Morning

• Breakfast at hotel
• Regroup with the members of the Mt. Hagen tour and begin onwards to Bougainville as we depart on our next flight to Buka.

Afternoon

• Once arriving at Buka Airport we’ll be greeted by our local Bougainville team and escorted to our accommodation at Exodus Guest House.
• Explore the village and visit a small business that produce traditional clay pots.
• Lunch at a local restaurant.
• Board our bus to Kubu to visit the parliament house and access a gorgeous viewpoint allowing us to observe the whole of Buka passage, a strait filled with shipwrecks of WWII.
• On our way back to Buka we will stop to explore the ruins of Japanese WWII bunkers in Hahela.
• Dinner and overnight at Exodus Guest House.

Thursday 20th August – Buka – Arawa

Morning

• Breakfast at hotel
• Depart by bus to a historical site located next to the police station in Buka Town. This site is known as the mass graveyard for the Bougainville Revolutionary Army during the Bougainville civil war. Our local guide will share facts of what happened during those troubled times.
• Board an iconic banana boat and cross the Buka passage to Kokopau.

Afternoon

• Jump in our 4WDs and embark on a 4-hour journey to Arawa with stops along the highway for photo opportunities and lunch.
• On arrival we check in at the Gold Dust Inn.
• Get ready to participate in the Tama Festival. Celebrated in Arawa, the festival centres around “tama,” a traditional local delicacy made from ingredients like cassava, banana, taro, and coconut milk, typically wrapped in fresh banana leaves and cooked over an open fire
• Dinner, drinks and overnight at Gold Dust Inn.

Friday 21st August – Arawa – Panguna Tour – Topinang Village

Morning

• Breakfast at hotel
• We head out to visit the decommissioned Panguna Mine – this mine used to be the largest open cut mine in the world with a total width of 2 kilometres and a depth of 430 metres. Farmers protested for the mines closure in 1989 which sparked the secessionist movement in Bougainville and the civil war. It’s common to see locals visiting the mine and panning for gold. Here you’ll explore the abandoned installations of this monstrous monument to careless exploitation.

Early Afternoon

• Drive back to participate in Tama Festival for one more day. It features a variety of activities, including tama-making competitions, traditional fire-making contests, cultural performances, kaku (canoe) carving. If we are lucky they might repeat the Miss AROB (Autonomous Region of Bougainville) competition.
• Lunch at festival.
• Visit Topinang village where villagers will welcome us to stay with them. They will show us their flower gardens as well as a living bridge made up of vines from a Ficus tree. The most intrepid of us will get to cross this bridge which goes over a mountain stream and takes us to pools and caves for us to explore.
• Back in the village of Topinang, we will see women weaving a traditional fan called Biruko and relax in the afternoon by the beach.
• The villagers will present us a personal ‘singsing’ and provide a night of storytelling.
• Dinner and overnight at a homestay in the village.

Saturday 22nd August – Arawa – Buin Region

Morning

• Breakfast at homestay.
• Begin the drive south towards the region of Buin.
• We begin our WWII relic hunting tour! Bougainville was at the centre of the Pacific Campaign and where the Australian and American forces were locked in a brutal fight against the Japanese. During our relic hunt, we’ll see an Australian tank, cannons, artillery and a small museum, where a local exposes the artefacts he finds regularly.
• On arrival take a tour through Buin as well as exploration of the beautiful Kangu beach and Kihili beach.

Afternoon

• Explore a few nearby villages where the locals receive very few tourists each year and are very eager to show off their performances and local welcoming rituals. In Muguai village we will also experience the traditional drum dance.
• The village prepares an absolute feast of local delicacies for us. Bougainvillians eat mostly yam, root vegetables and chicken. We might have the opportunity to try other very special delicacies.
• Overnight at Buin Inn.

Sunday 23rd August – Buin – Pokpok Island – Asio Bay

Morning

• Breakfast at hotel.
• We’ll take our 4WD as far as possible but eventually we’ll need to get out and explore by foot for roughly two hours until we reach the wreck of Admiral Yamamoto. Admiral Yamamoto was the leader of the Japanese Army who planned the attack against Pearl Harbor –  thus declaring war against the US. Yamamoto was flying to inspect his troops within a certain region of PNG. His flight itinerary was intercepted by the Allies and a surprise attack caused Yamamoto’s plane to crash into the remote jungle.
• Tour highlight – As part of the preparation of our Bougainville tour, YPT will prepare your visas to visit the micronation of the Twin Kingdom of Me’ekamui and Papaala. During the civil war of Bougainville, and after the takeover of Panguna Man, the leader of the rebellion group, Francis Ona, owned half of the island and proclaimed himself as King of Me’ekamui. However, on the other side of the island, another man known as King David Peii II proclaimed himself King of Papaala. Upon Francis Ona’s passing, King David Peii II then combined both kingdoms of the island into a Twin Kingdom.

Afternoon

• After successfully exploring Yamamoto’s wreck, we’ll continue our drive south towards the coast and to stop for lunch.
• Explore Japanese War Relics such as bunkers and artillery cannons. From here it’s possible to see the islands belonging to the Solomon Islands. It’s common for the locals to take their boats across to enter the Solomon Islands which share a similar culture with Bougainville. Most agree that Bougainvillians feel more like Solomon Islanders than Papua New Guineans.
• After visiting Kieta Memorial Park we return to Arawa, which used to be the capital and take a boat to cross to Pokpok Paradise Island, stopping on the road to buy some refreshments!
• After exploring the beautiful Pokpok island we continue Asio bay as part of our afternoon of island hopping.
• Here, we check into our accommodation for the night. We’ll be based on a pristine island with a crystal clear ocean, our surrounding being incredibly peaceful – what perfect way to relax.
• Fresh seafood for dinner, and our little own party on the island!
• Overnight at Asio Bay.

Monday 24th August – Asio Bay – Pidia – Arawa

Morning

• Breakfast at resort.
• Continue island hopping where we can swim, snorkel and fish in untouched waters.
• Board a banana boat and travel to a cliff over the sea called “Eberia”. “Eberia” literally translates as ‘’this way‟ in the local language and according to local folklore is rumoured to be the gateway to the Underworld. It is a truly unique and spooky sight. We’ll stop and explore the abandoned Arovo Island Resort. Its services were disrupted by the civil war.

Afternoon

• Continue by banana boat to Pidia village, if you are familiar with the movie ”Mr. Pip”, staring Hugh Laurie, which tells the story of a girl in Pidia village going through the events of the Bougainville civil war. It happened here!
• On our way back on the mainland, we’ll stop by a WWII memorial by the town of Kieta where a Japanese Zero plane and a Japanese tank are exposed.
• We stop by Arawa market to meet the locals and shop for souvenirs – most of this city was destroyed from the civil war.
• Overnight in Arawa.

Tuesday 25th August – Arawa – Buka – Port Moresby

• Extremely early start for the scenic drive back to Buka for our flight. This will again take us through some of the best sites on the island, so we will be making regular rest stops.
• Breakfast in Buka.
• Transfer to airport for the 12:35pm flight arriving at 1:05pm
• End of tour YPT able to help with Papua New Guinea tour extensions, or ongoing transportation.