Travel Asia

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park features a spectacular limestone karst landscape with an underground river. One of the river’s distinguishing features is that it emerges directly into the sea, and its lower portion is subject to tidal influences. The area also represents a significant habitat for biodiversity conservation. The site contains a full ‘mountain-to-sea’ ecosystem and has some of the most important forests in Asia.

The area was turned into a national park in order to protect the impressive cave systems, lush old growth of tropical rainforest, interesting and diverse wildlife and unspoiled natural beauty of the area. Its main focus is the 8.2 km. long underground river that flows beneath a spectacular limestone formation before directly emptying into the sea. The subterranean river is the longest navigable underground river in the world. It is the core area for the Palawan Biosphere Reserve and is designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA). It was also declared as a National Geological Monument. In recognition of global significance, the PPSRNP has been inscribed to the list of natural World Heritage Sites.

The park offers many activities that will surely leave the visitors amazed and wanting to visit the park again in the future. To explore the mystic underground river, the park-operated boats take visitors for a one hour tour inside the cave. Worth noticing in this tour are the interesting rock formations, the thousand bats and swiftlets including the one that produces the edible birds nest. For the adventure caving tour, the park boasts of  a number of cave systems that have interesting geological features. Climbing the Ugong Rock view deck allows one to marvel at the spectacular karst mountain formations and the natural beauty of the areas surrounding the Park. Other sites to explore include Lion cave, Daylight hole and the Kawili Cave. The park is home to diverse wildlife and birds are among them. The bird watching is one of the popular activity of the park. The visitors must start early and must be preferably equipped with binoculars in order to see more closely the brightly colored birds. Commonly seen are parrots, hornbills, megapodes, pitas, leaf birds and herons. Other wildlife that can be seen at the park are the monitor lizards, macaques and squirrels. The shorelines of the park comprise some of the beautiful beaches that are bordered by rocky headlands. The cool and pristine water is ideal for swimming, snorkeling and enjoying the tropical sun.

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