I really don't know how to plan a not very expensive week in PNG, because I thought it was really expensive. Here's my recommendation anyway:
(copying a reply I sent to another thread)
I warmly recommend the guide Johannes Teven for the Sepik River
He also happens to be an excellent cook and has the most wonderful positive outlook on things.
You can call or text him at +675-73637760.
No e-mail. Might take a few days before he answers.
Tell him you got his number from tourists he took around in August and that he take you to all his favourite villages and guesthouses.
Unfortunately we had booked our trip through another guide - who turned out to be really really awful in many different ways - who had contracted Johannes (who is amazing).
The other guide had decided on guesthouses which belonged to a friend of his and were in mosquitoe-infested villages next to swamps.
Johannes can arrange everything (transport from Wewak to the river and canoe - insist on a motorized canoe, not a regular boat - to various villages).
(and to avoid the swamp-infested mosquito-infested places).
Johannes made a very positive and professional impression on us.
The cost - including transportation, accommodation, food, village visits & fees, 2 litres of water per day etc - was 500 PGK per day. However, prices can go up quickly in PNG (which is sooo expensive) so don't be worried if the price quoted is higher. Make a contract.
One village to stay in is Wombun. Supercute, nice market, really friendly people, lovely guesthouse.
I think Palimbai was the most awful guesthouse (isolated from the rest of the village by the swamp = nowhere to walk). Kanganamon is a nice village across the river, a lot of mosquitoes (but less than Palimbai) but at least much nicer and cleaner and possible to walk around.
Wagu village with rainforest, birds of paradise and view over the water.
http://www.wagurainforest.com/your-trip
Avoid staying in Ambunti. Between Ambunti & Wagu there's a large village with a newly built Haus Tambaran and a church which had been torn down due to termites. They had lovely guesthouses. Would have loved to stay there. Hope this helps. :)
Oh, there's a crocodile festival in Ambunti in early August (dates determined a few months before). Try to go then, if you can.
