THE FRIGHTENING TABACO CAVE

SANTA TERESITA, CAGAYAN:

An Unexpected Geological Anomaly 

📌Tabaco Cave, Luga, Sta. Teresita, Cagayan

In Santa Teresita, Cagayan, I had entered a geological anomaly profoundly different from places I've conquered so far - enthralling in its oddity and unexpected beauty.

Honestly, this seemingly unnoticed, tiny town was not a priority in my bucket list for this year's inventory of my "#IntoTheWildSeries" adventures. Barely heard, all I know about this silent town was a transit warp going to the paradisiacal municipality of Santa Ana, a coastal town known for its pristine beaches in Cagayan. 

I was very wrong...

Days before, it is my religious routine to study maps and do research to the places prior to my visit. A link directed me to an article about Santa Teresita National Ecotourism Festival held every February, taking pride of its ecotourism potential of the numerous caves, cone karst formations and bodies of water as it highlights its falls, rivers, lakes and caves.

Coincidentally, I became interested in the caves in a snap of a finger since I was up into charting my 26th cave excursion into #TheGreatOutdoors.

Santa Teresita is a new site of caving craze in the country with more than 50 caves being discovered and explored since 2013 by international caver expeditions and our very own Cagayan-based SMOC or the Sierra Madre Outdoors Club. Undeniably, caves are now the major tourist drawers of this town. But such geologic marvels also abound in the immensity of Cagayan, especially in Peñablanca and Baggao, together with its steaming jungles, active volcanoes, pristine beaches and stupendous mountains. It is, but the unusualness of the Teresitian caves that makes them different from the rest of the more than 400 caves found in the province. 

The second chamber of Tabaco Cave 

The 4th smallest municipality in the province of Cagayan in terms of land area, Santa Teresita is home to about 21,000 inhabitants; a conglomeration of Ilokanos, Ibanags and few Aetas thriving in the timeless villages in its outskirts of the mountains. It was only in 1963 that Santa Teresita formerly called Brgy. Namunit, claimed its township when it separated to its mother town Buguey due to population explosion and economic bustle. It is the youngest town of Cagayan.

Via the Pan Philippine Highway extending into the Magapit-Mission Road where Santa Teresita is accessible at 106km from Tuguegarao City, it sits just the northwestern end of the Sierra Madre range. I was captivated by the jumble of hundred hills and mounds resembling clusters of green chocolate kisses-shaped mounds scattered into a vast, uninterrupted plain. The mounds covered with patches of green vegetation are made up of limestones where numerous cave systems are found. This is so bizarre and rightfully an anomaly. Santa Teresita is not even mountainous, yet it has more caves per square kilometers than any other towns of Cagayan, except probably other than Peñablanca with more than 300 caves on it. That is given since Peñablanca is the largest municipality of Cagayan; eleven times more massive than Santa Teresita.

A massive formation inside Tabaco

Actually, there is only a tiny fraction of Sierra Madre that touched the municipality. Its highest elevation is a dismal 115 meters above sea level. That makes Santa Teresita a truly geological anomaly. By definition, Santa Teresita is mountain-less since a mountain is defined as a land formation elevated at more than 300 meters above sea level.

Despite its diminutive land area; smaller than the town of Piat, Santa Teresita, the so called "Shrimp Capital of the North" is exceptionally cave-packed, owing to its more than 60 caves discovery; far from half of those are open to public excursions for obvious safety reasons until fully assessed by the National Museum and Cagayan Tourism Office.

It is still cold, rainy season in Cagayan and the black clouds seemed ever reluctant to leave the sky that morning when our local guide Mr. JR Sabado, a member of a caving tour guide association in the municipality led us to one of Santa Teresita's monumental anomaly: into the dazzling solitariness of TABACO CAVE, so named after the first settlers in that place who tamed the wilderness.

Explore Lasam™️ Team led by Saniboy Pacursa (right)

We were on the prowl with my team coming from nearby town of Gonzaga, now face-to-face with the gigantic past geologic formations as we approached Tabaco's sentinels: massive stalactites hanging from its mouth, as large as Godzilla's sharp teeth.

Serene spectacle of immaculate great white herons feeding from the grasslands near the cave entrance eluded our presence and like a squadron of white fighter jets, flew synchronically out of our sight into the bushes.

The Tabaco Cave is like a mystical woman of innocence from the outside; beautiful and modest with a purity every man wishes to behold. But as you go along the way, it remains somehow almost barely attainable with its hostile multi-chambered, moist subterranean world of darkness. It is easily accessible through the Luga Road with motorcycles or four-wheeled vehicles alike, a mile away from the National Highway; the Magapit-Mission Road. You can even trail it by foot. But that shouldn't make you complacent. I say it again; the Tabaco is unfriendly you would rather choose the comfort of your home; atleast for those who don't dare the art of dirty caving. 

