PUERTO PRINCESA TRAVEL DIARY: Crocodile Farm and A Peacock I've Never Seen Before

If you have been reading about my Puerto Princesa Palawan Travel Diary blog series, you already know that we did 2 city tours, first was on our first day and second was on our fourth day (we flew back to Manila the morning of our fifth day, which doesn’t technically count anymore). Well if you don’t have an idea and you have the time to spare, you can read about it; I have enumerated all the previous posts that are related to this trip at the end of this blog entry.

After our visit to Irawan Eco Park where we tried the zipline, Bryan (our trike driver and tour guide)suggested that we drop by the Crocodile Farm, a more familiar name for Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center. It wasn’t part of the itinerary that I have planned and related to him, but since it is still early and we only have 5 tourist sites left to visit, we thought “what the heck, let’s go and see the crocs.”

Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center (PWRCC) formerly known as Crocodile Farming Institute,  is also in Irawan along Puerto Princesa South Road. It is an eight-acre facility and national park that houses both fresh and sea water crocodiles for breeding, commercial use (meat and skin) & release into the wild  plus other animals that are endemic to Palawan.

PWRCC follows a schedule for the tours and is done by batches, fortunately for us we just waited around 15 minutes until the next tour begins. There is an entrance fee that needs to be paid at the cashier which I can’t remember how much, but I’m sure it’s not more than a hundred pesos. Before we enter the facility we wrote down our names and where we are from in a logbook for the registration and we were also handed umbrellas that we can use during the tour that will be returned afterwards.

Upon entering the main building, the tour guide welcomed us, explained some rules and regulations then started by telling the story behind the huge crocodile skin and skeleton displayed at the lobby. They belong to a 67-year-old saltwater crocodile, given the name of Rio, which was  captured in a place south of Palawan. Rio had allegedly attacked a local that forced officials to capture him and bring him to the conservation center. Unfortunately a few years later, he died out of stress, probably because he had lived his entire life in the wild and being in captivity took a toll on him.

Then we followed the tour guide to the hatchling house, where they grow the young crocodiles and placed  in cages/basins classified by their age and kind (fresh or salt water) until they are ready to be used for commercial purposes or released into the wild or donated to a zoo.

Next stop is the bridge walkway above concrete cage that contain pens that house the larger crocodiles. Some are fresh water crocodiles and some are salt water crocodiles. It is also home to Mac-Mac, a 17-foot saltwater crocodile just like the size of Rio, who’s remains are displayed at the PWRCC lobby that I mentioned earlier. Mac-Mac is the largest crocodile in captivity in the farm.

After this part of the tour, is a chance to have your photo taken with a live baby crocodile and this goes with a certain fee. Although you’ll be using your own camera when you opt to avail of this. No worries though because the mouth of the croc is taped. I was amused while handling the baby croc because it’s body was soft and cold, and it was behave. I asked if the crocodile won’t get stress because of a lot of people holding it and the handler assured me it won’t, well I hope so, it’ll make me sad to know if I contributed to cause stress to it. This is the part where the guided tour ends.

 

Thereafter, we checked small wildlife park at the back of the facility where other animals, mostly endemic, are being watch and warded; this part of the tour is unguided. Some cages though are empty and I hope this is not because they died or they were not taken care of properly.

I remember the guide saying they release some of these animals to the wild so that they can in their natural habitats. Some of the animals that we saw are white-bellied sea eagle, Palawan bearcat, porcupine, mynahs and parrots.

There are also a lot of floras and faunas endemic to Palawan that can be found here. The place is very relaxing because of the lush greens that will surround you.

But what I found interesting is the Palawan Peacock. I related in my blog post about the Puerto Princesa Baywalk (Read the entry here) that there are statues of peacock that line the boardwalk and our trike driver/tour guide Bryan told us that it is the  official symbol of Puerto Princesa. I couldn’t understand why until I saw the Palawan Peacock. It’s smaller than the ones that you usually see. The most popular is the Indian and Sri Lankan peacock with blue, green, purple plumage or tail and rounded end feathers. The Palawan peacock, though,  has highly iridescent electric blue-violet, metallic green-turquoise plumage, and the edges of the tail feathers are wide, flat and squared. They look more in common with Burmese peacock, but the former’s body is more colorful than that of the latter which has dominantly gray feathers.

photo c/o: http://birdingphilippines.com

photo c/o: http://www.pavo-muticus.com

I must say that even if the center only have two Palawan peafowl in their care, this was for me is the highlight of this visit at Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center.


Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center:
Puerto Princesa South Road, Irawan,
Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines

Puerto Princesa Tour Assistance/Licensed Tour Guide: Bryan Elivera - 09152788528

Read about my Puerto Princesa Travel Diary blog posts here:

Go & See:

- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Kuyba Almoneca, Your Alternative to the Palawan Underground River
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Plaza Cuartel, & - Puerto Princesa Baywalk
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Palawan Special Battalion WWII Memorial Museum
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Emerald Playa Beach & Nature Park
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Dos Palmas Island Resort
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Where to Buy Souvenirs
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour Part 1
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour Part 2
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Irawan Eco Park and Zipline
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Crocodile Farm and A Peacock I've Never Seen Before
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Mitra's Ranch & Baker's Hill
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Binuatan Creations Handloom Weaving 

Eat:
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Badjao Seafront Restaurant
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: KaLui Restaurant
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Bona's Chaolong
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Kinabuchs Bar & Grill
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Rene Saigon Vietnamese Specialties
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: White Fence Country Cafe

What I wore:

- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: What I Wore #1

- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: What I Wore #2
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: What I Wore #3

Sleep:
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary:  The Legend Hotel Palawan
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Purple Fountain Courtyard Inn

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