The highlands are home to a huge variety of tribes including the Melpa people, an industrious community, first “discovered” in the mid-1930s by gold prospectors. The Melpa are said by anthropologists, to be “predisposed to capitalism,” because of their complex traditional society in which “big men” earn status by accruing wealth and then giving it all away in ceremonial exchanges.nThe Sepik River flows for over 1,000 kilometres, from the rugged interior to the Bismarck Sea and is a remote area of jungle fringed waterways, rich in culture and birdlife. The traditional mode of transport is the pole dugout canoe and village life continues largely unchanged. Experience sing sings, customary welcome dances performed by local tribes and witness some of their traditional crafts including wood carved totems and drums. This region is also famous for the crocodile initiation ceremonies during which young tribal men are scarified to resemble crocodiles.nThe coast of Tufi’s peninsula, or Cape Nelson as it was named by the British, is a place where sea and mountains meet. A paradise accessed only by boat or air. Gnarled green fingers stretch out into the sea creating fjords or technically rias, created from unglaciated river valleys. These inlets give the region a very particular fingerprint of turquoise coral bays, surrounded by steep ridges covered in rainforest and kunai grasslands.n