
Row Row Your Boat
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Paddling using a bamboo stick |
From our office in Brgy. Tina,we
rented a habal habal for Php50.00 to take us to the river bank near the fallen
bridge of San Miguel. From there we rented two small boats they called ‘baroto’,
and paddled against the soft shallow current of the river for almost an hour.
That was the very first time I laid
my eyes on this magnificent river, accessorized with lush green vegetation growing on
both sides of the cliff. It was like a hidden paradise only mystifying from
the rest of the town.
I can’t believe that this beautiful river has the power to turn down a 100 meter concrete national bridge. After an hour, we reached the private land (ancestral land) of Nonoy that he always addressed as ‘bukid’ or farm.
In his little "farm" you can find lots of fruit bearing trees like marang, durian, coconut, mariba, jackfruit, and some pineapples on the ground among others.
I can’t believe that this beautiful river has the power to turn down a 100 meter concrete national bridge. After an hour, we reached the private land (ancestral land) of Nonoy that he always addressed as ‘bukid’ or farm.
In his little "farm" you can find lots of fruit bearing trees like marang, durian, coconut, mariba, jackfruit, and some pineapples on the ground among others.
We were only supposed to take a
bath to freshen ourselves from the heat of the sun, until I saw not far from
where we docked a small rock opening on one of the cliffs. Nonoy told me that
was his source of his fertilizers used to grow his crops. His ancestors called the cave as Kandingon.
My curiosity ran on my head so I asked him if it was possible to take a look. With only one flash light on hand we entered the cave and explored what can be seen inside.
My curiosity ran on my head so I asked him if it was possible to take a look. With only one flash light on hand we entered the cave and explored what can be seen inside.
Eureka! Hidden Beauty Has Just Been Found!
It may have a small opening but
inside it was like a giant cathedral. Not too far from the main entrance I saw
a small source of light. It turned out that we have to climb a 68 meter steep semi hill dumped
of rocks that originally came from a collapsed doline (roof) of the cave. My
colleague Eric wasn’t able to climb and decided to stay down. Since I was little ‘fit’
enough, I continued to reach the top.
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Paradise inside the cave standing over the collapsed doline |
Reaching the top was a revelation like opening
a pandora’s box. There was an “eden” in the middle of the cave. The cave resembles a looked like a mini version of Jomblang Cave of Indonesia. It was a “eureka eureka” event in my life . I excitely scouted the area and scan the type of flora growing within. I was amazed seeing tall
trees as high as 20 meters such a lauan, tagkan, langkog and bantangale.
I Need A Doctor Very Quick!
I Need A Doctor Very Quick!
What put my heart into a shock was seeing a not common endemic Philippine alocasia (Alocasia sinuata, quilted dream) which is only known to have been found
in the island of Samar with a status as Critically Endangered according to IUCN. I guess it is now timely to amend the description of locality of this beautiful species of plant.
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Alocasia sinuata found inside the cave |
On our right side, there was another huge chamber with some kind of terracotta guarding the entrance. A
series of stalagmites (vertical shaped stones on the ground) appeared like a
fortress that guard whatever lies inside the cave.
There are numerous
interesting rock formations ranging from pillars, bulging rocks, and even miniatures
of small animals lying on the ground. At the ceiling of the cave, some rocks
resemble the formations I saw inside the underground river of Palawan, only this
one has no water running inside.
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Stalagmites in the second opening of the cave |
In the middle of the cave, the
temperature dropped that made me shiver. It looked like a gigantic coliseum with
thousands of bats nesting on the roof. I even saw numerous swiftlets or
balinsasayaw competing for space with bats.
To Where the Dark Knight Dwells!
As I think very loud, I murmured the word, “how many are they?” and Nonoy suddenly clapped his hands that put all the bats flying everywhere. We dove into the floor to avoid scratches from the ‘stampede’, only realized that the cave floor was full of shit opps I mean "guano" or bat droppings . I also observed that the floor is inhabited with thousands of cave insects feeding on the droppings.
To Where the Dark Knight Dwells!
As I think very loud, I murmured the word, “how many are they?” and Nonoy suddenly clapped his hands that put all the bats flying everywhere. We dove into the floor to avoid scratches from the ‘stampede’, only realized that the cave floor was full of shit opps I mean "guano" or bat droppings . I also observed that the floor is inhabited with thousands of cave insects feeding on the droppings.
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Thousands of bats nest on the ceiling of the cave |
We took a quick dip in the cool clear water fronting the cave. Afterwards, Nonoy cut and served some pineapple, coconut and marang as our lunch. We paddled backed to San Miguel. Since we were heading downstream, it took us only about 30 minutes before reaching the drop-off point.
The trip was way better than I
expected. And some discoveries made it even special on which I shall present on a separate article on this blog.
Gallery:
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Cathedral like structure upon entering the cave |
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Miniature of small animals as one of the rock formations inside the cave |
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Some rock formations same with the Underground river of Palawan |
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Cave insects feeding on bat droppings |
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Rich vegetation on the collapsed doline |
wow.. second to none talaga si dennis!
ReplyDeletegrabe hindi naman po,nagkataon lang sir . hopefully makabalik ako jan malapit lang sa place ko but i wish to have companions when i return.matatakutin din ako sa unknown territory.
Deletewow that alocasia and those rock formations are fantastic!
ReplyDeletei just hope the place wont be destroyed by the locals....the cave is the source of the guano as fertilizer for their crops...
DeleteKelan ka babalik sama ako :)
ReplyDeletehopefully before the end of August or if not, first week of september... anyway it is just an hour boat ride from my place :D
Deleteawesome discovery!
ReplyDeleteIndeed it was...shall return when everything is ok .. I might create an invitation for those who can join me on my next visit....keep on exploring:D
Deleteamazing!..ganda ng mga rock formation..hope makarating din ako jan..tnx for sharing this. :)
ReplyDeletevery welcome sir... hope one day we can have a joint exploration sir ... that would be very nice:D
DeleteOi dennis set tau date i want to explore that cave! Para aq ang second jejeje;)
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOMG all comments are gone ! what is wrong Disqus ....grrrrrr.
ReplyDeleteganda tlga ng mindanao !!
ReplyDelete