Hey ๐
Apparently many people said Papua New Guinea is dangerous? I donโt 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 thereโs one pin from @detlevโs 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 donโt even need a passport to cross actually, itโs 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 hereโs 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 โtraditionalโ 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. Itโs 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 donโt really go through like an official immigration, weโre simply going through the backdoor ๐คฃ and thatโs why, we donโt need passport or visa, simply leave some of our ID and thatโs 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 whyโฆ.
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 โskouwโ 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 Helloโs 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, youโll 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. Itโs one of the most delicious sausages I have ever tried!
Itโs full of meat, fat and all the good stuff. Though, after eating that sausage, I fell ill ๐คฃ and I guess I am being a bit too experimental. And it wasnโt 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 Iโve been to South Korea or North Korea but this area gives me a vibe of that difference. We donโt 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 havenโt 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 ๐
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 :
- Eastbound | Flavors of Papua
- Eastbound | Bosnik Beach & TETE Diving Point Biak Numfor
- Eastbound | Leaving Jayapura for Diverโs Paradise, Biak Island
By the way, this was one of the most meaningful projects Iโve worked on this year regarding to Hive awareness in Indonesian (SeptโFeb 2024โ2025). You can learn how I managed it here :
 | ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐บ (๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ค) ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ผ๐๐พ๐บ๐๐๐๐พ ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐บ๐
๐๐๐ & ๐ค๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ถ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ต, ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ต๐ฉ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ, ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ; ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ธ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ ๐ข ๐ค๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด. |
Border areas have a special charm. The mix of customs from both sides, as well as the business opportunities for nearby residents, make them attractive destinations in their own right. Add to that the welcoming people you met, the delicious food (those sausages are calling my name, ha ha ha), and the idyllic landscapes like the coastline you enjoyed from the viewpoint, and the result can only be a worthwhile adventure. Thank you for showing us this picturesque corner of the world.
I have picked this post on behalf of the @OurPick project! Check out our Reading Suggestions posts!
Please consider voting for our Liotes HIVE Witness. Thank you!
Your reply is upvoted by @topcomment; a manual curation service that rewards meaningful and engaging comments.
More Info - Support us! - Reports - Discord Channel
Hello @palomap3 sorry for the late reply, been quite a busy week for me. The sausage was so rich that made me feel a bit sick. I think I wouldn't eat that anymore ๐คฃ
It's been quite an adventure for me and now I am about to go back to Java, where our office is located. But I am very grateful of the experience I had around here. It was quite an eye-opening and I'd want to go back there at some point again.
I literally searched how far Indonesia is from Papua New Guinea ๐. It seems like a part of your country shares the same island with PNG. In the Philippines, we also have a backdoor if they want to travel from Malaysia or to your country. However, thatโs considered illegal compared to how you managed to travel without a visa or going through immigration. In our country, some Filipinos use these illegal ways to travel for work. They do it since they need to earn money from the other country. However, others use it for other illegal stuff like human trafficking or a way to escape from a warrant of arrest. Hayst, what a poor country to live in ๐ฅ.
Around this border especially, that necessary wasn't the problem. People here typically just cross the border to find cheaper goods especially from the Indonesian side.
It's definitely saddening that people try to escape through that way. Over this border, the PNG actually has a better salary than the Papuan side.So, I don't think they would want to work in Indonesia๐
You can check out this post and your own profile on the map. Be part of the Worldmappin Community and join our Discord Channel to get in touch with other travelers, ask questions or just be updated on our latest features.
Most countries have this option for crossing the border, but it is somewhat dangerous and not recommended in the case of Venezuela, which is next to Colombia. We also have unauthorized border crossings when the borders are closed for political reasons. However, your experience traveling from Papua to Papua New Guinea was wonderful. I really liked the food stalls that sell lamb sausages, which we can't get on this side of the world.
Land border is especially interesting crossing and typically is a lot less stricter than airports and lots of crime happening around the area too.
Hiya, @lauramica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2756.
Your post has been manually curated by the @worldmappin team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
This is such an exotic place. Did you have any trouble communicating because of language differences?
They speak English ๐คฃ and that was something even I was surprised of
English? Wow. To us in Canada, this country sounds like a mysterious and remote place. So that's hilarious that English is so widespread.
hahahaha yeah, this is the real exotic country I'd say. People would classify it as dangerous too but when I was there, they're not entirely wrong espeicially if you're female. I wouldn't recommend traveling solo as female there and without guides or security around ๐
It sounds like it was quite the experience. It's definitely adventurous.
Interesting location! The skies are so blue - love it!