If you choose to trek Kokoda with an illegal tour operator you risk invalidating their Public Liability Insurance policy (if they have one!) and your own travel insurance policy.

Following is a list of legal and illegal Kokoda tour operators as at 10 April 2025 – these can be checked by conducting an ‘Entity Search’ onthe PNG Investent Promotion Authority (IPA) website via this link: https://www.ipa.gov.pg/

BACKGROUND

The management system for the Kokoda Trail is now on life support due to internal incompenence and corruption – an outcome of the tribal nature of PNG politics which has resulted in its classification as the most corrupt county in APEC.

According to their own National newspaper a few months ago:

Corruption in PNG is pervasive, affecting every level of society. Public servants, politicians, and officials have been implicated in the embezzlement of public funds and misuse of power”.

The Kokoda Track Authority (KTA), responsible for the management of the Trail, is no exception!

After 21 years in charge they have failed to develop a system to allow tour operators to even book a campsite; failed to work out how to build a single hygienic toilet anywhere across the Trail; failed to publish any financial reports so nobody has any idea where the money goes; failed to improve a single battlesite to improve the value of the pilgrimage for trekkers; failed to introduce any initiatives to assist local villagers to earn additional income from Kokoda tourism, etc. etc.

A review of this link will show they have even failed to up update their own website since 2012: https://www.kokodatrackauthority.org/

They have also corrupted the integrity of their own tour operator licensing system and now sell trek permits to any grifter who turns up with cash or a cheque without conducting any due diligence on their legal status.

Given there are no management protocols in place it is therefore necessary for prospective trekkers to adopt the old Latin proverb of ‘Caveat Emptor’ (i.e., let the buyer beware) in choosing a legitimate Kokoda tour operator to get them safely across the Kokoda Trail and ensure they learn about the military heritage of the Kokoda campaign.

The first essential is to conduct a compliance check and a cost-benefit analysis on the Kokoda tour operator who will be responsible for your safety and wellbeing in PNG which has the well-earned reputation as ‘a land of the unexpected’.

Case Study

On 17 April 2009 I had remained behind at Ofi Creek to arrange for the helicopter evacuation of one of our trekker.

Around 9.00 am our trekker was evacuated and I commenced my 3½ arduous climb towards the crest of the Maguli Range in pursuit of my trek group I had earlier sent ahead towards our next campsite at Agulogo. Late in the afternoon a guide from a local PNG trek group caught up with me and handed me a note which advised that a woman in their trek group back at Ofi Creek needed urgent assistance. He asked if I could use our satphone to call the owner of the trek group in Port Moresby to get help.

I learned it was a local PNG operator who was one of our former guides with Adventure Kokoda. He had ‘borrowed’ a few of our tents and backpacks and started leading treks after registering a ‘business name’. He had no satphones, no medical gear, no Public Liability insurance cover, and no assets apart from his hut back in his village.

Of more concern was the fact that he was not licensed as a Kokoda tour operator by the Kokoda Track Authority but they continued to issue him with trek permits in breach of their own regulations.

As a result he was therefore able to offer heavily discounted rates.

On the day in question he would have known that I was a day ahead and so he sent one of his guides ahead with a note for me – unfortunately the note did not give any indication of her medical condition or her exact location.

I called the number he gave me around 6.00 pm but there was no answer.

I then called our logistics provider at Sogeri to alert him of the potential emergency but it was a futile call due to the lack of information I could provide.

I discussed the situation with my trekkers when I arrived in camp but there was nothing we could do – if I returned to Ofi Creek it would then take me three days to catch my group again. I therefore made the decision to continue to lead them.

The Coroner’s report advised that:

‘Notification was made to authorities that there was a medical emergency, however poor weather and light prevented the emergency evacuation helicopter from reaching the group or airlifting Samantha out that evening.’

This cannot be true as they had no means of calling for an emergency evacuation and no idea of their geographic position – the coroner was obviously misled.

The coroner advised that she died at 9.10 pm that night.

He also advised that her death was likely related to a hydration issue – after having a look at their itinerary I believe it would also be related to the fact that they pushed them too hard on the first day and didn’t allow sufficiently for her acclimatization.

None of the Coroner’s recommendations have ever been adopted by the Kokoda Track Authority and they continue to issue licenses to whoever turns up.

It is therefore essential that people considering a trek across the Trail conduct serious due diligence on the Kokoda tour operator they choose and apply the principle of ‘Caveat Emptor’ .

Samantha’s family later placed a small plaque at the site where she died – it acted as a reminder to me of the risks involved in trekking Kokoda every time I passed it over the next 13 years.

A thorough due diligence check of the 53 illegal Kokoda tour operators will reveal that most are just registered as ‘Business Names’ and therefore do not have valid Public Liabilitry Insurance policies.

The best form of insurance is to therefore trek with an experienced tour company whose leaders are trained in remote area First Aid; equipped with satphones, VHF radios, medical kits with defibrillators; who have a valid Public Liability insurance policy; and who fully comply with the relevant legal requirements for doing business in PNG.

Public Liability Insurance is an essential component of any legitimate company – the purpose is to provide lifetime cover to anybody unfortunate enough to suffer a permanent disability.

It’s also expensive which is why most of the tour operators registed as ‘Business Name’ in PNG to not have it!

Unfortunately, the KTA has been corrupted and has lost control of their own Kokoda tour operator licensing system – ‘Caveat Emptor‘ therefore applies.