Puerto Princesa Underground River Tour

Friday, July 27, 2012 - After waiting for more than 30 minutes at the loading bay near the mouth of the Puerto Princesa Underground River, it was our turn to tour the river. As we have been informed, the tour of the allowable 1km plus part (regular tour permit) of the river takes at least 45 minutes.

Picture after going out the underground river

As our boatman, Coco slowly tour as inside the underground river. He cheerfully gave us information about the different stalagmites and stalactites found inside the river. These natural formations create different forms and with a broad human imagination, you can think different animals and plants to correlate with the formations.

One of the huge stalactite formation

The underground river was the home of thousands of bats and the very well known balinsasayaw, the bird that make their nest from their saliva, which the locals collect which is the main ingredient of the bird's nest soup.

My lucky shot of the balinsasayaw bird!

Along our way back to the mouth of the underground river, while taking photos of the stalactites, I luckily got a good photo of a flying balinsasayaw bird (at the above photo).

Numerous bat droppings at the upper part of the cave

The PPUR was at least 8 kilometers long but regular visitors are only allowed to tour up to 1.5 kilometers. While those who have special permits can go as far as 4 kilometers deep inside the underground river.

Another big stalactite

Recently, the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) was named as one of the new 7 Wonders of Nature. This has made the spot attract more tourists, local and foreign alike.

It was indeed a breath taking tour. Our first time to visit PPUR and it was very memorable journey through million of years, how nature do it works at its best!

For more photos, please click HERE.