I really enjoyed this place a lot. After all, in general, Palawan as whole is truly a pristine paradise. Getting to the site is already an experience in itself as one would pass by the beautiful karst formations - both on land and sea - towards the underground river's opening.

Tours going to the site are almost offered everywhere in Puerto Princesa City, but I would suggest that you take the service of Jas at tenchisande@yahoo.com - he is a freelancing licensed tour guide and he knows how to maximize the trip well.

In hindsight, It has to be known that the underground river was also nominated earlier in 1993 but was eventually abandoned by the nominating party. Eventually, however, it got inscribed in 1999 (together with Vigan). Just this year, furthermore, the park was listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature via popular voting (I still think that the WHS title is still a more important achievement as it is based on - at least in theory - merits). The national park consists of 8 known forest formations, containing rich collections of flora and fauna. It is normal to see monitor lizards roaming around, as well as local monkeys and frequent migratory and endemic birds. The tour inside the underground river takes around 45 minutes to cover the first 1.5 kilometers inward -- the deeper parts of the cave are only reserved for scientific studies and are, therefore, inaccessible for tourists. Nevertheless, the trip inside is worth it and the guide should be able to explain different stalagmite/stalactite formations and the creative images they represent (eg., head of a lion, the holy family, the banana blossom, the dragon, etc.). The trip is fun in a way that it tests your creativity and playfulness in deciphering formations. This place should work well for kids with wide imaginations.

Within the inscribed site is also a mangrove forest wherein some locals offer "tilamok", an edible worm thriving in mangroves. It's a must try! I was thinking if there are still ways wherein they can improve the "tourism experience and value" of the site, but I believe it is better that they maintain current practices that are considerably low-impact and generally sustainable. Key to appreciating this site is to have to good guide who can explain everything well; otherwise, it will just be one ordinary cave trip like others elsewhere. While the time inside the cave is limited, one can take a longer time at Sabang beach that is also within the inscribed area.

Also, I'm reminded that there were proposals before of making a separate category for karst formations to the listing options. Any update on that?

Lastly, my guess is that: this karst formation site may be related to the other mainland Asian WHS karst formations(Ha Long, Southern China Karst Forests, etc.) as, geologically speaking, Palawan island is one of the two islands (the other being Mindoro, which is home to the tentative site of Iglit-Baco National Park) in the Philippines that are not within the Philippine plate; rather, they are an extension of the mainland plate. Again, it's just my hypothesis (for the record, I think I'm the first to posit this idea though :p).