TRAVEL:AN ISLAND TO HIGHLAND EXPERIENCE IN DAVAO

The Department of Tourism held a media tour last April to Davao for an “Island to Highland” experience.

There are more than 22 diving sites in Samal Island. First stop: Diving lessons at the Marissa Reef, Samal Island.

Marissa Reef looks like a mountain underwater. It boasts of its rich coral reefs and still unnamed sea creatures. Nudibranch, a shell-less mollusk, was spotted at the depths of the island. Marissa Reef is approximately 45 minutes boat ride from Sta. Ana Wharf Davao.

Second stop: Coral Garden, Talikud Island, Samal. Talikud Island, an approximately 5,000 hectares part of the Samal Island, boasts of its 150 hectares Coral Garden. As shallow as six feet underwater a wide stretch of coral garden greets divers as they plunge deeper into the heart of the sea.

There are also a lot of ship wrecks in the island. To date, some of them have been in existence since World War II. One of these is a Japanese ship wreck, with a depth of 100 to 130 feet, near the Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Samal Island.

Just in time for the island tour, a festivity for the richness of the sea was held in the province. It is the only nighttime festival in Davao. It was a sundown to sunup festival which started from 7pm of April 24 to 7am of April 25. Thousands of people celebrated the 5th Caracoles Festival at Sta. Ana Wharf, Davao City. The ceremony opened with the Jugar con Fuego, the grand Fire Island ritual, followed by the first phase of Baile del Año Street Mardigras, a dance competition, and other marine-inspired competitions like Estrella del Mar, a “FantaSea” creature contest; Gloria Maris, a haute couture and avant garde contest; and Artes Cuerpos, body paint portraits and murals competition. The contestants displayed a variety of fictional and non-fictional sea creatures as they walk and dance at the center stage. The festival aims to popularize the advocacy of protecting and preserving the marine life in the region.

THE HIGHLANDS

From the island, we went up to the mountains. A mountain resort 3,000 feet above sea level, the Eden Nature Park on the upper slopes of Mt. Talomo, Davao offers a great sky-ride and a vivid botanical tour in the province. This 80-hectare forest, of which 60 hectares are fully developed, is the only pine forest in Davao City.

Unlike most forests, Eden is 95% manmade. Its name came from a woman of the Bagobo tribe named Edeng. The Bagobo tribe is the first dweller in this mountain sanctuary. Once a logged-over area and orchard in the 70s, couple Chito and Fe Ayala developed the forest into a rich garden in which everything naturally grew healthy from plants to animals. Noticeably, the trees have white spots. “That is the sign that the place is unpolluted,” said one of the Eden Park’s tour guides.

With all the global warming, global financial crisis, and other saddening global news scattered through TV screens, radios and on the spreads of newspapers, the nature has its way to remind us that we humans can protect our resources, rebuild our forests and preserve our marine treasures if we would work together.