Puerto Princesa Underground River

Your Palawan trip will never be complete without a tour in the Puerto Princesa Underground River, 1 and a half hour away from the city proper. The tour includes a 30-minute boat ride from Sabang port and a buffet lunch after the tour. A very good tip is to book a tour guide. Your tour guide will do everything for you to make your trip hassle free – booking, transportation and food. What also makes the tour fun is the lively and funny bangkeros who’ll accompany you inside the cave.

From the docking area, we hiked inside a forest. This  trek is called the Monkey Trail where Macaque monkeys can be found around the place. You will be briefed beforehand to avoid bringing plastic containers as the monkeys associate it with food and will sneakily grab it from you. It was drizzling that day, so we didn’t get to see any monkeys in the forest, well except for one monkey that literally stopped beside me and looked at me for a good few seconds, too bad I didn’t get to take a photo. We rode a canoe that can accommodate up to 10 people.  

The entrance. Once you enter the cave, an aromatic smell of bat poop and pee will welcome you haha. It’s really dark inside, but don’t worry, the bangkero brings a torch light to let you see the formations inside the cave. 

Bats everywhere.

Here is what they call the Cathedral. 

This is the eerie formation called The Holy Family. I literally had goosebumps as I saw this.

Now this is what they call the Market. These formation resembles vegetables and giant mushrooms. 

Mushroom. 

Corn.Cacao. 

This one resembles a head of a snake. 

The river is actually 8.2 kilometers  but only 4.2 kilometers is navigable. Tourists are only allowed until 1.2 kilometers, the rest for geologists and researchers. See the black crosses on the formations? Those mark the end of the river tour. 

The Cathedral. 

This one is called the Sharon Stone. It resembles a body of a woman, backside. All in all, the tour was reflecting, mesmerizing and refreshing. The Underground River really deserves being in the 7 Wonders of the World. So, what do you think of this post?