One of the reasons to visit Palawan is the underground river. 76 km northwest of Puerto Princesa City, this recently became one of the 7 wonders of nature, resulting to the influx of tourists. A well-preserved park requires you to secure a permit before entering the place, and to pay lots of other things – tour guide, the boat, environment fee, and the permit! Nevertheless this 8.2 km long underground river fascinates me.
The rainy morning didn’t stop the tourism office to accept visitors to the underground river. This was the main reason I went to Sabang, so after a hearty breakfast I took a boat going to the river. I shared a boat with a local family, and I was just pretty much enjoying my first boat trip in Palawan.
Since I was traveling alone, I was assigned to have a little task to do. I was seated in front of the boat holding the flashlight, giving light for everyone’s viewing pleasure. I couldn't say that this really ruined my whole underground river experience, but it pretty much distracted me from savoring the nature bit by bit. At my back were some local fellows who were nice enough to reiterate the instructions of our tour guide sitting at the other end of the boat. I didn’t really mind, until it became a nuisance. It felt like a job being demanded from me, well anyway, it was just an insignificant issue or was that me being a complaining tourist?
The marvelous cave consists of amazing rock formations, anything you can imagine. You can smell the bats flying around. The darkness makes it hard to take photos. No room for camwhoring here as we were wearing helmets to avoid the pointy limestones above our head. The nature is really wonderful. There are some forested areas around the underground river with some wildlife species, and the beach beside the scenic cliff is nice too.
It was time to go back to the main beach and to pack my stuff again. I was getting ready for El Nido. Though with a limited time, I felt like my adventure in Puerto Princesa was done with no regrets. I was pleased of my first Palawan experience, and it surely got better and better as I moved along.
0 comments :