Monday, February 27, 2012

Zipping the Lines: Dahilayan Adventure Park

If there’s such a thing, the Philippines can now be called the zip line capital of the world. It’s because in every major tourist destination in the country, you can always see this kind of thrilling activity. To name a few, there’s one in Loboc River in Bohol, Regency hotel in Cebu, Mitra’s ranch in Palawan, Embarcadero and Lignon Hill in Legazpi… picnic grove in Tagaytay (where I had my first zip line experience, three years ago) and a lot lot more.

Dahilayan Adventure Park claims to have the longest dual zipline in Asia (840 meters, 4500 meters above sea level.) A Sam Milby - KC Concepcion movie featured this park (along with Tinago falls in Iligan) adding promotion to the popular tourist destination.

From Cagayan de Oro, it took us a little more than two hours of travel to get to Bukidnon.  We availed the services of Kagay worth 2,150 pesos each. This includes all zip line rides in Dahilayan and the CDO whitewater rafting activity, plus transportation and buffet lunch.  We only have one day to spend for this activities so we settled for it.

7am, we were picked up by our van driver in our hotel, Parkview Hotel. Location-wise, this one is a good choice. It’s located in the famous DVsoria of CDO, strategically near to everything, I think. Haha.

It was a slow drive at first as there were a lot of road constructions on our way. But upon seeing these landmarks, we knew we're nearly there.

 pinyapple, anyone?


Upon arriving the park, we handed our money to Manong, and we rushed camwhoring the place. It was a Monday, so we didn't expect much crowd, but there were some students having their field trip adding the queue in the first two zips.




Pine trees are everywhere in the area, did they actually plant those or it does really exist there, I have no idea, but one thing is  real, this is Bukidnon and not Baguio. Haha.

 trip for a picnic in the woods

spot the panda in the forest

Enough camwhoring and start the ahem... adventure..

First zip: 150m

holding hands while ziplining!

Second zip: 320m

Hershell holding her dear life to the rope!

If your budget is tight and 600 pesos will ruin your pockets, I think, you can just book for the last and longest zip, just for the sake of experiencing it and feel the rush it offers. I just don't know how much, but I'm pretty sure it's cheaper compare trying all three zips. Besides, you won't regret it much if you missed the first two, it's not really that thrilling and nerve wrecking. Haha. But if it's your first time, by all means, try all three, after all, you've travelled a long way to Bukidnon for this.

For the third and longest zip, we had to ride their 4x4 jeep, and travel an uphill rocky road for the jump off. Even the short bumpy ride is a must-experience to add to the adventure-filled package.




superD!

Three different zip lines in an hour is worth 600 pesos… plus 100 pesos if you wish to buy your photo with a certificate of conquest which I didn't bother to buy one - mas maganda pa mga kuha namin eh. Hahaha!  And if you prefer to have a Dahilayan park souvenir shirt, it's 250 and it's white (pinikitan ko to kasi wala akong pambili, hanggang 200 lang ang budget ko sa tshirt...haha!)

The park isn't just about zip lines, they also offer other exciting activities like the zorb, rope courses and ATV, for additional fees, of course.

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A visit to Bukidnon won’t be complete without experiencing the town’s pride, the pineapple plantation. In the middle of Del Monte Camp Phillips, we asked Manong driver to halt and took some quick snapshots in the plantation before proceeding back to CDO for our next activity, the whitewater river rafting.

ayun, may pinya?

ah, eto ba? haha



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Marked photos by Inch Datuin and Rodje Rodriguez