But in my blood runs the immortal seed of a true-to-life adventurer; I decided to subdue Tabaco and bring along the trophy of my 26th cave.

Lush vegetation surrounding the entrance of Tabaco Cave 

The trail is short, tumbled through grasses and fields; the entrance, surrounded by strangler figs (balete) creeping through its walls and ripe Ficus (tebbeg) decorated the vicinity. Multitudes of birds twittered a more staccato melody than our mumblings.

"They are chanting a welcome song to us", I told my team as I heard them shouting with excitement, "come inside, come inside, it's beautiful here".

As we go deeper, the pale light slowly vanished chamber per chamber, and the path went narrower and muddier; and wetter. We entered a dripping landscape jeweled with countless speleothems with sparkling walls, draped with flowstones, coralloids and draperies like an icing of a cake.

The fiery glow of a Sparrassidae spider compound eyes reflected as our torches hit her, protecting its egg case from intruders like an alien from the gruesome movie Starship Troopers. This viscious arachnid feeds on bent-toed geckos, whip scorpions, crickets and small invertebrates seeking refuge in the darkness. Not too far, a gastropod (Otala punctata snail), a common cave resident, found comfort in the moist, cave walls, sliding past its way among cracks and holes for safety.

Biodiversity inside the cave

The second chamber was a test for stamina and grit. A very squeezing tunnel of mud leading to a dungeon of giant columns and flowstones mystified us with the gargantuan figure of a guardian spirit, an altar formation, Our Lady and a stylized human figure among others. Some may have or hardly been so recognizable without a formidable imagination but no matter what, their presence lends an enduring magic to the cave and that magic adds to the special enchantment that is only found in exploring inhospitable places such as Tabaco.

Here, you must learn the art of cave crawling or duck walking.

One of the many chambers of Tabaco

A series of entrance boggled our minds as we approached the next hollow. Fortunately, our guide knew better. This part of the cave can trick you as several entry points congregate as one to form a maze. To prevent such mistake, a sign was placed, etched from the hanging stalactite near the correct entry point to guide spelunkers inside; the sign broke my heart - a stalactite that guarded the correct way was intentionally cut.

The entrance going to the largest chamber, the Big Dome

We reached the largest part of Tabaco; a vast expanse of emptiness, as large as a coliseum thus the name "the big dome". The big dome can only be appreciated with a powerful pilot lamp; unfortunately our camera flashes and small head lights couldn't saturate the entirety of the coliseum. The dome lends a feel of totally primeval; such a place where evolution of man probably took place - a refuge of our ancestry, the Homos. It reminds me of the domes of Callao Caves where first known Philippine man, the Homo luzonensis thrived and the Lascaux Cave in France where Neanderthal cave arts endured the test of centuries. The high ceiling of the dome harbours cauldron of bats circling an almost perfectly rounded depression like a "siliasi" from above as our lights frantically disturbed them. There, you can only hear their wing flaps and the eternal sound of sprinkles of mineralized water from the tips of hanging stalactites. On this chamber, the cave floors are wet due to the drops and water flows, combined with the rich guanos from the flying mammals. The spectacular view of the nervous bats evoke the unfettered feels of a true nature explorer without fear.

A maze that amazes

The final part of our caving experience at Tabaco yielded a surprise and a bit regret. Below, we need to get past a paddy-like terrain, as wet as a rice field. The nitrogen-rich soil, guano and bat urine concoction flooded our shoes; some of us removed them. I myself would have rejected going in the last and loneliest chamber if it's not for the guides who carried me along past the muddy landscape.

It was a relief though after; we came to a land of a formless abyss, full of spires and stalagmites. A herculean megalith formation was a wonder to behold, shimmering in ever changing lights from our torches. The marvelous formations in this chamber spawned a total abstraction of patterns; a labyrinth of mazes of the underworld; each formation must demand an absolute expansive imagination from a spectator to get the best of it; the rocks possess more than enough on their own.

We escaped out from an exit that was not our entrance and we had a feeling of an intrigue in our minds as we breath another fresh air. Now I know that Tabaco is just the tip of an iceberg of the total potential of Santa Teresita, waiting to be discovered more of its pride. I realized that Santa Teresita is not a barren, bleak landscape, I swear.

The entrance to a muddy terrain

And on a day when the wind was chill, and the sky bonnet-blue with bands of black clouds, I promised to return to the place of unforseen beauty and adventures; to the place of concealed charm not so many initially had thought - thanks to its many fantabulous caves, a representation that Santa Teresita is truly an unexpected geological anomaly.

