There are various causes to guide a Puerto Princesa tour package deal. Palawan has many engaging choices that may entice each sort of vacationers. One in every of these is the Dugong, or sea cow. In accordance with some, it is from this animal that the legend of the mermaid happened.
Legend of the Mermaid
Mermaids have lengthy stirred the imaginations of individuals. Artists used mermaids as topics for work, songs, documentaries, and films. In accordance with tales, mermaids lure males into the water to their doom. Different tales say they’re type, as they provide items and assist seafarers in misery. Mermaids proceed as some of the fascinating mythological creatures. Every tradition has their mermaid tales. Most tales are from the Close to East, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Within the Philippines, tales from the South communicate of a “kataw.” It’s what Cebuanos name a mermaid residing within the seas and caves of the islands.
Palawan’s Mermaids
A Puerto Princesa tour package deal will take you to Palawan, a province within the Philippines with its personal mermaid story to inform. Their model of a “kataw” is the dugong or sea cow. These are massive creatures that feed on sea grass. Locals related these creatures with mermaids. Many sailors communicate of encountering sea cows and mistaking them for mermaids. Curiously, Christopher Columbus himself reported seeing merfolk throughout his exploration of the Caribbean. There have additionally been comparable sightings reported in Israel, Canada, and Zimbabwe. To today, nonetheless, nobody has discovered proof proving their existence.
Once you guide a Puerto Princesa tour package deal with underground river tour, your boatman might inform you a narrative concerning the fossil found contained in the cave of the river. It is a dugong fossil, which specialists consider is about twenty hundreds of thousands years outdated. Some individuals name dugongs as Sirenia or Sirenians, an order of water-dwelling, herbivorous mammals. “Sirenia” is derived from the “sirens,” Greek mythology beings that drew mariners to their wreck. This explains why the Tagalog time period for mermaid is “sirena.” Dugongs reside in coastal marine waters, swamps, and rivers. You might also see them in estuaries.
The Miocene Age Sea Cow
In 2011, a group of Italian scientists found a 20 million-year-old fossil of a dugong. It belongs to considered one of two extinct species of the ocean cow. Specialists consider the Sirenian order advanced greater than 50 million years in the past. That is what makes the archaeological discover essential. The specimen, discovered within the cave, is the primary discover from the Philippines. It’s also the primary fossil discover of this sort within the Southeast Asian area. The fossil is within the deeper part of the cave, which is not accessible with a daily Puerto Princesa underground river tour.
Do you need to go to the underground river? Aside from the fossil, you may discover fantastic stalactite and stalagmite formations within the cave. Contact a registered Philippine journey company for extra info on Puerto Princesa tour packages and the famous underground river.