeling according to the days weather conditions.
The Boat Skipper will also take in considerations the weather when determining when you will be departing the island. We will then Check into the hotel and rest for the afternoon.