Bukidnon Caves - Philippines Travel - Davao

Once you have tasted the thrill of caving, you will seek for more. Fortunately, many islands of the Philippines have caves. And even those inland places also have caves. And one of these inland provinces is the Bukidnon. This province is known to have about 80 to 90 known caves, with more caves still considered unknown and unexplored by humans.

The plateau of Bukidnon allows its people to have fresh harvests of pineapples, sugarcane, and cut flowers. Aside from these agricultural products, Bukidnon also have a booming handicraft industry. Handmade products from Bukidnon have earned both popularity and respect. These handicrafts are made of rattan, bamboo, and wood.

And some of the finished products are baskets, wood wares, carving, and mats. And recently, to help boost the economy of this province, the government, with the help of many other organizations, established an export industry. The usual exported products are rubber boots and shoes. These are the things we have learned about Bukidnon before we began our caving.

Since we wanted expert and knowledgeable guides, we followed a certain friend’s advice to get a guide from Speleo Mindanao. It is a local group of spelunkers who can provide us with equipment, helmets, life vests, and, of course, fun information or trivia. It is also the group of spelunkers who warned us that we will get wet afterwards.

Our route began with the 2.5 kilometer Sumalsag Cave. It is a relatively large cave with stalactites that look like tips of big rapiers rammed from the above ground. The stalagmites looked like melted mounds of candles. And there are some thick columns, which are rock formations that took shape when the stalactites and the stalagmites meet.

Then, our guide told us that to get out of this cave, we must have a short underwater swim. One of us asked if it is possible for us to go back the same way we came in. But the guide reasoned that such wouldn’t be an adventure at all. Besides, it is perfectly safe. So we got down the little pool and dived under. We followed our guide towards the exit. He was right, it was only a short swim. And we were out before we knew it.

We complained that we felt dirty and perhaps there’s a place where we can take a bath to rinse off sand and dust. I was thinking of shower booths, but our guide led us instead to the Basag Cave. Inside this cave are three waterfalls about as tall as any man.. But we didn’t stay in the pool longer than we need to. The water felt freezing. We got into dry clothes and then stared at the strange but fascinating rock formations in the cave.

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