The command to make the Python 2.5 MacPorts installation of PyNIfTI the default as given in the installation instructions for Mac OS X (http://niftilib.sourceforge.net/pynifti/installation.html#macos-x), should be
$ sudo port select python python25
(see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6116697/macports-python-select-command-not-found\)