Things to Do in Port Moresby in December

Port Moresby's landmarks sprawl across a hilly, spread-out city. Do not attempt independent navigation. A guided vehicle tour connects the dots. Parliament Haus stands out, that striking brutalist building whose facade carries Sepik spirit-house motifs in ochre, black, and white. The National Museum and Art Gallery holds Melanesian war shields and highland kundu drums. Rooms carry the musty, cedar-tinged scent of aged wood and earth pigment. Bomana War Cemetery holds 3,824 rows of white headstones beneath frangipani trees. Blossoms drop silently onto the grass. December mornings tend toward clear skies and sharp light, good for photographs. Low visitor numbers let your guide take time at each site. Humidity turns oppressive by mid-morning. Your shirt will cling to your back within minutes of leaving any air-conditioned vehicle. An early start, around 7 or 8 AM, is not a suggestion. It is a strategy.

Roughly 42 km (26 miles) east of central Port Moresby along the climbing curves of Sogeri Road, Varirata National Park sits at about 800 m (2,625 ft) elevation. High enough that suffocating lowland humidity loosens. The air feels almost pleasant against your skin. December's early rains bring the forest canopy alive with dripping epiphytes, blooming orchids, and the rich, earthy smell of wet leaf litter underfoot. This is one of the most reliable places near Port Moresby to spot the Raggiana bird of paradise, Papua New Guinea's national bird, performing its breeding display. Crimson plumes fan wide. Body vibrates on a branch. The call, a harsh nasal squawk cutting through softer chatter of parrots and honeyeaters, carries through the trees. Walking trails range from flat boardwalk loops to steeper ridge tracks opening onto views of the Coral Sea, milky blue below the cloud line. Go before noon. By 1 PM, clouds typically thicken. Thunder rolls across the valley. The road back can get slick in places after a heavy dump.

The Port Moresby Nature Park sits inside the University of Papua New Guinea campus at Waigani. This compact sanctuary offers the most accessible place in the country to see birds of paradise up close. Not a photograph on a screen. A living Raggiana three metres from your face, shaking implausible plumage while it screams. The park keeps tree kangaroos with their soft, bewildered eyes. Cassowaries stare at you with the unsettling intensity of something that remembers being a dinosaur. Saltwater crocodiles rest in shaded enclosures beneath towering rain trees. In December, the air inside the park is thick and greenhouse-humid, sweet with the smell of decomposing leaf litter and frangipani. The overhead canopy provides shade that the open city does not. This makes it a strong fallback when afternoon storms cancel outdoor plans. The park stays open through light rain. The birds of paradise tend to be most vocal at dawn and in the early morning. You will hear them before you see them.

The Coral Sea coast off Port Moresby holds reef systems that most visitors do not expect. December's warm sea temperatures hover near 29°C (84°F). This makes time in the water comfortable without any neoprene. Bootless Bay, a marine-protected area southeast of the city accessible by boat, sits over hard coral gardens. Anemone fish dart between staghorn branches. Barracuda patrol the drop-offs. The occasional reef shark glides through the deeper blue. Visibility depends on recent rainfall. After a heavy afternoon storm, runoff clouds the nearshore. By the following morning the water often clears to 15-20 m (50-65 ft) over the outer reef. The surface is glassiest before 10 AM. The equatorial light penetrates deepest then. The colours on the reef look almost artificial in their intensity. December weather makes afternoon trips unreliable. Mornings are not just preferable but close to essential. The boat ride out is short. The salt breeze off the water is the closest you will come to relief from the lowland heat.

The Kokoda Track is, for many travelers, the reason Port Moresby appears on their map at all. This 96 km (60 mile) trail crosses the Owen Stanley Range. It traces one of the most brutal infantry campaigns of the Pacific War. Honestly, December is not the ideal month. The clay trail becomes a deep-red channel of mud that grabs at your boots with every step. River crossings that were ankle-deep in September can rise to chest height. The humidity under the jungle canopy is total. Your clothes will not dry for days. The smell of wet fabric, sweat, and forest floor becomes your constant companion. That said, some experienced operators do run treks in early December before the heaviest rains of January. The memorial sites along the route are as powerful in the dripping silence of a wet forest as they are under clear skies. Brigade Hill. Isurava. The four-pillar monument inscribed with courage, endurance, mateship, and sacrifice. If you are fit enough for 8-10 hours of steep, slippery hiking per day in extreme humidity, and if you understand the risks, the early December window is possible. If there is any doubt about your conditioning, wait for the dry season.