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TALLAG ROCK FORMATIONS: A STANDING GEOLOGIC MONUMENT WITH TIMELESS CONFIDENCE

TALLAG ROCK FORMATIONS: A STANDING GEOLOGIC MONUMENT WITH TIMELESS CONFIDENCE

 📌 Tallag, Gonzaga, Cagayan, Philippines

I felt the sharp sting of blowing sand to my face and heard the growl of eternal high Pacific waves crashing onto a rustic, rocky beach. Prevailing wind patterns from the immense Babuyan Channel create a masterpiece of arts, molding ancient sedimentary and sandstone boulders into magnificent pieces of giant carvings that any mind could imagine. Together with the notorious barrage of unending wave blitzkrieg, natural erosion and accretion, the great wild shore of Tallag, Gonzaga, Cagayan in northeastern Philippines has transformed into a wilderness haven with timeless confidence.

Wild shores of Tallag, Gonzaga, Cagayan

The Philippines lies tropical near the equator, ravaged by storms and typhoons - occasionally since weather disturbances that conceived from the Pacific, west of the Marianas follow familiar tracks westward. These weather rampages have made the coasts of Cagayan, particularly those facing directly the immensity of the Pacific, a rough, craggy but portrait-worthy landscapes and seascapes of high drama.

Inside one of the caverns in Tallag

The 40-kilometer long northern coast of Gonzaga is a conglomeration of different types of beaches that varies from dark, fine magnetite sand, to golden and white sand beaches, owing to its coral reefs and beds near the shores.

Those that can be found in the western coast, bordering the small municipality of Santa Teresita however have rocky black sand, rustic and vicious feels while the eastern landscape offers a more, serene, tamed white sand and coral shallows sharing boundery with the elegant town of Santa Ana.

A hiker dwarfed by the massive boulders at Tallag Beach

Amid the wild and the tamed; between these contrasting coastlines are fine black sands where most of the resorts dotted the central part of the coast where waters are more tranquil, and the shores are shallow. Such attractions include the popular Kangaroo Beach, Sasa Beach Resort, Alexa Beach and the cozy Balai Baibai.

Beautiful sea gypsies

But born to be in the wild, I chose to trespass the western coast and subjugate its wild, roaring beach in Tallag, rather than to lie flat on the placid shores of Kangaroo, chill in the coffee shop at Balai Baibai or go shell-searching in the white sands of Matara strolling eastward. It is something not many put into their bucket list as far as beach bumming is concerned as it is reserved only for the adventurers with penchant of the untamed, feral great outdoors.

Molded by angry currents, the rock formations in Tallag evoke an expanse of massive rocks and cliffs extending into the shoreline. Layers of history can be found embeded in its sedimentary rock cliff sides, a testimony of its dark past of its creation, eras ago. Its wrinkled cliffs meet the sea with a constant, perpetual blast of the force of nature that further shapes the seascape. In the far future, what we witness today would be so different during those time that would come; a phenomenal capability of nature for reconstruction and redesigning of its own landscape.

A white sand beach on the eastern coast of Gonzaga

Known as "the eye" in Tallag, a wave-cut arch serves as the landmark and most prominent defining icon of Tallag; coastal rocks and the sea - together they embody a realm of blinding inseparable duo of a single spectacular scene.

The Eye, facing the immensity of the Pacific Ocean

The evolution of Tallag Rock Formations is a complex story of geologic forces; of ocean currents and dominating winds. The huge waves fostered by the winds torpedoeing Tallag's jagged shores and cape is Gonzaga's highest wave-energy in terms of frequency, duration and magnitude. The result is a mixed air and mist of water, perpetuating abundant oxygen, leading to the growth of algae and protists in tide lines that in turn supporting other marine life that is making part of the ecological food chain. More at home under rock crevices and ledges, sea crabs fearfully hide underneath upon hearing human mumbling and footsteps. Barnacles grow steadily among rocks and tide lines where rich seawater touches them. At its shallows, a sea slug can be seen inching its way through algae where it feeds.

Nature is the best medicine for serenity 

From far away, Tallag Rocks can be seen defenseless against the pounding Pacific surf as sea rocks slowly crumble overtime on the weathered coast of western Gonzaga. The craggy seascape and caverns shall all that remain of a headland jutting out to the sea for another massive amount of time in the future.

A gasp of history from the sedimentary rocks of Tallag

And until the enormous power of nature ceases, we still continue to be amazed with that magnificent cloak of the great wild shores of Gonzaga carved during the Jurassic Period, still a standing monument with timeless confidence all over again. ©️

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LOST IN THE SUNRISE PROVINCE

THE ACCIDENTAL LOST IN ORIENTAL

📌 Baganga, Davao Oriental, Mindanao

PROLOGUE: The story of how I accidentally went into the easternmost seaboard of the Philippines outside the planned itinerary. God sent a good samaritan to the rescue.

