Huma. A word I have heard uttered in awe. From the Persians, the term describes a mythological bird with griffin-like features—a bird of paradise, they dub it. But it wasn’t birds they were talking about when I heard Huma mentioned, rather, a five-star island resort located at the northern fringes of Palawan. There, apparently, is where the venerable Kris Aquino of Philippine showbiz has stayed during one of her holidays.

From the Calauit Safari Park, our van wrestled the rough roads of Busuanga for hours before we again boarded another outrigger boat to Dicilingan Island. We were en route to Huma Island Resort, an island developed by the Kuwaiti ITHC Group to be one of the major luxury resorts in Northern Palawan.

►CHECK OUT: CORON TRAVEL GUIDE

The first thing that greeted us at Huma, besides their warm staff and a massive sombrero for each one, is their lovely infinity pool. Now that’s a pool that might really make you choose between it and the sea.

Huma Island Resort has a total of 81 tropical villas spread across the shores of the island. 64 of them are Water Villas, fifteen are Beach Villas, and the remaining two, the Presidential Suites.

A stay at their Water Villas—the most affordable of their lodgings—during peak season will cost you a cool $1,560.00 per night. That’s around ₱68,000.00 at today’s rate. Don’t even ask me about their Presidential Suites.

If you have that kind of moolah, you get to enjoy a Jacuzzi and outdoor shower with a view of Multuk Bay on your private wooden sundeck. Well, that’s beside the usual air-conditioned room with LCD TV, iPod dock, DVD player (No Blu-Ray?!), a mini-bar, electronic safe, and yes, Wi-Fi!

The room itself is quite spacious, thanks to the nipa-hut inspired roof design. It is a little too colorful for my taste but the beds looked really comfortable. Unfortunately I only got to touch it, not lay on it.

Since the villas are quite far from the main node of the resort and most guests would probably want to lounge their rich bottoms all day in their rooms, 24-hour room service is available at a touch of a button.

The toilet and bath are also quite huge. In fact, it looked bigger than my room at home. It has an open design, with floor to ceiling windows looking out into an, err… a bamboo-slatted fence. Remove that fence and your whole soul would open to the guest walkway, so bamboo-slatted fence it is.

Okay since were on the subject of that bamboo-fence. Forgive me for saying this, but that feature of the resort (besides the bare concrete walkway) really bothers me. To be honest, it really isn’t visually-pleasing. For a five-star resort with a Maldivian feel and a hefty price rate, surely, they can come up with a better design than that.

►FLY OUT: MALDIVES 8 DAYS ITINERARY

But let’s move on. Sitting on one corner of Huma Island Resort is their spa, the Humazing Spa they call it. And rightly so, it has a glass bottom! The first of its kind in the country, they say.

Besides the usual spa treatments, they also offer yoga sessions and a Moroccan steam bath.

But that’s not really why you probably came to Palawan for, is it?

To experience the real Palawan, Huma Island Resort offers tours to Pass, Calambuyan, and Black Islands. They can also take you to Concepcion Falls, the Calauit Safari Park and the popular Maquinit Hot Springs. All in luxury and style, of course.

And if ever you get hungry, Huma Resort boasts of not one, but seven different restaurants. They have an Italian, Lebanese, seafood, all-day-dining, beach bar, and wine and cheese bar.

Al Dente, their Italian restaurant looked properly quaint, it’s like being transported to the land of Corleones.

But before everyone started acting on their Marlon Brando voice-overs, we were herded to Al Fairuz, Huma Resort’s Lebanese restaurant. Time for some cocktails.

My companions were all raving about some mid-eastern dish that I forget the name of. It was the best one they’ve ever had, they kept on telling me. But I have myself a bottle of San Miguel on my hand and I can no longer be bothered with the trivialities of food.

Ah… Now, this is the life.

Huma Island Resort & Spa ►ROOM RATES
Address: Dicilingan Island, Busuanga, Palawan
Contact Number: (02) 8553-0119
Email: inquiry@humaisland.com
GPS Coordinates Map: 12.054136, 119.900451