🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby
Port Moresby is the capital of Papua New Guinea, the most culturally diverse country on earth — a nation of 9 million people speaking 839 languages (12% of all languages on the planet) compressed into the eastern half of New Guinea island plus 600 offshore islands, with over 1,000 distinct ethnic groups and cultural traditions maintained largely in isolation from each other due to the extraordinarily rugged highland terrain (mountains reaching 4,509 m at Mount Wilhelm) and the country's extreme biodiversity (5-7% of all species on earth in 0.5% of land area, including 38 species of bird of paradise, the cassowary, tree kangaroos, and the world's largest butterfly, Queen Alexandra's Birdwing with a 25 cm wingspan). Port Moresby itself is a city of 400,000 on the southern coast of the island, built around a natural harbour — it was the primary Allied base in the Pacific War (1942-1945) and the target of a Japanese overland offensive via the Kokoda Track that, if successful, would have threatened Australia directly; the Kokoda Track campaign (July–November 1942) is as significant in Australian military history as Gallipoli. The city has a difficult reputation for crime (the UN Development Programme has ranked Port Moresby among the least liveable cities in the world) but also genuine cultural assets: the National Museum and Art Gallery (the finest collection of traditional Papua New Guinean art, masks, spirit boards and canoes anywhere), the Port Moresby Nature Park (the best collection of New Guinea fauna), the Hiri Moale Festival (the annual celebration of the traditional Hiri trade voyages of the Motu people) and proximity to Varirata National Park for bird of paradise watching. The country is most meaningfully accessed through cultural tourism organised through specialist operators who can facilitate village stays and tribal encounters in the Highlands.