Puerto Princesa, Philippines
Posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Underground River Entrance, Puerto Princesa Philippines
PUERTO PRINCESA is the only provincial capital with major urban sprawl in Palawan, with 120,000 residents and an area that actually makes it the second- biggest city in the Philippines after Davao. Puerto Princesa is also clean, green and gun-free, thanks partly to local mayor Edward Hagedorn, a larger-than-life character who has firmly nailed his flag to the environmental mast. Residents and visitors alike are fined for spitting and littering. Throwing your cigarette butt on the pavement brings swift justice in the form of a P200 fine, a small fortune to many locals and therefore a significant deterrent. The town’s main artery is the narrow Rizal Avenue, which runs from the airport on Puerto’s eastern outskirts to the cathedral and the wharf in the west. The distance from end to end is only 3km, and tricycles and jeepneys run the length of it, making transport within the town easy.
Many see Puerto as a one-night stop on the way to Palawan’s coves and coral reefs, but it’s not as if there’s nothing to see or do. The Palawan Museum (Mon, Tues, Thurs & Fri 9am–noon & 2–5pm), in Mendoza Park on Rizal Street, gives a good overview of the history, art and culture of Palawan. At the Crocodile Farming Institute (Mon–Sat 10am–5pm) in Barangay Irawan, 12km from the city centre, scientists conduct research into crocodile ecology, biology, nutrition and biochemistry, pathology and physiology. The local name for crocodile is buwaya, which means “greedy”. To get to the farm take a jeepney (P15) from the terminal in Malvar Street on the northern outskirts of the city. A farm of a rather different kind, a Butterfly Farm, owned and operated by Rowell Rodriguez, is located at 27 Bunk House Rd, Santa Monica (tel 048/433 5343), and is a haven for hundreds of indigenous species. You can see the stage-by-stage metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Jeepneys go here hourly from Malvar Street.
photo credit: reizeldavid
