HE man trying to sell me a small primitive, hand-made axe was not your usual merchant. He had approached me as I stood beside the bush plane that would carry our small group from Papua New Guinea's Highlands down to Madang.

With a bone through his nose and face elaborately painted in a rainbow of colours, his great thatch of hair was of a style worn by local Huli Wigmen.

His wardrobe was certainly simple. Shoeless, it consisted of nothing but a large white collar-like shell necklace and some shreds of strategically placed grass (locally known as 'ass grass'). Definitely dramatic.

But quite amazingly, I'd already been in the country long enough that his fierce appearance wasn't unnerving. That hadn't been true on arrival when first encountering local tribesmen, some carrying spears still used as weapons in "pay-back" battles which occurred with some regularity.

In fact, en route to that bush landing strip, we'd actually been held hostage in our Land Rover by infuriated warriors insulted by behaviour of someone in our press group who should have known better.

But more about that later. Let's start at the beginning. Since you're right next door in Australia, only 160 kilometres distant, vacationers with time might want to consider a side trip to neighbouring Papua New Guinea. There's no question it would be one of the most unforgettable experiences of your entire travel life.

All travellers have their own personal list of places they consider incomparable. Geographically, the world keeps repeating itself . . . Alaska's Inside Passage reminds cruisers of Norway's fjords . . . mountain scenery so dazzling in Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria and the Italian Alps seems duplicated in America's West, New Zealand and South America.

Very often, travellers find themselves in a far corner of the world proclaiming, "This looks just like Arizona" . . . or "It reminds me of Bermuda's South Shore".

But a few rare wonders have no duplicates anywhere . . . Lhasa's Potala Palace sets Tibet in a world apart. Egypt's Sinai with ancient St. Catherine's Monastery as its centrepiece is like retracing Moses' route to Jubal Musa receiving the Ten Commandments. Peru's Macchu Picchu ruins are unlike any other.

areas of New Guinea are definitely in that category. Labelling the experience a trip back to the Stone Age is not an exaggeration. Even now, back in my 21st-century world, things seen and experienced in its remote back-of-the-beyond regions seem almost incomprehensible.

The flight to the capital Port Moresby from Sydney via Air Niugini, the country's national airline, was both short and comfortable. That first trip was a special journalists' tour that had been organised by the airline and tourism interests for a very modest $700.

A dozen of us had accepted this invitation as a post trip after an Australian press trip. All were well travelled and used to being in tropical, malarial-threatened conditions.

I'd already been to remote islands of Indonesia, complete with Stone Age villages which had provided their own heady dose of culture shock. That was nothing compared to what awaited here.

Our trip completely bypassed Port Moresby, unfortunately considered quite crime-ridden, not the isolated unique New Guinea we were seeking. First stop was the Highlands, a cool and comfortable introduction to this otherwise very tropical island which sits just beyond the equator.

At an elevation of 7,000 feet, lush Highland vegetation is home to the very rare bird of paradise. So rare, in fact, that after intensive bird-watching expeditions we neither saw one in flight, nor even resting on a limb when we sought them out in their habitat above 9,000 feet.

Our conversational guide told us: "There are 47 different varieties of bird of paradise. The majority of them exist only in Papua."

As someone who had spent above average time seeking out locally acclaimed rare birds around the world, this time I had to settle for a beautifully carved image of that rare species.

Home here was Ambua Lodge, a genuine jewel of a property with a main lodge surrounded by 40 rondelle-like thatched cottages that looked like transplants from a remote Kenyan village.

Spread out along a gentle slope below the lodge, they were scattered among a setting that could compete with any botanical garden. Masses of over-size lupine, coleus, cana, Nile lily, cosmos, lantana, and red salvia were so incredible that nature photographers in our group set up tripods and shot roll after roll of the spectacle.

Stretching out beyond the very comfortable circular dwellings, with their matching circle of windows, were eye-filling panoramas of the valley, a total wilderness stretching to mountains beyond.

lodge itself was quite incredible. Its thatched roof followed local tradition and its great hall was decorated with local treasures, including a massive story board on one wall that became inspiration for one of my later purchases. These traditional carvings are quite elaborate in detail, showing typical village life. You won't want to leave Papua without one.

We were soon to see sights never before encountered anywhere. When Lonely Planet guidebook describes the country as "raw land, remarkably untamed", it is right on the mark. The scenery is dramatic, with peaks in the Highland region soaring around 15,000 feet.

Locals were exceptionally friendly regardless of their age, with everyone waving at travellers. Children everywhere love to have pets. Here it's very likely to be a pig led on a rope, treated like a member of the family and sharing their dwelling.

But woe to anyone who accidentally hits one in any kind of accident . . . it's "pay-back" time. And the sight of opposing villagers armed with spears, painted faces, elaborate be-feathered hairdos and a minimum of grass "clothing" charging towards each other looks like a scene from a C.B. deMille re-enactment of . . . but it's for real.

It was at just such a moment a brainless Australian woman involved in Aussie tourism and along for the ride broke a taboo that soon had us in major trouble. En route to Nari airstrip, she commanded our driver to stop to let her take pictures of a most unusual burial on stilts with elaborately painted pictures of how the deceased had died. Such a violation of privacy is a taboo there and one should always respect such traditions.

Immediately our Land Rover was totally surrounded by locals, then fiercely shook to the point of almost being overturned. Some very tense moments followed until our driver convinced the Chief to ride with us to the plane and discuss some sort of "pay-back" settlement.

So the Chief, in traditional dress ? or more accurately lack of dress ? piled in beside me. Bathing had not been a part of his life or had riding in a motor vehicle. He was covered with some sort of heavy oil and clay favoured by local tribesmen. It was certainly a different experience.

Before this incident, warriors we'd seen marching en masse across the countryside with spears and bow and arrow were en route to a compensation meeting involving a land dispute. If they couldn't agree, there would be a battle.

We had been told of several "incidents" involving "pay-back" that were enough to convince anyone never to drive alone here, but to join a small tour.

"A child had run in front of a car once and the terrified driver had to rush to a police station for protection or he would have been killed on the spot," a local official told us. "The same is true if you kill a pig."

While off visiting Chief Takame's village (so remote very few tourist groups had previously been there), a chicken ran in front of the van. Peter the driver immediately stopped to negotiate a price and told natives: "Come up to the lodge and we'll pay."

Soon 16 passengers were airborne in a Twin Otter and the takeoff view was dazzling . . . a misty veiled look below, neat patches of sweet potatoes (a major staple of the local diet), thatched huts and awed natives gazing up at the big bird in the sky.

days had been filled with exciting jungle treks to isolated waterfalls, hikes along trails leading to rare collections of orchids seen nowhere else, and visiting with local villagers as curious about us as we were about them.

It's a very hard, subsistence life. We were told life expectancy in some of the simplest villages was as low as age 36.

It should be noted here that this is one destination where travellers have to plan ahead. Accommodations in lodges like Ambua and the equally unique one we'll take you to next week are very limited. This is not a place one can easily hopscotch around on your own.

You'll want to work carefully with your travel agent to arrange the kind of package that covers all the country's main highlights, something we'll attempt to do here. We found Air Niugini's package definitely exceptional.

Because Papua New Guinea (commonly referred to as PNG) is so vast and geographically complicated, many of its most interesting remote tribes have remained isolated and culturally unchanged. Having a good guide to point out taboos and cope with 700 languages spoken is something this usually independent traveller found essential.

4 Flying into a roadless jungle camp