Southern Highlands Province

Introducing Southern Highlands Province

Southern Highlands Province is made up of lush, high valleys between towering limestone peaks. This region is particularly beautiful and traditional cultures thrive, especially in the Tari Basin where many people retain their traditional ways and whose men are famous for their intricately decorated wigs. The headwaters of some mighty rivers, including the Kikori, Erave and Strickland, cross the province and Mt Giluwe (4368m), the second-highestmountain in PNG, sits on the province’s northeastern border.

The most remote province of the Highlands, the Southern Highlands is still relatively undeveloped, although the establishment of oilfields near Lake Kutubu and an alluvial gold mine at Mt Kare are rapidly opening up the region.

In pre-European times the province was at the end of the trade route from the Gulf of Papua into the Highlands.

The Mendi area is the most developed region of the Southern Highlands (although Tari has more attractions and services for travellers), but it was not explored by Europeans until 1935. It was 1950 when the first airstrip was constructed and 1952 before tribal warfare was prohibited. The Mendi tribes then focused their attention on attacking government patrols and were still fighting them in the mid-1950s. The ‘discovery’ of the beautiful Lavani Valley in 1954 triggered newspaper journalists to write elaborate stories about the discovery of a lost Shangri-la.

The limestone hills and high rainfall are ideal for the formation of caves. Some caves of enormous depth and length have already been explored and it is a distinct possibility that some of the deepest caves in the world are still awaiting discovery in this region.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009