This is probably the most commonly asked question by potential visitors. It is always tempting to ask in return the question, “What is safety?” and “Where exactly can you find it?”
That said, it is an understandable question and we do our best to answer it.
The PNG Highlands is traditionally known for its violence – particularly tribal fighting, and visitors to Kompiam will see evidence of this regularly. Much of our hospital work is on trauma victims. Axe and machete wounds are common.
However the general maxim is that the more remote one goes in PNG, the more the violence is planned and targeted, as opposed to random, opportunistic, raskol type behaviour. Most violence in rural PNG is tribal in context, and those who are outside of the clans involved are merely spectators to what is going on.
There are more issues in some of the larger towns of PNG, and we don’t advise people to walk alone around without advice from locals in places like Lae and Pt Moresby. Care should be taken in Mt Hagen, although petty theft is the main risk to outsiders there.
In Kompiam the picture is quite different. People are free to walk around the station and to go for walks around the surrounding villages. The community welcomes and appreciates people who are coming to help them. Nearly universally visitors are pleasantly surprised to find how overhyped the stories of “PNG danger” are.
This brings us to the troublesome question of Travel Advisories. We find these generally to be very frustrating. Clearly the Australian Government has to give some sort of advice, but the tool is very crude, and unhappily very uninformed in our experience, particularly as regards the highlands and Enga in particular. Our suggestion is that local knowledge is your best guide.