Kiunga Bird Watching

The small but lively river port town of Kiunga is located at the end of the navigable section of the Fly River, some 1000 kilometres from the river mouth, in the North Fly District of Western Province. Surrounded by lowland rainforest, it was the location for some of Sir David Attenborough’s footage on the Greater Bird of Paradise for his famous documentary. Samuel Kepuknai, who led Attenborough and his crew to the ‘lek’ of the Birds of Paradise, is still based in Kiunga, and is a legendary birding guide known as ‘the birdman of Kiunga’, with phenomenal knowledge of the birds of the area and where to locate them. 

Kiunga is a staging post for birding, with access to the network of rivers from the port, and road access to several renowned spots. Ekame Lodge and Kwatu Lodge are birding retreats built by Samuel Kepuknai, and located about 50 kilometres away, and accessible by river from Kiunga. 

The town primarily exists to service the Ok Tedi mine, and is the main transport hub for goods and machinery heading up to the township of Tabubil.  It is also the port for the copper and gold concentrate from Ok Tedi, which is loaded on barges for its journey down the Fly River to the Gulf of Papua.  There is an airstrip which links to Port Moresby, Tabubil, and other regional townships and villages. Kiunga is two hours from Port Moresby. The 150km highway to Tabubil also provides vehicle access to the north. There are as yet no passenger vessels plying the Fly River.

A couple of stores sell basic food supplies, a small range of alcohol, and limited consumer items. There is access to phones, a post office and reasonably reliable internet services in Kiunga.