Okapa

Okapa is a small town in Eastern Highlands Province, famous as the epicentre of the kuru epidemic that transformed medical understanding of prion diseases in the 20th century. It sits on a ridge at around 1,800 m elevation in the territory of the Fore people, whose traditional mortuary practices — consuming the brains of deceased relatives as a mark of respect — transmitted the fatal neurodegenerative disease kuru. The landmark work of anthropologists and medical researchers in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably Carleton Gajdusek and Vincent Zigas, traced the disease chain and led to a Nobel Prize for Gajdusek in 1976.

Today kuru has virtually disappeared (the last known cases were from the early 2000s), and Okapa is a quiet district centre with a health centre, market, and coffee-buying depot. Travellers with an interest in medical anthropology visit to see the area where the epidemic unfolded and to understand the Fore people's remarkable history of adaptation.

By Plane

Goroka Airport (GKA) is the nearest airport, about 60 km northwest (2–3 hours by unsealed road).

By Car / Road

The road from Goroka to Okapa is unsealed, winding, and often slippery — 2–3 hours in a 4WD. PMVs from Goroka run a few times a week (K20–30). A charter vehicle costs K300–500 return.

Okapa station is walkable. For visiting Fore villages and the kuru research sites, a local guide is essential.

• Fore villages — the traditional round houses and garden plots of the Fore people; welcome visitors who arrive with a local contact.

• Kuru historical sites — the old Okapa patrol post and health centre where Gajdusek and Zigas worked; little physical infrastructure remains but the location is historically significant.

• Okapa Market — a busy Highlands produce market with Fore bilum bags and vegetables.

• Fore cultural walking tour — guided walk through Fore villages with explanations of kuru history, traditional mortuary practices, and the transition to modern Highlands life. Arrange through the District office or a Goroka-based tour company.

• Birdwatching — the forested ridges around Okapa hold excellent bird-of-paradise populations.

• Market stall food — kaukau, roasted corn, and fruit. K5–15.
• Okapa guesthouse or mission — meals by arrangement, K20–40.

Boil or treat water. Beer available at trade stores.

• Budget: Okapa rest house or mission guesthouse — K60–120/night.
• Mid-range / upscale: none. Best to stay in Goroka and day-trip to Okapa.

Okapa Market: bilum bags and fresh coffee beans are the best buys. The bags here are characteristically made by Fore weavers and distinct from other Highlands styles.

• Goroka (60 km northwest, 2–3 hr) — Eastern Highlands capital, Goroka Show, coffee plantations, J.K. McCarthy Museum.
• Kainantu (70 km east, 3 hr) — Eastern Highlands mining and coffee town with guesthouses.
• Wonenara (remote; beyond Okapa by foot or charter flight) — lower-elevation Fore territory toward the Gulf lowlands.