Davao Oriental, the easternmost province of the Philippines 

BACKPACKING-type of travel is not easy. You need to plan your itinerary by yourself from commuting to selecting your hotels and destinations. While there are numerous cheap travel agencies to arrange your tours to make yourself worry less of the mess and complexity of traveling, I always prefer the DIY (Do It Yourself) Version since time immemorial to exercise my freedom without the pressure of time constraint that is usually a problem if you opt to join an organized tour. Besides, traveling by ourselves develops our courage, resourcefulness and adaptability, in as much as we always learn something more challenging and new. There is a major disadvantage of DIY tour however: the commuting problem; and there my unforgettable story of courage, decision-making and wit went on... 

Mount Apo as seen from Samal Island, Davao Del Norte 

My supposed Plan A destination on Day 1 was conquering Mount Apo in Davao Del Sur, the country's loftiest peak at nearly 3 kilometers above sea level. It would take 3 days to reach the summit and that would consume half of my time in Davao since I only have a week to spend in the so called "land of promise". I resorted into plan B which was to investigate the natural richness of Mount Hamiguitan, a mountain range that is prolific in biodiversity declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site due to its extensive wildlife not found anywhere else on the planet. It is located on the southernmost tip of eastern Mindanao in the peninsular Davao Oriental about 6 hours bus travel from Davao City occupying the administrative boundaries of Mati City, San Isidro and Gov. Generoso.

There I encountered the first challenge: you cannot climb Mount Hamiguitan alone even with a hired guide. There should be at least 20 hikers or above based from my impromptu research. Moreover, if you have to reach its peak, you are required to stay on its base camps for atleast 2 days to maximize the mountain's grandeur. These failures have taught me a lesson that no mountains can ever be tamed easily. You must study it, respect its majesty, nevertheless you are not negotiating an ordinary mountain. They are Mindanao's crowning glories and I have underestimated their prowess.

Aliwagwag Falls, the Philippines highest and longest waterfalls

As a result, I resorted instead into reaching Aliwagwag Falls, the Philippines' longest and highest waterfalls made up of numerous, powerful cascades, producing an eternal mist of droplets in the air. There was only one direct trip from Davao City to Aliwagwag, Davao Oriental - 2:00AM in the morning. That was impractical for me, waking up that too early after the previous day's productive helter-skelters. I preferred to rest though, and decided to take a cutting trip 7:00AM by the morning. I risked my chance. I rode a dilapidated bus from Davao City Ecoland Terminal going to Compostela Valley, Davao De Oro Province. The travel time was so terrible that took seven enduring hours.

At 2:00PM, I alighted with haggard looks at Compostela, the capital town of Davao De Oro. Again, there were no regular public transports plying the Compostela -Aliwagwag route so I was forced to hire a habal-habal, the counterpart of a traysikel in Luzon. I commissioned the driver to bring me to Aliwagwag Falls Park and Resort. It took me a staggering 800 pesos for one way! I felt I was tricked but I couldn't do anything with his condition of "take it or leave it". It rained so it poured.

The beauty of Mindanao Island

Along the way, my only consolation was the beauty of the panoramic Mindanao valleys and uplands, cloud-drenched mountains and verdant tropical rainforests embedded with numerous waterfalls just found along the zigzagging road. I reached Aliwagwag Falls after that 3-hour back-aching ride. The falls was immensely powerful, a sort of a kind I haven't seen before. It was named after the remote rural village in the municipality of Cateel (pronounced as ka-TE'-el), Davao Oriental where Aliwagwag Falls, the country's highest waterfall, is located.

The massive force of the Aliwagwag Falls

Aliwagwag is situated in the Eastern Mindanao Biodiversity Corridor which contains one of the largest remaining blocks of tropical lowland rainforest in the Philippines. It is a declared protected landscape in the country that occupies an important bird and biodiversity area in the Upper Cateel River Basin of the Agtuuganon–Pasian mountains. Its forest is home to the Philippine eagle as well as several other threatened and endemic bird species. It is also home to the tallest trees in the Philippines, the Philippine rosewood, known locally as "toog". There in my way, tons of logs and lumber could be found.

I was supposed to spend the night at the Aliwagwag; the inns found in the national park but due to lack of research, only then that I have realized and known that the park was closed for renovation and no swimmming was allowed ever since the start of 2020 pandemic. There was no cellphone signal. No data. No jeepneys or buses except for rare private vehicles that passed by occasionally. I felt disappointed as I carried with me my heavy hiking paraphernalias and necessities that deemed useless that time. Sightseeing and photoshoots however were allowed.

It was 5:00PM and darkness was approaching. With a light drizzle, I decided to go in a small coffeshop near the falls while waiting for any public transports going into the town proper of Cateel where I could spend the rest of the night. There was none! Even just one, after waiting for an hour. I asked a vendor and told me there were no regular vehicles plying the area and I was like in desperate "what the hell" reaction. If by hook or by crook happens, I have to sleep in a waiting shed because there aren't any houses that can be found near the place. Should I honestly tell the vendor to sleep in her home for the night? That's awkward. Then I silently prayed for divine help.

Not long, a meat delivery truck from Compostela has stopped by the coffeshop. Two men alighted and ordered some durian coffee and a baguette to rest for a while; probably to fight off drowsiness and cold. They were heading to the coastal town of Baganga to deliver their produce. After their brief coffee, I humbly asked if I could hitch a ride with them going to Cateel town so I could look for some hotel and spend the night there before returning to Davao City the following day.

"Yes sure", answered the younger man named RJ Lumpas. Together with his father, I rode their truck heading to Cateel. But along the way, RJ, whose driving the truck told me that they could only bring me to the crossing going to Cateel proper since they were heading towards Baganga heading south. Cateel is directed north. From the crossing, it was not sure whether there would be another habal-habal or tricycles entering Cateel since it was already late afternoon. The town was sparsely populated.

Pilot's View Beach in the town of Baganga

"Why not just go with us in Baganga?", RJ offered. "There are hotels there where you can stay, besides, there are alot more places to visit at Baganga than there are in Cateel", he added. I analyzed the situation very well and as we conversed many things along the way, I put my trust to God and agreed to go with them at Baganga. I learned a lot from him about the life in Mindanao and to their place. He admitted that he has never been in Manila or Luzon ever upon knowing that I was from northern Luzon. I saw the great smile in his face when I told him that he saved my life somehow. Without he and his father, I couldn't have come to look somewhere to sleep. He, being a christian, told me that it's not a big deal helping people in distress. He knew I was a stranger and maybe lost and that already warrants help rather than take advantage to people you don't know. 

To maximize my time, RJ then pulled over the truck and stopped at a point called Ban-ao Beach (Banao), the second easternmost point of land in the Philippines. We were facing the vastness of the Pacific Ocean that time and in front of us was a beautiful islet, so serene that could take your breath away.

Ban-Ao Beach, facing the tide line of the Pacific Ocean 

After nearly 2 hours of winding road trip from Aliwagwag to Baganga, it was already dark when we stopped to our destination at RJ and Jane Meat Shop where they would deliver their products. I later found out that he was the owner of such business. Before we parted ways, RJ contacted his friend named Nonoy Hapitan to guide me the following day in some tourist destinations in their town.

Nonoy, with his extraordinary tricycle came and brought me at Habibi Pension House, about 5 minutes from the town center of Baganga. I slept early because the next day, I would be going back to Davao City; there was only 1 trip at 2:00PM. I should catch it. That means for half day, I have to explore Baganga and maximize my time there.

Lake Carolina surrounded by mangrove forest

By 7:00 AM, morning, Nonoy, my guide led me first in a local restaurant to have a breakfast of balbacua, a cattle's skin soup. The taste was chewy fantastic. There, a kilo of durian costs just 80 pesos. I voraciously ate two kilos in one sitting since durian is rare and expensive back in Luzon.

At Lake Carolina, I was amazed by the lush greeneries and mangroves surrounding the area. The lake is elongated and brackish; during clear weather, you can actually see the bottom of the crystal clear lake with limestone beds and coralloid growths.

Being a thalassophile myself, I requested my guide to go beach bumming. We landed at Pilots View Beach, so tranquil there were hardly people. The sand was immaculate white under the sun and the waters are turquoise blue green crystal. Staring afar, I was actually seeing the vastness of the Pacific Ocean infront of me; not far was the Philippine Deep, a trench in the ocean that is among the deepest in the world at 11 kilometers below. The next major landmass you could touch eastward would be the State of California in the mainland US. That's how vast the Pacific you could imagine.

The long stretch of uninterrupted white beach in Baganga

Davao Oriental is the eastern most province of the Philippines and a part of Baganga is the 2nd place in the Philippines where sunlight hits first, next to the town of Caraga at Pusan Point, the geographic easternmost point in the Philippines. Since the eastern Mindanao faces the massive Philippine trench, a product of herculean geological forces that constantly happening within the Earth, it is no wonder that the area has numerous hotsprings and vents serving as outlets from the heat within the Earth. The Balete Hotsprings at Kinablangan, in the municipality of Baganga offers such hot bath and pampering using the healing property of nature.

The pampering of natural hot springs 

Along the way, we stopped at San Victor Island, a small elongated island sandbar resort just few meters from the road. It is one of the 7,146 islands in the Philippines and one of the major tourist spots in Baganga. From the map, San Victor Island is actually the second easternmost island beach resort in the country next to the bigger Poo Sand Bar and Mermaid Atoll. The Sunrise Boulevard lives up to its name as it is literally the very first boulevard in the entire country to hit by the sunlight. It is comparable to Manila's Roxas Boulevard but is quieter, cleaner and more natural without the bustling crowds. Its shores are white sand and mangrove-fringed providing a spectacular dramatic scene in the morning. An enormous typhoon has destroyed some of the mangrove forests along its shores and are still into recuperating. The view with the remnants of the dead trees on the beach still standing was so cataclysmic as if the Earth has been into Armageddon.

