Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Another attraction here is a short
boat trip
that takes you to the
bat cave
, where at
dusk you can see great flocks of the creatures leaving to hunt.
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION
PEÑABLANCA CAVES
By tricycle
A tricycle from Tuguegarao to Callao Cave is
P500 including waiting time (30min). You can also hire a van
(P2500/day plus petrol), which is particularly worth doing if
you want to make a day of it and explore other caves nearby.
Guides
Contact the Sierra Madre Outdoor Club (see
opposite) for professional guides in caving and other
outdoor activities including mountaineering and trekking.
Rates for professional guides are P1000/day plus food, and
you'll need one guide per five people. Porters charge
P200-500/day depending on what they are carrying.
Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park
At almost 3600 square kilometres, the
Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park
remains one
of the country's last frontiers and well worth the trouble of getting there. Said by
conservationists to be the Philippines' richest protected area in terms of habitat and
species, the park is eighty percent land and twenty percent coastal area along a
spectacular, cliff-studded seashore.
One of the reasons for the health of the park's ecosystems is its inaccessibility. Though
small aircraft connect the towns of
Palanan
and
Maconacon
to the outside world, to
the east lies the Pacific, which is too rough for boats during much of the northeast
monsoon (Dec-Feb) and typhoon (July-Oct) seasons, while to the west no roads cross
the park or lead towards the more populated, rice-growing valleys.
The park has few wardens and no fences, so you can visit any time you want without
restriction; it is essential, however, to take a
guide
if you are to visit safely. A guide can
take you down the Palanan River to the village of
Sabang
, from where you can walk
through farmland and forest to
Disadsad Falls
, a high cascade that crashes through
dense forest into a deep pool. For some of the trip there's no trail, so you'll have to
wade upriver through the water. Another memorable trip from Palanan takes you
northwards along the coast to the sheltered inlets around the towns of Dimalansan
and Maconacon. On the isolated beaches here the
Dumagat
people establish their
temporary homes (see box below).
3
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
NORTHERN SIERRA MADRE NATURAL PARK
By plane
The small town of Palanan is the main gateway
to the park. Sky Pasada has weekly flights from Cauayan
(Tues, Fri & Sun 8.30am; 25min; P1900), as does Cyclone
Airways (1 daily - check for the latest schedules; 25min;
P2100). North Sky Air has flights from Tuguegarao to
Maconacon (Tues & Sat 8am; 30min; P2100). Sky Pasada
also connects Maconacon to Cauayan (Thurs & Sat
12.30pm; 20min; P2200).
By boat and bus
To avoid flying, it's possible to take a
long boat journey from San Vicente near Santa Ana (see
p.154) to Maconacon (8-10hr; P500), with boats departing
about once a week depending on the weather - check at
the port for the latest schedules. From Maconacon you
can change onto a second boat to Palanan (4hr; P500).
Alternatively, take a local bus from Santiago City in Isabela
province (itself an 8hr trip from Manila) to Dilasag in
THE DUMAGATS
The people known as the
Dumagats
are among the original inhabitants of the Philippines.
The word Dumagat translates roughly as “those who moved to the ocean”, and the area around
Palanan
is the last stronghold of their vanishing culture and way of life. Some have now
settled but others remain nomadic, living in small camps on the beaches around Palanan
where they build temporary sloping shelters from bamboo and dried grass. Life for the
Dumagats is simple in the extreme: they survive by hunting and gathering, using little modern
equipment. The main threats to their existence are through the commercialization and
exploitation of their homelands, along with exposure to diseases previously unknown to them.
Every March members of the nomadic Dumagat community join with the settled inhabitants
of Palanan for the
Sabutan festival
.
