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Published: February 3rd 2014
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Cross a makeshift bridge that looks like something you’d only see in circus, climb mountains, explore caves, go swimming, rappelling and cliff diving. All in one day in one park! That’s what Biak-na-Bato National Park has to offer. A day full of adventure!
Heard of this place a long time ago but only just found time to go when the Chinese new year was declared a holiday. Only two hours away from Manila. We rode a bus to Cabanatuan, got off at Camias in San Miguel, Bulacan. Rode a trike for about 20 minutes to Madlum and we were at the jump off point of the Biak Na Bato National Park. A park that I've only heard of when I got there. I only knew that there were mountains to hike and caves to explore in that small town. I didn't know that it was a nature reserve that was declared protected since 1937. They don’t get much advertisement but there is a small tourism industry there. Nothing big. Just a few stores that sell food and some souvenirs and about 50 guides. One is required to have a guide when visiting the place. We started at about
10am and left before 6pm. There was just so much to do there you could easily spend two days. Unfortunately they don’t have hotels where you can stay overnight. But I guess you can bring a tent and set up camp.
Upon arriving in Madlum you would have to register. But to get to the registration site you must first cross that rope bridge that would make you feel like you joined the circus. It’s not that high so I wasn’t scared. It may have taken me five minutes to cross the bridge but it felt more like ten. Okay there’s another option if you’re not up to it. There’s a raft that can take you across the river but where’s the fun in that?
They have a few mountains to climb. The most popular is Mt. Manalmon and that the one that we climbed. It wasn’t too high. Having climbed a few mountains before, I would only call that a hill. But a very pleasant hill it was. We had spectaculars views at the top. It would be nice to setup an afternoon picnic there and watch the sun set. It’s ideal for
those who are not athletic. My friends who didn’t work out were sore the next day. I felt fine though. Must be the army boot camp I’ve been attending in the gym.
The cave took more time that it should have because the girls, well, they needed a lot of instruction on where to put their feet on the rocks that we were climbing and descending from in the cave. There were parts where you would have to squeeze through rocks. The guides wont take you if they see that you cant fit through those holes in the cave. The place would benefit in providing harness and helmets. Their tourism industry is not yet developed which has it’s disadvantages like the lack of facilities. But I don’t mind not having those safety precautions. Just bring a cap because you’re most likely going to hit your head on the stalactites.
We went swimming after exploring the cave. Being that it’s January, the water was cold. But it was clean. I saw some guys diving from a rock. I found a smaller rock to dive from, about 12 feet. The other guys were diving from a
rock that looked 30-40 feet high. I am scared of heights so I didn’t do that.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Small spaces
great photo