Sunrise Boulevard at Brgy. Kinablangan

It was 2:00PM; a UV Express van's schedule going back to Davao City. I shouldn't miss it because it's the only way I could go back to the city, or else my schedules would be ruined again. I would have stayed for long there in Baganga if it were not my schedule in Samal Island, back in Davao del Norte the following day. I haven't saturated the beauty of Baganga yet. But I was thankful for that accidental lost in that province. I couldn't have reached that place; especially the fact that it is there where the first sunlight is occuring daily. That was just so awesome, not everyone else could experience. I might have been lost but I gained, not to elaborate the experiences.

Inside the van going back to Davao City, I realized that the world we are in is very small and the life we have is very short. Make your life happen and make other's life happen too. Stop the selfishness, stop the hate and always spread your helping hands. We do not know when we're in the situation of distress. So always choose to be kind which doesn't cost any penny. 

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If it happened that you intentionally go, or by chance you would reach Baganga, Davao Oriental, you may contact in FB Mr. Rex Guhayon (real name RJ Lumpas) owner of RJ and Jane Meat Shop, and or Mr. Nonoy Hapitan, a local that turned into a guide by the time I was lost. They will be friendly enough to help you. Generosity is just your deal.

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APAYAO, THE LAST ECOLOGICAL FRONTIER OF THE CORDILLERAS

APAYAO, THE LAST ECOLOGICAL FRONTIER OF THE CORDILLERAS

📌 Katablangan, Conner, Apayao, CAR

Making up the northern portion of the Cordillera mountains, the Philippines' second most extensive range, Apayao province is an ecological anomaly, despite being the youngest in the Cordillera Region and the least densely-populated province in the entire country.

Yet, it is this sparsely-peopled characteristic that makes Apayao the last ecological frontier in the Cordilleras, almost untouched by the madness of even the seasoned travelers, though still out from most adventurer's itinerary. It is this remoteness, the thickness of its tropical rainforests, mostly uncharted, out-of-the-way and trail-less terrains that preserves its dynamic nature frontiers and unique wilderness, incomparable from most provinces. It is the region's landlocked environ; clasped between the immense Cagayan Valley in the east, the narrow strip of Ilocandian plains in the west and the equally lofty Caraballo range in the south that sculpted the multi-faceted milieu of the grand Cordilleras.

Highlands of Conner, Apayao Province 

A remarkable inventory of nature's bounty can be found in the municipality of Conner, the southernmost town of Apayao, sharing its border with the province of Kalinga.

Staring stunned by the verdant atmosphere, the outskirts of Conner, where the predominant ethnic group known as the Isnegs thriving very well in harmony with the nature, is a place of richness to behold; richness that are tangibly rarer on the entire solar system than the precious diamonds - trees.

Richness of the tropical rainforest of Apayao

The westernmost, the last, the largest and the wildest of all barangays found in Conner, the outskirts of Katablangan is a majesty of a kingly nature wonder. It is surrounded by glass-clear, potable rivers, super-ethereal waterfalls, most of which still undiscovered by many and mountains adorned by lush tropical forest canopies, a perfect thriving ground for the endangered, and national icon Philippine eagle. In fact, one specimen was caught by a local Isneg hunter, turned it over to DENR Baguio before finally transferred to an eagle sanctuary in the province of Laguna; a testimony of how nurturing the thick jungles of Apayao to myriad forms of wild biodiversity and other players of the fragile ecosystem.

Apayao is surrounded by glass-clear, potable rivers

The unpolluted rivers of Barren, Alawing and Lakkong that emanate from the headwaters of Katablangan near the border of Abra province render fishes and other bounty for the local consumption; sometimes the exotic but tasty igat (river eel), the crispy-when-fried palileng (goby fish) and the delectable agatol, alternately called kappi (forest crabs) are served to visitors who happen, or atleast brave enough to let the night pass in Katablangan, a once covered-in-darkness barangay, longing for illimination at night; until the success of their hydro power plant (Katablangan Micro Hydro-Power Plant) that powered, lighted the village.

The power source of Katablangan Mini Hydro-Power Plant

The small community of Katablangan is off the target in terms of tourism industry because of its craggy-muddy roads, exclusively for horses or sturdy-bodied motorcycles, precipitous cliffsides posing perils to people when raining and its kilometric distance from the main town center; all contribute to its seemingly unnoticed, unheard reputation but a silent refuge of insurgency - atleast to people who have little or worse, lacking knowledge about the truths of the place.

A view of the outskirts of Conner, Apayao

That is not the real case however; if one could just able to commune with what Katablangan could offer - nature. Its consolation: a combo of supernatural nature's allure and the hospitality of the local people joining as one in celebrating one's presence that figuratively, happens once in a blue moon. It is uncommon to see unfamiliar faces in this village, much less if the person is a foreigner, because outsiders visit Katablangan only for reasons of certain projects, surveillance, humanitarian efforts or concerns in relation to the environment and nothing else, but absolutely not for leisure travel.

