Iwahig Firefly Watching at Puerto Princesa Palawan

There are a lot of beautiful tourist destinations at Puerto Princesa Palawan, and I highly recommend that you include the Firefly watching at Iwahig River in your itinerary when you go here. This is one of the tours destination included in our itinerary that I will never forget. I tell you it’s very educational, romantic and you’ll appreciate mother earth more.

This tour was organized by Blue Palawan, so it was hassle free on our part. Our tour guide picked us up from the resort then they brought us to our destinations.

If you will avail of the tour, it’s P1,200 per head which includes van transfers and dinner.

Upon arrival, we first register our names at the registration area and immediately had our dinner.

It’s a buffet dinner for 4 different kinds of viands. It also came with a glass of iced tea and for dessert, they served us Lychee Jelly.

The food was good, but the restaurant was too dark that I can barely see my plate. I think they really keep the place not too bright because of the fireflies nearby.

There were a lot of foreigners during our trip. There were Americans, Koreans and Japanese. We have waited for at least an hour I think before our numbers were called. Only 3 guests can be accommodated per boat and the tour will last for 30-45 minutes which explains the waiting time.

Flash photography is forbidden during the tour, so just keep your camera to yourself. I tell you, you will enjoy it more if you will focus on the surroundings and on what the boatman was discussing. Don’t worry they have their own photographers to take your picture naman.

Here are a few things that I learned from the Iwahig Firefly Watching:

1. The presence of fireflies and planktons indicates a healthy and thriving ecosystem. I love it that every time I touch the water it glows. My son said ” wow mom it’s technology!” and I told him that the light came from nature 🙂
2. It’s unfortunate but fireflies only lives for 2 months.
3. Only 20% of fireflies eggs hatches and live. The other 80% were either eaten by other animals or washed away from the shore.
4. Frogs and Bats are Fireflies’ predators.
5. Male Fireflies are bigger than female fireflies.
6. Male fireflies have stronger lights than female. This is their way of attracting the opposite sex.
7. Fireflies are nocturnal.
8. Fireflies are the pollinator at night.
9. The Maynila name came from a tree called Maynilad which is abundant in nearby rivers before.
10. The Iwahig River is a joint project by ABS-CBN and the Palawan government. They are the one who are in-charge in maintaining the cleanliness of this place.

Besides the firefly watching, our boatman also discussed about constellation of stars. He uses a laser light to point the stars on the sky.

Kudos to all the boatmen who are so dedicated in doing this job. I hope that they get paid rightfully.

If you want to DIY your trip here and spend lower than the package, you can hire a tricycle for around P700 (back and forth from your hotel) and hire the boat for P600 (good for 3 pax). That’s only around P450 per head excluding food.

BTW, since we don’t have any pictures of us during this trip, we bought souvenir pictures at the area. It’s P300 for 2 pieces.

Iwahig Firefly Watching, Mangrove Eco Tourism & Wildlife Park
Highway km. 20 Barangay Iwahig Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines