Chasing Waterfalls and Caving in Libmanan, Camarines Sur

It is quite a surprise that there are still a lot of unexplored gems in the province of Camarines Sur. One of which is hidden in the municipality of Libmanan, a 1^st class municipality about 34.1 kilometers away from Naga City.

It is a good thing that adventure groups such as the group of Sir Jojo Villareal of Kaddlagan Outdoor Adventure organize activities such as the Maximum Outdoor Adventure in which my friend and I joined last Nov. 21, 2016.

We paid Php 650.00 as registration fee which was inclusive of roundtrip fare, use of equipment and tour guide fees.

We left Naga City at 7:00 am and arrived at Brgy. Duang Niyog at 8:00 am. We were welcomed by the Brgy. Captain and the team of Sir Jojo conducted briefing to the participants. From the drop-off point, we started our hike through a muddy, slippery and wet trail since it just rained hard the previous day.

Briefing by Sir Jojo Villareal of Kaddlagan Adventures prior the outdoor adventure

The trail.

Newly found adventurous friends.

We hiked for about 1 ½ hours until we reached a calamansi farm where we were warmly offered a fresh calamansi juice by the owners. It was already overlooking the valley of Libmanan and with Mt. Isarog as the backdrop. Our companions even managed to pick calamansi, but since I was dead tired from the hike, I took advantage of the time to cool down and relax a bit.

We hiked again for about 30 minutes until we reached our first destination- Kulapnitan Cave. It is a dry cave where many bats thrive. It is just sad that many locals catch these nocturnal creatures for their consumption. The cave entrance has scaffoldings where they put nets to capture the bats. Before departing for or next stop, the staffs of Kaddlagan and some locals removed the wooden scaffolding.

Inside the cave is a very large chamber filled of guanos. It was very dark that you would really need flashlight for you to be able to see where to land your feet. At the end of the chamber is already a bit wet/moist.

Wet portion inside the cave.

End of the cave's chamber.

The cave entrance viewed from inside.

Afterwards, we did river trailing until we reached our 2^nd stop- the wet cave with underground river.

We first took our lunch outside the cave. Afterwards we waded into chest-deep river inside the cave, with very deep some portions. There are a lot of stalactites, stalagmites and column formations. It was just quite frustrating that my friend and I failed to bring our waterproof camera inside.

One of the small cascades just outside the wet cave.

Lunch outside the cave.

Inside, you have to hold on to very sharp rocks to be able to move forward. It was also very slipper inside.

We reached about 250 m from the entrance. It has been said that the locals haven’t reached the end of it yet. The formations are so beautiful that it will put you in awe.

Afterwards, we prepared for waterfalls rappelling. I felt nervous at first but just enjoyed the experience at mid-falls. We rappelled three falls, trailed the river, and trekked our way down the mountain. Darkness already engulfed us on our way down. Just one false move and we will fall deep into a ravine.

My friend Lyn getting  prepped up for the rappel.

Feeling the cascades after the rappel.

Sunset on top of the falls.

We managed to get down the falls without any equipemnt. We just held on to roots and plants.

It was a very exhausting experience but nonetheless worth every body pain!