Travel Philippines

Kayangan Lake is said to be the cleanest and clearest lake in Asia! You can see the bottom as far as 15 to 20 ft. deep! Kayangan Lake is located in Coron Island, better known as Higantes island for the locals. On the way to Kayangan Lake, you’ll see a lot of these amazing limestone formation.

After your boat has docked, you will be welcomed by the caretaker (I think he’s one of the natives - Tagbanua) who collects the Php 200 entrance fee. Before going up the you’ll see this sign at the foot of the stairs. You’ll go through 150+ steps made of big rocks but don’t worry, there’s a wooden railing where you could hold on to.

sign at the foot of the stairs

According to our boatman, the soap opera Dyesebel was shot here just outside Kayangan Lake.

outside Kayangan Lake

Once you reach the peak, you have to go down to get to the lake and see this magnificent view!

a stunning view of Kayangan Lake

Calauit Game Preserve & Wildlife Sanctuary (CGPWS) is our local version of the African Safari because of its endemic animals and African wildlife. It was declared as a Game Preserve in 1977 with a total land area of 3400 hectares. This nature park is situated in Calauit Island, northern part of Palawan and northwest tip of Busunga.

You can get there by a 3-hr. boat ride from Coron town or by 2 hrs. travel by land + 15 mins. boat ride to the park. It’s true that traveling by land is faster but we took the 3-hr. boat ride because we will do island hopping after. The highlight of our visit was feeding the giraffes. This is the only place where I’ve seen a lot of giraffes and zebras who are free to roam around the island! In fact, the last time I’ve seen a giraffe was when I was little. I can’t even remember it, I just saw a picture of mine in Manila Zoo with a giraffe. 

Here’s a video of my hubby feeding “Athena” the giraffe from the top of the jeepney.

These are some of the other animals that you can see around.

deer

Zebras

This celebrity bearcat is named “Princess”. Don’t ask me why…

Palawan Bearcat

You can also see 2 wild boar, 2 monkeys, 2 squirrels, 2 porcupines and native crocodiles.

Breakdown of expenses:

Boat Rental: Php 8,000

Entrance Fee: Php 250/person

Tour Truck: Php 1000

References:

Calauit Island

Busuanga Palawan

Calamianes Group of islands is located in the northern part of Palawan, Philippines. It consists of Busuanga (largest island), Coron and Culion Islands.

How to get to Busuanga from Manila:

By Plane, daily:

South East Asian Airlines
Asian Spirit
PAL Express
CEBU Pacific

By Ferry, twice a week:

Negros Navigation
Super Ferry
Super Ferry’s schedule: Manila - Coron every Thursday & Friday afternoon
Super Ferry’s schedule: Coron - Manila, every Saturday & Sunday

What’s confusing is Coron Town is located in Busuanga Island instead in Coron Island.

Coron is a haven for wreck divers because you can find a lot of World War 2 Japanese ship wrecks around the area. It is actually considered as one of the best wreck diving sites in the world! So be sure you have your snorkeling, diving and underwater cameras ready because you’ll do a lot of island hopping!

For those who doesn’t want to go island hopping, you can visit Culion Island where you can find the former leper Colony, climb the 786 steps of Mt. Tapyas, have a dip in the 40 deg. celcius water of Maquinit Hot Spring, or see different African animals in the Calauit Game Reserve & Wildlife Sanctuary.

Our family (my hubby, parents-in-law, and our baby) went to Coron Last November 25 - 29. This was taken while we were waiting in the NEW NAIA Terminal 3.

Before, only small planes like Sea Air and Asian Spirit can land in Busuanga. Since the renovation of their airport, planes from Cebu Pacific and PAL (Air Philippines) can now cater flights going to Busuanga. As you can see this is not the typical Cebu Pacific plane because it is smaller and you can see the propeller outside.

The plane is just small so the entrance is just a few feet above the ground.

Honestly, I was scared when I saw the plane’s size. I was just relieved when we landed safely in Busuanga. Upon arrival, you will just wait for the small truck to drop off your baggages. As usual always be alert in looking after your bags!

Let me start off my first post with my favorite, Palawan. Since Palawan stretches from Mindoro to Borneo, it is the largest province in the Philippines in terms of total area of jurisdiction. It is located between the South China Sea in the northwest and Sulu Sea in the southeast. It’s capital is Puerto Princesa and is composed of Palawan Island (its largest island) and a number of smaller islands). Among these is the Calamianes Group of Islands which consists of Busuanga, Culion (former leper colony) and Coron.

Palawan is famous for:

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park

Honda Bay

Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park

Wreck Diving in Coron

El Nido Marine Reserve