Huli Wig Men, Papua New Guinea: Tales of the Unexpected The next day, out on a sightseeing tour, a drunk breaks the wing mirror of our vehicle, prompting a heated altercation with the driver. A crowd quickly forms, restless and threatening. In Tari most people carry a machete as we do a smartphone. It's an uncomfortable moment, but to be expected in a country still fast-forwarding from Stone Age to Digital. It was only in the Thirties that an Australian gold prospector, Mick Leahy, ventured into the Highlands to discover a million people living in a lost world of banana-leaf loincloths, feathered headdresses and deadly bows and arrows. He took a 16mm camera, and the resulting footage includes terrifying scenes of tribes fighting with huge shields and clubs. Why do Huli men desire wigs? All the better for putting feathers in, of course, along with accessories ranging from shells to the lids of tin cans. The Wig Men speak little pidgin, but a spokesman explains that it takes 18 months to grow a wig. One student already has 14 months of growth, another is on to his sixth wig - but it will definitely be the last as cultivation must cease once you are married. What's the secret of growing a good wig? Spells. In addition, it's advisable to sprinkle your head with holy water three times a day, to keep the hairs soft. You'll also have to sleep on a special neck rest with a wooden bar that can be raised as the volume of your wig increases. Come harvest time, the hair is cut away with a bamboo knife then stitched to a light wood frame. Some wigs are for every day, others for ceremonial use, fashioned into elaborate bicornes dyed with charcoal, red clay and pig fat that sell for up to £390. Flamboyance comes naturally in this country, which is home to 38 species of bird of paradise, 2,000 species of orchid and sensational marine life. "Does England have the sea?" one tribesman asks. "Do you live with the Queen?" another wonders. As we talk, the men relax and start preening each other, picking and shaping their mops, whispering the confidences that are a universal feature of a trip to the hairdresser's. It's a touching and intimate sight, and a welcome reversal of the warrior mindset I've encountered back in town. Travelling in Papua New Guinea will always be a wild adventure, but it's only when you meet the Huli Wig Men that it gets truly hair-raising. Read our guide to Papua New Guinea British Airways (0844 493 0787; ba.com) flies direct from London Heathrow to Singapore, from £521 Return in November Including taxes. Onward flights to Port Moresby cost from £721 return with Air Niugini (0871 744 7470; airniugini.co.uk). Visas are required, see pnghighcomm.org.uk. Packages Original Travel (020 7978 7333; originaltravel.co.uk) offers a 10-night Heart of Papua New Guinea tour visiting Tari, Sepik and Mount Hagen from £3,900 per person including domestic flights, accommodation, transfers, meals and daily activities with private guide. Information Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority (0207 260 2993; papuanewguinea.travel). Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands (Lonely Planet, £16.99) is the most up-to-date guide. Malaria precautions are required. For the latest Foreign Office travel advice visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.