In the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), morning fog fills the valleys and the mountain peaks float above in the sun, the highest reaching nearly 15,000 feet. As the fog lifts, so does the chill. Clouds gather, and the afternoon warmth is often accompanied by fierce thunderstorms, which vanish as suddenly as they appear, making room for the whole thing to start over again. It is an ideal climate for growing green coffee, but inconvenient for air travel, one of the reasons the interior of New Guinea remained relatively unknown by outsiders while airplanes were busy opening up so much unexplored territory elsewhere.
