Kokoda Enduro Trek

The average size of our groups in 2017 was 12 trekkers - groups are larger during school holiday periods.

The trek across Kokoda is the toughest physical challenge most people will encounter. 

The decision as to whether to carry your own backpack is important because it can mean the difference between enjoying the experience or suffering and having to withdraw from the trek.

Some trekkers in the past have stubbornly refused to engage a personal carrier because they want to do it like ‘the diggers did it!’

If this is your rationale we suggest you purchase a pair of hobnail leather boots, carry a canvas backpack with webbing pouches; travel with a half-blanket which you will willingly share with up to six other trekkers; borrow a rifle and ammunition; sleep outside your tent and leave your underwear and toiletries at the hotel in Port Moresby!

For those who are young, confident and physically fit it will not be a problem.  But for those who lead a sedentary lifestyle; who might be carrying an extra kilo or two; who might be harbouring some self-doubt about their ability to burden themselves with extra weight; or who do not maintain a daily regime of physical training it will be a struggle – you will find the track does not make concessions to anybody!  It is therefore important that you do an honest assessment of your physical capabilities.

If you are physically fit, are an experienced extreme conditions trekker, and have prepared yourself with a strenuous training program then you should be able to carry your own pack.  On the other hand if you have any doubts about your ability then you should consider engaging a personal carrier for yourself or sharing one with a mate. 

If you engage your own Personal Carrier prior to your trek we provide them with a trek uniform and purchase additional food and camping gear for them before we leave Port Moresby – there is none available along the track.

The cost of a Personal Carrier is between $660 - $790 per person, depending on the trek type/duration.  The cost will be displayed when completing the online Booking Form.

If you decide to engage one after you arrive an additional $150 surcharge will apply to cover the additional costs we have to incur as short notice.

From time to time we have trekkers who realise they cannot carry their backpack after the second or third day - we then have to try and recruit additional carriers along the trail. This is a difficult exercise in the middle of the Owen Stanley Ranges as we are not able to arrange for additional food, uniforms or camping gear for the additional carriers.  It’s also unfair as our PNG trek guides and carriers, who already work hard under extreme conditions, don’t appreciate having the size of their meals reduced whenever we have to engage additional personal carriers during the trek.

A Personal Carrier will carry your backpack and act as your ‘trek caddy’ for the duration of your trek – he will often catch you before you fall; will assist you over the most difficult sections of the trail; assist you with packing up and setting up and proudly introduce you to his family in his village.  

If you trek from Owers Corner to Kokoda via the wartime trail you follow the footsteps of our young Diggers as they advanced across the Owen Stanley Ranges to meet the Japanese 144th South Sea Islands Regiment.

If you trek from Kokoda to Owers Corner via the wartime trail you follow the route of the Australian withdrawal in the face of overwhelming Japanese odds back to the last line of defence on Imita Ridge.

There is no 'best' way to trek Kokoda. The experience is just as powerful in either direction (that is the opinion of Charlie Lynn who has trekked 62 times from Kokoda to Owers Corner and 38 times from Owers Corner to Kokoda).

The difference is the experience and knowledge of your trek leader.  If your trek leader has a detailed understanding of the history of the Kokoda campaign you will get maximum value from your trek.  If they don't you will be disappointed and will soon realise the savings you made from going 'cheap' are a false economy in more ways than one.

We provide a personal tent for each trekker. 

Our tents are fully screened and provide protection from malarial mosquitos, leeches, cockroaches, mice and other creepy-crawlies.

For personal protection, privacy, comfort and convenience our guides will set up your tent each night - pack it up the next morning - carry if to the next campsite and have it ready for you again.

Guesthouses in villages along the trail are built from local bush materials - they offer basic shelter from the elements but don't have any privacy or screened protection from malarial mosquitos, leeches, cockroaches, rats and mice, etc!

The increase in trekker numbers over recent years has led to an increase in infestation in villages guesthouses.

If you have to sleep in these because your trek operator does not provide mosquito proof tents make sure you sleep with your mouth closed and that you don't mind the pitter-patter of little mice running across your forehead - if you are a bit sensitive in this area the only guarantee you have against the local infestation is to sleep in an insect proof tent.

There is also no protection from the inevitable snorer in guesthouses where everybody is required to bunk together.

The Kokoda Trail is a rugged and remote 130 kilometre jungle path across some of the most hazardous terrain most people will ever traverse. 

'Imagine an area of approximately one hundred miles long.  Crumple and fold this into a series of ridges, each rising higher and higher until seven thousand feet is reached, then declining in ridges to three thousand feet is reached, then declining in ridges to three thousand feet.  Cover this thickly with jungle, short trees and tall trees, tangled with great, entwining savage vines.  Through an oppression of this density, cut a little native track, two or three feet wide, up the ridges, over the spurs, round gorges and down across swiftly-flowing, happy mountain streams.  Where the track clambers up the mountain sides, cut steps - big steps, little steps, steep steps - or clear the soil from the tree roots.

'Every few miles, bring the track through a small patch of sunlit kunai grass, or an old deserted native garden, and every seven or ten miles, build a group of dilapidated grass huts - as staging shelters - generally set in a foul, offensive clearing.  Every now and then, leave beside the track dumps of discarded, putrifying food, occasional dead bodies and human foulings.  In the morning, flicker the sunlight through the tall trees, flutter green and blue and purple and white butterflies lazily through the air, and hide birds of deep-throated song, or harsh cockatoos, in the foliage.

'About midday, and through the night, pour water over the forest, so that the steps become broken, and a continual yellow stream flows downwards, and the few level areas become pools and puddles of putrid black mud.  In the high ridges above Myola, drip this water day and night over the track through a foetid forest grotesque with moss and glowing phosphosrescent fungi.  Such is the track which a prominent (Australian) politician publicly described as 'Being almost impassable for motor vehicles', and such is the route for ten days to be covered from Ilolo to Deniki.'

Major General Sir Kingsley Norris

The Kokoda Campaign - Chronology