Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is for the travellers who keep a mental list titled almost nobody I know has been there. Eight hundred languages. Highlands where sing-sing festivals erupt in feathers, shells and body paint that make carnival look understated. Villages reached by river boat or tiny plane, where guests are still rare enough to be an event. The wildlife matches the culture: birds of paradise performing dawn displays that seem computer-generated, reefs at Tufi and Kimbe Bay that divers rank among the best on the planet, and war wrecks slowly becoming coral gardens. This is expedition territory, planned carefully with the right local partners, and it asks a little flexibility of you. In return it hands you the rarest thing left in travel: genuine wonder.