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Hey 👋

Apparently many people said Papua New Guinea is dangerous? I don’t know but it was quite an interesting experience for me to get to Papua New Guinea even if it was a short trip.

But today let me share my experience crossing the border of Papua New Guinea through the land in case you wanted to check out this unique and exotic oceanian country through the land border.

So, I saw there’s one pin from Hive account@detlev’s post here Papua New Guinea - Loloata island and diving
from port moresby and this time, let me add another pin from the land border crossing, that you don’t even need a passport to cross actually, it’s almost optional but obviously with terms and conditions.

How to cross through the land border from Papua to Papua New Guinea

There are two options that you can do to visit PNG depending on the duration of your visit.

The first option if you want to explore PNG for a long time or you want a stamp on your passport. You can pay around 50 Euro to apply for the e-visa online and wait for about 5 working days. As an Indonesian, you can go to the embassy which is located in Jayapura, Papua to inquire about it.

The second option is to just drive or ride a motorbike from Jayapura to Skouw, the border area between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Skouw area is heavily guarded and to enter the land crossing you have to leave your identification at the post. There are about 4 check points that you can do. Most people only stop at the picture below, just outside the immigration area.

But here’s the catch, you can simply go straight and ask around how to cross the border. The staff there will help you cross the border through the “traditional” way without a visa or a passport.

This traditional way is to accommodate people around the border who constantly visit each other. Each of the people around these areas have a card that allows them to travel freely in between two regions.

Once we reached just in front of the immigration, if you ask around how to get to the other side, an officer will escort the group from the Indonesian part to the neutral zone and eventually the Papua New Guinea area called Musu. It’s free of charge and you have about an hour to walk around the area.

This is the neutral zone between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea

We don’t really go through like an official immigration, we’re simply going through the backdoor 🤣 and that’s why, we don’t need passport or visa, simply leave some of our ID and that’s about it.

This officer will be in charge as a tour guide around the area and we happen to meet this officer from Java. So, it was very easy to talk to him and ask around about the customs, stories around the borders too.

Stock up on some Kina before going to the other side !

Best time to visit the border and why….

Tuesday is the best time to visit the border between PNG and Indonesia. There will be many people from PNG coming to the Indonesian side to shop at a place called “skouw” market. You will see how lively the place is and people speak in English all around.

When I was still outside the border at the Indonesian side, I met these three lovely and beautiful ladies from PNG who tried taking pictures in front of the Papua sign. I guess to them it was like a trip too. I offered help and eventually, asked to take pictures with them too.

We get a lot of Hello’s from PNG people and I was really confused that I thought they speak different languages. But it beats me. Once I reached the PNG side, it was a lot different from Papua. The people look different and at the same time, their means of transportation was one of a kind. They use land cruisers to travel from Musu to Vanimo or other regions nearby Musu.

PNG view point

When you cross the border, you’ll be taken to the PNG view point where you can see the coastal region of PNG from above the hills. It takes about 5 minutes to walk after the immigration to the view point area.

Lamb sausages, a must try!

One of the most unique and sought after around the border is this sausage. It costs 20.000idr or around 5 kina for the sausage. It’s one of the most delicious sausages I have ever tried!

It’s full of meat, fat and all the good stuff. Though, after eating that sausage, I fell ill 🤣 and I guess I am being a bit too experimental. And it wasn’t for me. But everyone in Jayapura knows, PNG is famous for its lamb sausages.

The picture above is taken through the PNG side when our group went back to the border area.

Not that I’ve been to South Korea or North Korea but this area gives me a vibe of that difference. We don’t really call them DMZ but a neutral zone. Since I went during the market day, I saw a lot of people from PNG (Papua New Guinea) buying mats,phones and all sorts of things from Skouw market. However, when you go back to Indonesia, you need to be screened and everything that you have goes through the detector.

This is why I haven’t been online for quite some days cause after that trip, I fell ill and not that it was a long trip, I guess there was something wrong with the sausage haha.

Would I love to go back to PNG at some point? Honestly, yes and I even want to check around with a passport and visa next time. PNG isn't part of South East Asia and getting their stamp would be something. Actually at the time, I brought passport with me but we still need Visa. Had we not need one, I'd insist on actually go through the immigration, the legal way 😂

Visiting PNG is quite one in a lifetime experience. This is the eastern most part of the country and pretty interesting to know that it felt like just another world once we crossed the border.

See you around while I am catching up with things.

Anyhow, see you in my next Eastbound Journey or you can read some of it here :

By the way, this was one of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on this year regarding to Hive awareness in Indonesian (Sept–Feb 2024–2025). You can learn how I managed it here :

Collection Of Indonesian Hive Awareness Project Data, Impact, and Key Learnings SEPT-FEB 2024-2025


	𝘊𝘦𝘮𝘺 (𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘤) 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳, 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺; 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴.

Papua New Guinea The Most Unique Border I’ve Ever Crossed And No Passport Needed!