Manus Island

Manus is the largest island of the Admiralty group and the centre of the country's northernmost province, around two thousand square kilometres of forested hills fringed by lagoon and reef, with a scatter of smaller islands and atolls around it including Rambutyo, Baluan and the low coral islands to the north. The reefs are little dived and largely unsurveyed, the lagoons hold clear water, and the island's forests carry endemic birds including the Manus fantail and Manus friarbird found nowhere else. Lorengau is the small provincial town. Margaret Mead did fieldwork here in 1928 and again decades later, and her writing on Manus is widely read.

History

The first recorded European sighting was by the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Saavedra aboard the Florida on 15 August 1528, who sailed around the island and probably landed on Murai islet. The American anthropologist Margaret Mead lived on Manus before and after the war and described it in Growing Up in New Guinea and New Lives for Old (Wikipedia, Manus Island).

What you'll find

• The lagoons and reefs - the clear water and coral around the island.
• Endemic birds - the Manus species found nowhere else.
• The outer islands - the atolls and smaller islands of the group.
• Lorengau - the small provincial town and its market.

When to go

May to October for the calmest seas and driest weather; the northwest season brings rougher water. Flights connect through Port Moresby and are limited. Boats to the outer islands run informally.

Practical notes

Visitor infrastructure is almost nonexistent; accommodation is a couple of guesthouses in Lorengau and village stays elsewhere. Flights are few and disrupted. Boats to outer islands are arranged informally and depend on weather. Little is organised for visitors.

Nearby

The Admiralty islands surround Manus; Wewak lies south on the mainland.

Key facts