Puerto Princesa And Another Of The World’s Seven Wonders

Tempted fate now, haven’t I? I really should have known better than to instigate a conversation about the fact that the Philippines has been kind to our tummies with not a hint of an upset in over six weeks. Michaela wakes up in Puerto Princesa with all of the warning signs; by breakfast she can only manage half of her omelette and by lunchtime her body has gone into that “I am going to force you to lay down and sleep while I work on curing this problem” mode which we all know from travel.

But she’s blessed with what we in football circles call bouncebackability and by Monday we’re off on a trip to a truly amazing place, one which is both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the 7 New Natural Wonders of the World. We keep bumping into 7 Wonders places almost without trying, we must get round to checking our “score” someday. This one is the Puerto Princesa Underground River, and it really is an incredible place.

For starters, it’s the World’s longest stretch of navigable underground river at 4.3 kilometres, though for reasons of safety and preservation the public boat tours only explore the first 1.5 of those. The fact that the mouth of the cave opens out within yards of the sea also means that the underground river is both tidal and brackish, which, combined with the mix of minerals in the rocks, creates an ecosystem unique to the world.

Boat journeys into the cave are seriously environmentally conscious: rowing boats only with strictly no motors, minimal lighting by boatman’s torch only and therefore no permanent lighting, strict instructions to refrain from touching the rock or even making unnecessary noise. The ecosystem is not just unique but also intensely fragile, just a small amount of the chemicals on the human skin can cause lasting damage to the rock surface; light or sound can distress those creatures which occupy such dark places.

Hundreds maybe thousands of bats hang from the rocks while some circle above us, a venomous snake lays coiled in a hollow, but without doubt the stars of the show are the incredible rock formations. Dozens of different hues form a hundred different shapes, incredible natural sculptures of improbable design, just leaving us gasping at the creativity of nature. The recorded voice in our earpiece (the boatman, like us, is barred from speaking out loud) points out artistic interpretations of the amazing shapes, everything from the Virgin Mary and a nativity scene to a corn husk and a mushroom. Even, apparently, Sharon Stone, though that one was lost on me.

I don’t really know the right word, so hard is it to believe that these fantastic, colourful creations are the product purely of water, stone and nature, and, of course, time. There is so much more than stalactites and stalagmites, so many moulds, curves and shapes that we are endlessly asking ourselves….how? Just, how? So unique is this place that bat species, insects, fish and even minerals are endemic here, unique to this individualised creation of geology and ecology.

At one point the boatman switches off his torch in order to demonstrate just how pitch dark it is in the deepest part of the cave, although this is hardly surprising given that we are 1.5 kilometres into a winding underground waterway. More prosaic is the audio commentary which, when explaining how it has taken hundreds of millions of years for the cave to form what we see today, states “fortunately for us, nature is a patient artist”. Nice turn of phrase.

From the incredible underground river to the tidal waters amongst the trees; a second, serene boat trip through the mangroves reveals venomous snakes and monitor lizards and later, after dark, a third river journey through a stretch of the waterway loved by fireflies provides a spectacular display as the tiny light emitting creatures, each the size of a grain of rice, bring natural fairy lights to the riverbank foliage. It’s the males which are airborne, the females cling to the mangrove flowers waiting to be chosen. They will need to be quick: after two years as a grub, the firefly lives for just four weeks or so and has to cram perpetuation of the species into that restricted time frame.

Three memorable boat trips: the amazing underground river, the peaceful mangroves, the domain of the fireflies. Great trips out from this pleasing little town. Puerto Princesa is for us probably the most accommodating Filipino town so far – it’s not that it is particularly spectacular, nor that it is filled with amazing sights or buildings – but it is so much slower paced and spacious than all other towns and cities we’ve seen so far on this journey. Thoroughfares are wider, the karma is calmer, the smiles seem even broader. Appealing garden cafes abound, green by day, subtly lit by night. From what we can gather, there are both American and Australian expat communities here, and it’s easy to see the attraction of settling in this functional yet attractively peaceful town for a while.

Now that we’re on the island of Palawan, the numbers of westerners has increased significantly, a mix of holidaymakers, backpackers and expats. No doubt their presence is the reason there are so many attractive cafes, bars and eateries but without any noteworthy hike in prices. We find a cool bar not far from home called Guni Guni, popular with outsiders like us. If you think Guni Guni is an unusual name, how about one of the bars we visited in Boracay, which was called Nigi Nigi Nu Noos e Nu Nu Noos. Proof is below, if you need it.

Wednesday morning, time to move on. We’re crossing Palawan now, from Puerto Princesa to El Nido, a beach town firmly on the gap year map nestled in a west facing cove where karst islands cast looming dark shapes against the horizon.

As we head across the island, we know we’re in serious need of laundry. Laundering quality has been decidedly two star so far and T shirts are already at the worn multiple times stage. As we board the minibus for the 5-hour journey across to El Nido, we’re a little worried that we may not smell too fresh to our fellow passengers and might make their journey more unpleasant. However, as the much younger, vest top clad brigade fill the other ten places, it quickly dawns on us that we needn’t have worried. These guys are in a much worse place than us when it comes to fragrance.

Five hours of inhaling ten different body odours later, we pull in to the bus station at El Nido, grateful for a gulp of the stifling humid air of the outdoors. Five hours for less than £10, got to be well worth the nostril test.

Hello El Nido with your lofty karst islands and sweeping bay, you look interestingly ramshackle. Let’s see what you can offer.