A supernatural nature's allure 

But a true traveler knows no boundaries; be it in the heavily thronged Tagaytay mountains, bustling metropolis or in the hardly reached uplands anywhere in Apayao. A real traveler chooses the harder paths without hesitation; he is always on the run for the vast unknown; he wants to be different, not the sorts of a commoner...

A true adventurer always chooses the hardest paths

I call it attraction and love at first sight. I have not been in a community as far-flung as the outskirts of Conner - in Katablangan, and though, the sugarcane wine or "basi" played some supporting role with that statement.

It was not true nevertheless, that the Isnegs are notorious and fierce head-hunters. In fact, they are very reserved, able to get along with other ethnic groups and have that unique beauty which is different and doesn't blend or compared well with the sightliness of other Cordilleran ethnicity such as the Ifugaos, Kalingas or the Igorots.

Sugarcane wine or "basi" is a chief local produce in Apayao

During our course of agenda, we attended a traditional Isneg party that night of our stay in the village of Katablangan. There is beauty and amazement in the sounds of the Cordilleran night, exciting my heart with its beats in congruence to the clanging "gangsa". The folksmen and women gracefully danced under the moonlight; every movement has meaning in a sacred drumming of the sweet-clangoring "gangsa", yet I was so fascinated by the warmth and friendliness the Isnegs have shown.

Apayao's wild nature (captured by Jovie Tangilen)

That night, before we leave by morning, the echoes of the Cordilleras resounded through the tropical rainforests from dusk until dawn. I know there is a part in here that captured my very heart...

A typical Isneg beauty: capturing a wanderer's heart

Apayao's wild nature is the well spring of its beauty, and the reason that travelers, wanderers and poets will continue to probe for what the province never can give but always offers. I have a memory of that feeling in day one from the bumpy motorcycle ascent through the rainforest terrains of Katablangan, down to our last night with its welcoming people; a woman, epitome of the unique allure of the Cordilleras, an embodiment of a modest lady now rare and rarely seen, passed by before me, and for a brief moment, I stared her coy, glimmering eyes.

Wilderness, the essence of Apayao

An instant later, she disappeared, melted in sight of the night leaving with me a look into the eye of unknowable wilderness that is the essence of Apayao, the last ecological frontier of the Cordilleras.

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SICALAO, THE LAST FRONTIER

 THE ENIGMA OF NEGRO CAVE: UNCOVERED

📌 Negro Cave (Cueba Negro), Sicalao, Lasam, Cagayan, Philippines 

"The array of geological formations at Sicalao was preternatural. So was the wildlife and its countless natural dignified wonders not so known to the ordinary."

I spent so many years roaming the great outdoors and into the wild in pursuit of how I would be able to quench the thirst of going outside where I can truly find the world of enchantment I am looking for. Not in gigantic malls. Never in crowded parks. Neither in romantic theaters, nor in fancy restaurants.

I was not so coerced and impressed with modernized marvels created by human technologies but rather by the sceneries  sculpted by the Earth's innate forces and the nurturing of Mother Nature.

Over the years of exploring into the wild and the great outdoors

I was dreaming of  trekking the vastness of the Amazon, conquering the peaks of the lofty Kilimanjaro, enduring the aridity of the Australian Outback or even braving the hostility of the Antarctic realm. But I could never fool myself into thinking I was in some dream place of nowhere. After all, I was in Sicalao, the incontestable and the last ecological frontier of Lasam, Cagayan.

The last, the largest and the wildest, Sicalao lies east of the still formidable Cordillera hemlines and southwest of the municipality; amid of it, runs the prowess of the life-giving Zinundungan river, paving the way to the geological rise of the great Zinundungan Valley . 

Colorful gecko, a testimony of Sicalao's rich biodiversity 

Much, if not all of Sicalao's inventories of its natural benisons are tucked hidden on the massive  tropical rainforests and limestone mountains near its border in Flora, an adjacent municipality in the province of Apayao. 

This positioning cleaves a realm where  potentiating extremes engage in one of nature's most fascinating dramas of duality: wetness and wildness; the wetter, the wilder. And the continuous barrage of alternating wet and dry shapes the indefinable landscapes of Sicalao that conceal its unknown charms only the seasoned outdoorsy could find.

Tropical Sicalao supporting myriad of wildlife

That one fine, misty morning, accompanied by my support team led by Ka Ali Cabison, I pinned my map and geo-tagged my GPS to the unknown of Sicalao, the last frontier; uncharted and unfamiliar. It was strange; unnerving to explore one of the most fearsome, unnoticed, unpublished caves in the entire town.

