Let Kokoda Trekker Beware
Adventurers thinking about trekking across the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea should be aware of some of the advertising tricks used by some of the dodgy operators. According to the Kokoda Track Authority website at http://www.kokodatrackauthority.org there are currently 70 licensed trek operators. In 2013 they issued 3246 trek permits which is an average of 46 trekkers per operator.
Of the 70 licensed trek operators 50 are based in Papua New Guinea. None of these operators have a Public Liability Insurance policy. Licensing trek operators without ensuring they have a valid Public Liability Insurance Policy is a serious breach of the duty of care by a management authority. However this is PNG and that’s the way it is. Prospective trekkers should be aware of the caveat emptor ‘let the buyer beware’ before signing up with any such company for what is one of the most challenging treks in the world.
Beware of shonky Google ads for Kokoda
People considering trekking across the notorious Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea will invariable click on Google as their first point of call in their research. Here they will find up to 70 licensed trek operators to choose between. Of these only 28 have websites and of these most have material that has been copied from the few legitimate trek operators.
One of the favourite tricks of some of the shonky operators is to pretend they are somebody else. One such company, Kokoda Spirit, uses many guises under Google ads. For example if you click on Adventure Kokoda, up pops Kokoda Spirit and No Roads Expeditions. Neither company is associated with Adventure Kokoda.
Adventure Kokoda is a specialist Kokoda trekking company – it does not trek to any other location. It focuses on the wartime history of the Kokoda campaign and engages historical experts, many of them former soldiers, as expedition leaders
