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Trekking / Hiking in Kokoda Track
The 96-kilometre foot track over the Owen Stanley Range between Owers' Corner near Port Moresby and the village of Kokoda, scene of the 1942 Kokoda campaign between Australian and Japanese forces and now Papua New Guinea's best known trek, crossing rainforest, river fords and wartime battle sites.
Why here
The Kokoda Track is the great walk of the South Pacific, a 96-kilometre single-file path across the Owen Stanley Range that carries as much history as it does hardship. In 1942 this was the front line of the Kokoda campaign, where Australian and Papua New Guinean forces fought the Japanese advance on Port Moresby in the mud and cloud forest, and the trek still moves between named battle sites, Isurava, Brigade Hill, Templeton's Crossing, with memorials along the way. It runs eight to ten days over a relentless series of ridges and river valleys, through villages that host trekkers and supply the porters who make the walk possible. A guide is effectively required, both for the terrain and because the villages along the route are on customary land. Most walkers come for the war history, the physical challenge, or the family connection to men who fought here, and finish at the Kokoda plateau under the same range they have just crossed.
Best months
The walking season runs roughly April to October, the drier months, with June to September the most settled; the wet season turns the clay to deep mud and swells the river crossings. It is hot and humid low down and cold and wet on the high ridges, and there is no road bailout once you start, so the walk commits you to the full crossing. Fitness matters more than technical skill; the difficulty is the endless climbing and descending, often on slick roots and log steps.
Getting there & around
Every trekker needs a permit from the Kokoda Track Authority, the statutory body that manages the trail and returns fees to the landowner villages, and in practice you walk with a licensed operator who arranges the permit, guides, porters and village logistics. Access is by road from Port Moresby to Owers' Corner at the southern end, or by light aircraft to Kokoda in the north, and most trips fly one way. Carry for eight to ten days of self-supported walking with hut or tent camps; there is no resupply beyond what villages sell.
Skill levels: intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Adventure Kokoda
GuideAdventure Kokoda was founded by former Australian Army major Charlie Lynn, who has led more than one hundred expeditions across the Kokoda Track since 1991 and was made an Officer of the Logohu by the PNG government for his work on the trail. In thirty-four years the company has guided over eight thousand trekkers on more than seven hundred expeditions, with trek leaders drawn from ex-military ranks and a strong focus on the 1942 battlefield history.
PNG Trekking Adventures
GuidePNG Trekking Adventures has operated out of Port Moresby since 1990 and is owned by Pam Christie, who has walked the Kokoda Track more than sixty times. As a Papua New Guinea registered company it employs local guides and porters and runs community development programs in the villages along the route. It is a preferred operator for Australian Defence Force groups and guides beyond Kokoda as well, on the Black Cat Track, Mount Wilhelm and the Sepik.