---
type: Country
title: Papua New Guinea
description: The world's most linguistically diverse country, from the highland tribes to the capital — betel nut, kinship as address, tough logistics, and a dangerous reputation Harry tests in one and confirms in part.
tags: [papua-new-guinea, oceania, tribes, port-moresby, safety, betel-nut, bougainville]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T19:30:00Z
---

# Papua New Guinea

Harry travelled the highlands in 2025 — [Mount Hagen](/places/mount-hagen.md)
and three tribal communities — with friends and a guide arranged through
Young Pioneer Tours.

## Observations

### From [I Joined a Tribe in Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬](/videos/0mXtduJ1nuI.md)

- **Diversity**: over 700 tribes and 850 languages — the most culturally and
  linguistically diverse country in the world, a product of mountainous
  terrain and no long-ruling empire. Tok Pisin, an English-based creole, is
  the shared language.
- **Betel nut culture**: chewed daily nationwide and the default gift; the
  full ritual mixes the nut with slaked lime and a "mustard" plant, turning
  the mouth red. About 1 kina per nut; heavy chewers get through 15–20 a
  day.
- **Tribal life**: ceremonial dress and dances are reserved for weddings,
  celebrations, and (increasingly) performances, but elders actively
  preserve traditions like bride price. Tribes differ completely from one
  valley to the next — bird spirit guardians, skeleton dancers, insect
  hunters. Spirit beliefs coexist with missionary-brought Christianity.
- **History**: shell money circulated until the Australian administration
  introduced currency roughly 40 years ago (from video – unverified);
  cannibalism and the killing of the first missionaries are acknowledged as
  the distant past, from when locals had never seen white skin.
- **Safety and logistics**: markets are safe by day, risky at night;
  planning independently is hard — Harry recommends a tour operator
  (see [travel with a local guide](/tips/travel-with-a-local-guide.md)).
  Some tribal visits come with hired armed protection. No road connects the
  highlands to Port Moresby: it's a day bus to Lae plus a ferry, or a
  flight.
- **Tourism**: so few visitors come that the cultural experiences remain
  strikingly authentic — Harry believed he was the first long-form creator
  to film the bird spirit tribe.
- **Money and costs**: eggs 1 kina, live chickens ~35–40 kina (about
  £7/$10), betel nut 1 kina per nut.

### From [How Dangerous is Papua New Guinea Really? 🇵🇬](/videos/ragi6vg7LWw.md)

The capital rather than the highlands, and the country's reputation taken head
on. The detail is on the [Port Moresby](/places/port-moresby.md) page; what
belongs here is the country-level part.

- **The theory the video tests**: that the violence is tribal — directed at other
  tribes over specific grievances — and that a foreigner is not a target. A
  passenger states the same rule back to him unprompted: seeing a rival tribe in
  the city starts nothing by itself; theft or an insult does.
- **The exception he does not argue with.** He states on camera that 50% of women
  in the country have been raped and that 65% of men have admitted to gang rape
  *(from video – unverified — no source is given)*, and says women should not
  come. It is the one point where his answer to the title is that the reputation
  is deserved.
- **Reciprocity is the social rule**, not a courtesy: if someone helps you or
  takes you somewhere, giving nothing back is rude. Cigarettes and betel nut are
  the currency — see [bring gifts for hosts](/tips/bring-gifts-for-hosts.md).
- **Kinship terms are used with strangers** — mother, father, brother, sister, by
  age rather than by relation.
- **Five to seven languages per person** is ordinary, and the reason given is
  marrying into different villages.
- **Diet**: a stated preference for ground food — bananas, coconut, sweet potato —
  over rice and noodles, which people say leave them unsatisfied.
- **History as Harry gives it**, and he hedges it heavily himself: *Papua* from a
  word for frizzy hair, *New Guinea* from an explorer who thought the people
  resembled those of Guinea in Africa; British and German halves; Australian
  administration; independence 1975 *(from video – unverified)*.
- **Wages**: figures that contradict each other in the same conversation — 350
  kina a month, foreign employers at 2.50 an hour, sometimes 50 toea *(from video
  – unverified)*.

### From [I Visited the World's Newest Country (Coming Soon: Bougainville)](/videos/YrniA84e1ik.md)

The autonomous region of [Bougainville](/places/bougainville.md), which has its
own page — what belongs here is what the trip says about the country it is still
part of.

- **Papua New Guinea is one of the most expensive countries Harry has
  travelled**, and he says so repeatedly: hotel and taxi prices comparable to the
  UK. His explanation is the absence of tourism infrastructure rather than tourist
  pricing — everyone pays the same, there is simply no supply — and he asks on
  camera where the money actually goes.
- **The country stands to lose a resource-rich province.** Bougainville voted 98%
  for independence in 2019, and the sticking point is that the result must be
  ratified by a majority in the PNG parliament. Harry's reading is that the copper
  and gold are why that vote has not happened.
- **Bougainvilleans do not describe themselves as Papua New Guinean.** Everyone
  Harry asks says Bougainvillean, and several volunteer that they don't like the
  mainland government.
- **Betel nut and machetes are national, not regional** — the same chewing culture
  as the highlands, and the same explanation for the machetes everyone carries:
  inter-tribal disputes, not foreigners.
- **English is universal**, and Tok Pisin is the everyday register — Harry gets a
  reaction all day from one phrase of it.
- **Roads and transport**: dirt roads, old Toyotas, and shared vehicles that leave
  only when every seat has been sold, so the alternative to waiting is hiring the
  whole vehicle.