Located just 2 degrees south of the equator, this small PNG island contains rugged steamy jungles and central limestone hills which rise to about 700 meters above sea level. Manus is one of the least visited of PNG's offshore islands and has the smallest population....around 33000 residents. The Manus Province is actually made up of over 200 small islands.

The main island of Manus which is almost entirely igneous in origin and covered in soils of various types and fertilities. Los Negros is almost entirely composed of limestone and coral sands. Historically Los Negros was relatively sparsely settled due to its flat profile and infertility - most of the gardening was done on the main island of Manus by the original inhabitants - later waves of immigrants who were more marine in lifestyle settled on the less fertile coral islands and displaced the earlier inhabitants, but they did little gardening, trading/raiding cultivated crops with the mainland inhabitants.