Thie National Mask and Warwagira Festival is a tribute to the culture and people of PNG’s East New Britain province – the Tolai, Baining and Pomio tribes. Celebrating their fascinating mask cultures in the coastal town of Kokopo in July, the event is an extravaganza of dancing, ritual performance and story-telling.

The celebrations at the Ralum showground begin when traditional Tolai shell money is exchanged, and at night, Baining fire dancers come from their mountain homes to perform, walking through flames in huge masks. Rare masked dance performances are also put on by the Pomio and Sulka people, who reportedly travel for miles across the region to participate in the festival.

“Aside from the astonishing landscape of lush jungles, volcanoes and crystal clear waters of East New Britain, there are also hundreds of different cultural groups that have developed in virtual isolation from each other,” says Yolli Rado, Intrepid product manager for Oceania. “The Mask Festival is an opportunity to see some of these groups come together in a spectacle of rhythm and color.”

When: July
Where: East New Britain, Guinea

Papua New Guinea’s oldest and biggest show is performed in the Eastern Highlands and is the ‘daddy’ of them all attracting thousands of visitors to witness displays of dance, tribal singing, and ritual practices. The three-day event is a cacophony of sing-sings with over 100 clan groups participating.

The ‘Goroka Show’ is a significant cultural event in the Highlands region of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It is also the longest running annual cultural festival in Papua New Guinea drawing thousands of tourists to the country every year in September during the week of the nation's Independence Day celebrations.

Over a hundred tribes from all over Papua New Guinea will participate in the event performing extraordinary 'singsings' in a riotous display of color and sound. The staging of the Goroka Show began in 1957 and was first introduced and organized by Australian patrol officers known locally as 'kiaps'. So what are you waiting for? Let’s come to the most famous show and enjoy the moment!!!

When: September
Where: Eastern Highlands, Guinea

This celebration takes place in Abunti, on the banks of the Sepik River, in northern Papua New Guinea. It pays homage to the revered saltwater and freshwater crocodiles that live in these seas. Crocs have such a strong cultural significance in the Sepik region that one of the coming-of-age initiations in these tribes is to cut the skin on their backs to mimic a crocodile.

The cultural traditions, beliefs and legends based on these ancient animals are celebrated in the Sepik Crocodile Festival in August every year with canoe racing and spectacular performances. Sepik River clans are known for their spiritual and artistic association with the crocodile spirit.

Besides meeting male initiates who have undergone crocodile skin scarification the festival’s sing-sings involve participants adorned with vivid body painting and wearing crocodile teeth necklaces, cassowary feathers, and grass skirts. Wonderful souvenirs and carvings are sold from traditional Tambaran spirit houses and watch out for live (baby) crocodiles strapped to performers' chests.

When: August
Where: Ambunti, East Sepik Region, Guinea

The Enga Cultural Show, in the western Highlands, is PNG’s highest province. Each year in August in the province’s capital of Wabag, they put on a festival showcasing dozens of cultural performances from tribes all across the province. Discover Engan's famous sand painting, which is unique to the area, or watch one of the many dances and performances displayed nowhere else except for this region.

These include the Engan dancers with black-painted faces and unique headdresses.Tania Nugent, who helped organize the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, says: “In the 1930s, Enga Province was the last of PNG’s provinces to be contacted by the outside world. Traditional customs, rituals and ways of living are still practiced daily here.

“In the face of modernisation, the Enga Cultural Show was established to preserve and celebrate traditional knowledge. Here you can really immerse yourself in one of the world’s last frontiers of continuous and surviving indigenous culture.”

When: August
Where: Enga, Highlands Region, Guinea

The Mount Hagen Show has been celebrating the fascinating customs of local tribes for over 60 years and it is one of the most famous festivals in Guinea. Founded in 1961 before PNG’s independence, the festival was designed as an annual gathering to unify the local tribes.

To this day, the Elpa-speaking tribes of the Western Highlands celebrate with up to 50 other tribes from the provinces of PNG’s Highlands region, including the Jiwaka, Hela, Enga, and Chimbu. This mid-August sing-sing is a festival of costumes, crafts and colors. Traditional dances, singing and ritual performances are all staged, and there is also feasting.

Arrive early to see the dress rehearsals and the groups getting ready for their performances, complete with priceless birds-of-paradise feather headdresses. The legendary Huli Wigmen, with their feathered hair-grown wigs and yellow painted faces, are among the performances, which may have 1,000 or more participants on the showground at any given moment.

When: August
Where: Mount Hagen, Western Highlands, Guinea

Living in a bay that is home to some of the most spectacular marine biodiversity in the world means that the locals have developed a rich connection with the water. Scuba divers from around the world also flock to Milne Bay to see the area’s underwater treasures. And to celebrate their close affinity with the sea, the locals put on a canoe festival in early November every year.

The National Kenu and Kundu Festival kicks off with a conch shell blown at dawn, accompanied by the rhythmic banging of kundu drums, and the small town of Alotau comes to life as people pack the shore to watch the famous canoe races. Costumed warriors paddle vigorously in long, carved dugout canoes, their colorful watercraft rushing over the water against the rugged backdrop of Papua New Guinea's mainland.

This celebration has a South Pacific atmosphere as canoe races and marine skills commemorate the coastal people's affinity with the water, set against the gorgeous background of Milne Bay, one of PNG's marine biodiversity hotspots. Conch shells are blown as kundu drums pound a rhythmic beat during a spine-tingling dawn opening.

When: November
Where: Alotau, Milne Bay Province, Guinea

The Hiri Moale Festival in September honors Motuan culture and is held in PNG's capital city, Port Moresby. This is one of the most famous festivals in Guinea. The Motu are a people that live on PNG's southern coast who used to go on risky trading excursions to distant portions of the Gulf of Papua.

Although the Motu's annual hiri, or trade, voyages are no longer held, they hold an annual celebration to remember their heritage. When spectators witness the canoe races at the festival, they may readily visualize their epic sea trips in their famous canoes, known as lakatoi.

They used to need a crew of 30 men to sail these boats, which were made of big logs and had coconut fiber sails. The majority of the festival's activities take place in the vicinity of Ela Beach and the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium and crafts displays, and the crowning of the Hiri queen.