Explore Lasam™️ Team, with lead guide Ali Cabison (2nd from left)

But the magnanimity of my spirit with my insatiable quest for new amazement has brought me into the hell-like interior of the blackened Negro Cave...

It was a huge mystery relief that I was eventually able to uncover the enigma of its namesake, "negro" which meant "black".

The Negro Cave lives up to its namesake: "black"

Not so many people know about the Negro Cave though, even among the people of its locality. While Sicalao is the most visited destination in Lasam because of its clean rivers, majestic waterfalls and the iconic Sicalao Bridge popular to the mob, its caves remain as the less frequented ports of call to any visitor.

For decades since its first footing, no more than a dozen of single individuals have invaded Negro Cave; probably fewer than the humans that went to the moon. It was almost hidden and creepy.

More people went on the Moon than in Negro Cave 

This narration by Mang Jerry Lomibao, one of my guides and among the first known raider of this dark, black cave only stirred my curiosity and craving for "pioneerism".

For me, it is always been great to be the first, if not among the firsts; the very few firsts.

It's not all about feeding our egoistic tendency but rather, it's all about our delicate chance to see the most raw, the most beautiful, the most natural and the most untouched form of that wonderful place taken into account before they could be vandalized, defaced or humanized.

Documenting the Negro Cave before it will be totally humanize

"There is a mystic and a magic to this place", I sighed.

Negro's spacious double domes  are empty in many ways and yet, full in others. There's nothing so special as to be inside pointing my torch into its walls full of draperies, some flowstones, columns and helictites - all in monochromatic black to grayish hue. Its commanding dark color was so bizaare for a cave that is found in Sicalao. Most of the others, including the Isus Cave and Abot de Sicalao Cave (both previously featured) are white to brownish due to the natural hue of the calcite and limestone. The Negro Cave lacks the usual defining characteristic of a cave - stalactites and stalagmites; the major speleothems in general.

Lacking the usual speleothems or cave formations

Therre might be some, but not that conspicuous or very pronounced. It is bleak in its natural state, yet it has something grabby inside - a gushing and cold river stream seeping and oozing from somewhere else underground. 

Its ceilings are not adorned by imaginative formations of stalactites, anthodites or other speleothems. But rather a regularly arranged circular depressions in light color decorate the overheads, with protrusions in a sea waves resemblance.

Extravagant ceiling of the Negro Cave

From its nothingness, life still teems silently. Forest crabs could be seen in the streams of running water inside this vastness of unending night. Whip scorpions, crickets and frugivorous and insectivorous chiropterans not on swarms are the normal residents.

The cave walls  are constantly wet, and not too many bats find Negro as their comfort dwelling of choice.

The dark, black, constantly wet interior of Negro Cave

Resembling as lava rocks, the black, darkened scapes of Negro could have been due to fungi growth, atleast for one reason. Breathing caves pull in air from the surface as barometric pressure rises so there are fungal spores in the cave. A fungus can live without any sunlight as long as it has a source of energy. That source is  biomass that gets washed into the cave, so we normally see no life deep within cave except for the rare forms of extremophiles that have adapted to some source to replace breaking down biology, such as sulfur or hydrocarbon feeding.

The black hue may be due to mineral lints or fungal growth

Another reason for its charcoal-charred appearance could be due to the byproducts of bacteria that can photosynthesized in total darkness. Or could be the natural state of the sedimentary rocks that formed this specific cave.

Or does it suggest a possible coal deposits?

Regardless of the reason, Negro Cave is stunning in its bleakness. It is more interesting in its lackness than in what it has to offer.

The Negro Cave, beautiful in its nothingness 

This abyssal landscape possesses an alien, other-worldly feels, worse to compare - the Hades, literally the underworld. Gray and black dominate a minimalist spectrum ruled by walls of rocks and very little else. Soil hardly exists. The flooring is cobbled with limestones, with occasional cave corals or coralloids.

This barren immensity of the underworld was beautifully crafted by the Earth's fiery eons ago.

Sculpted by time millions of years ago

In 1961, the "Sicalao Limestones" was defined by scientists Durkee and Pederson in reference to the limestones that can be found in the western flank of Cagayan, facing the Cordilleras. Sicalao thus, sits on unconformable volcanic rocks and can be traced continuously from Luna, Apayao to the north, southward to Salegseg in Kalinga province.

Its stratigraphic position suggests a probable Late Oligocene age or about 30 million years ago.

Millions of years old

And so, this timeless splendor of the land before time continue to exist to amaze us. Negro Cave, an underrated outdoorsman's paradise has never failed me to project an awesome sight, exhilarating and utterly breath-taking extravagance of nature.

Extravagance of nature

As we left the place, there in my unflappable mind, I was already anticipating prospect of another memorable day on a land not as perfect as the Amazon, Kilimanjaro, Australia or Antarctica but equally intriguing and fascinating.™️

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