The 15-kilometer St. Paul Cave in Palawan province is considered as the longest natural cave in the country. Other notable caves in the Philippines are the 8.9-kilometer Odloman Cave in Mabinay, Negros Oriental; and the 7.7-kilometer Odessa Tumbali Cave in Penablanca, Cagayan. In terms of vertical range, the deepest cave is the Sumaging-Latipan-Lomyang Crystal Cave in Sagada Mountain Province. Its deepest point is 163 meters from its mouth.

Characteristics

The St. Paul Cave is one of the nominees for The New 7 Wonders of the World because of its enthralling underground beauty. Saint Paul Subterranean River National Park was declared by Proclamation No. 835 on March 26, 1971. It is located in the West Coast of Palawan, 81 km north of Puerto Princesa City.

 

The land form in the park is associated with rocky mountains of marble and limestone extending from north to south. Two-thirds of the area is covered by lush tropical rainforest from the shoreline to the highest peak, and one-third is thinly vegetated karsts limestone. The vegetation types include lowland forest, often with 35 m. canopy, coastal forest and karsts forest.

 

 

 

The Underground River or St Paul Cave is Palawan's most fascinating network of caves. The cave meanders for over eight km. Nature has provided it with a bewildering variety of enormous stalactites, fragile-looking columns, smooth-walled pipes, jagged caverns and big, impressive chambers.

Cultural Heritage

St Paul Cave is very impressive, with huge passages and enormous chambers. The biggest chamber is 120m wide and 60m high, the length is hard to define, as it is just a very wide section of the passage. St Paul Cave was known to local Batak people since ancient times. According to legend it was inhabited by a spirit that prevented anybody from entering the cave. Today only 200-250 Batak survived, the surrounding area is inhabited by Tagbanua communities, who are christianized.

The park's territory and surroundings are the ancestral lands of the Batak people, of whom only 200-250 survive, and Tagbanua communities who live around the boundaries, including the coast. The Tagbaunas unlike the Bataks are generally acculturated to the Christian culture (DENR, 1992, Nomination, 1998).

 

 

 

The Tagbanua who have settled around the park's boundaries (about 2,300 of them) are seafaring people. They use a syllabic form of writing. These people subsist on minor forest products for commerce, such as rattan for handicrafts and furniture, resin of the almaciga tree for making varnish and paints, and wild honey.

Getting here

From Manila to Palawan - an hour flight via Airphil or Cebu Pacific (check with your travel agency about flight schedules)
From Puerto Princesa Palawan to Barangay Cabayugan - take a 1 1/2 hours jeepney ride
From Barangay Cabayugan to Sabang – take a 10 to 15 minutes pump boat ride - another alternative is to hike through the monkey trails for one and a half hours.