This Calinawan Cave is my first caving experience so I'm kinda exited :) So after enjoying ourselves bathing in the cold waters of Daranak Falls, we decided to move on to our next side trip which is the Calinawan Cave not far away from the falls. We asked one of the caretakers of the falls to get us a guide going to the cave and to our surprise, our guide seems to be the daughter of the sari sari store owner in near our rented table. She told us that it will be P200 to guide us (we were four) from the falls to cave and back but we haggled it down to P100 for four people.
After the negotiations, we started preparing for the short 20 minute trek to the cave. We asked our guide specifically if we can take a visit to the grotto near there and our guide told us that passing by the grotto is actually one way to reach the cave so off we go using that route.
We exited the falls' main gate and walked on the main road going to the grotto. After a few minutes of walking, the grotto is already in sight and we would turn left to a few steps down some stairs, and a river crossing after that. What lies ahead is the challenging 200 steps stairs up to the grotto!
After surviving the ascent, we were rewarded with cold fresh air and awesome views of the mountains surrounding the falls.
Grotto of Our Lady of Rawang
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| The house behind the grotto |
The trek continues on unpaved roads with few houses lined up and after around 10 minutes, you'll be reaching the cave's entrance.
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| Need to register first |
The fee for entering the cave is P20 per person and P100 for the tour guide with a maximum of 5 persons per guide.
As what our guide explained before entering the cave, the cave used to be a fort for the katipuneros way back the Spanish settlement in the Philippines. They told us that we will be only touring the first two levels of the cave as the other parts are still yet to be explored, and according to them, a deeper exploration of the cave will start again in summer because currently, the deeper levels are muddy because of the rains during this rainy season.
Our ate guide and the entrance of the Cave
The first few minutes of the descent to the cave was breathtaking as you would be overwhelmed by amazing stalactite and stalagmite formation all around you. But then our guide had to burst my bubble of amazement by telling us that some part of the cave near the entrance was used to be a set for a local telenovela and that the shining silver dots on the wall were actually glitters placed by the production team. And as we got down, we saw some man made concrete and wood props made by the said TV show and some paint and more glitters on the cave walls.
As we went deeper into the cave, our guide told us that the cave walls must not be touched as according to her, the shining cave walls are 'alive' and a simple human touch will kill it. Atleast now, she said that the deeper part of the cave are free from human intervention and everything our eyes can see are all natural wonders.
It's really dark and scary inside the cave and so I wondered if there have been cases of someone getting lost inside the cave. Our guide responded and told us that there is actually one guy who got separated from their group and after getting lost for around 2 hours inside the cave, he was found with his body covered in blood as he got wounds all over because he panicked and just rushed himself trying to find the exit, only to find out that he was actually just going in circles. Phew, scary! Better stick close to your tour guide if you're planning to explore the cave! :)
After some ducking along tight corridors and amazing sights of stalactites and stalagmites, we were near to the exit of the caves and all I could say is that Calinawan Cave is a true beauty of nature and the local government must help in maintaining it as it is.
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| The muddy part of the caves going to the lower levels |
After some few rounds photo ops near the cave exit, we bid our guide goodbye as we are on our way back to Daranak Falls.
This time, we used a different
trail going back to the falls. Instead of passing through the grotto,
we will be trekking on the muddy trails behind the falls. Some parts of the trail were very challenging because we are only wearing our flip flops and sandals but after around 20 minutes, we are already back to Daranak Falls and we took a last dip on the cold waters before taking a shower and heading home.
It was a really great birthday adventure and although I wasn't able to see Batlag Falls, I know for sure that I will be returning to this amazing place! :)
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