I spent my Holy Week weekend in Bacolod City with my family. Between visits to our relatives in several towns around Negros, we took the time to visit the Mambukal mountain resort.
The resort, maintained by the local government, is located in the town of Murcia, just in the vicinity of the Kanlaon volcano.The mountain resort, at an elevation of 1,200 feet, is surrounded by a rainforest, and pockmarked with several hot spring pools and camping ground.
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| You can go boating in one of the ponds |
We drove to Murcia from Bacolod City on Black Saturday, with my counsin on the wheel. It didn't take us long to get there, only about 30-40 minutes from the city, though we stopped by the house of my uncle to get lunch before setting out for the resort.
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| The scalding water of a hot spring in Mambukal |
It was kind of hot and humid when we got there. The swimming pools around the resort were full of locals, and I wasn't really in the mood to frolic in the pool with them, however how humid and hot it was. I also thought that the hot springs would be scalding, as it was high noon and it was after all, summer in the Philippines. In fact, one of the hot spring pools was off limits to visitors, as the temps were almost that of boiling water. You can see it bubbling over, with steam rising from its surface. We just went around the resort, doing mundane stuff like selfies and group photos, instead.
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| Fruit bats perched on trees in the forest of Mambukal |
I did cajoled some of my cousins to go with me to the waterfalls - the main attraction of the resort. There were seven of them, one higher than the other. It was a bit of a walk from the main area, with the trail passing through a rain forest. The forest is home to three species of bats - namely the flying fox, the bare-backed fruit bat and the little guano-mantled flying fox. You can see them perched in kapok trees when you hike up to the falls, hanging like some kind of brown fruits.
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| The first waterfall |
The "twenty-minute" hike to the first waterfalls became half an hour, then three-quarters of an hour. We passed through rocky streams and stony paths in the forest, occasionally passing a group of visitors on their way back.
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| The canopy walk at Mambukal |
We also passed the canopy walk - a cable-bridge strung over the trees - that would take you to the second waterfalls.
At last we arrived on the first waterfall. The flow rate of the water is not that great during that time, maybe because it was the dry season. Still, the water was refreshing, and I immediately got my feet wet to cool down, frolicking along the rocks and letting the cold water flow over me. People are not allow to go deep into the waterfall as there was a danger of falling rocks, so I contented myself to dip along the edge. I stayed in the water until it was time for us to go back down.
How to Get There
The Mambukal (also spelled Mambucal) resort is located in the town of Murcia, in Negros Occidental, an island in central Philippines. The town is about 40 minutes away from Bacolod City, to the east. You can take a jeepney from Bacolod to Mambukal at the Libertad Public Market.
Useful Info
There is an entrance fee of PhP50 to the resort. The path to the waterfalls is closed during the rainy season, for safety reasons.
Hey, new theme! I don't know if I like the small font since it seems to make the ads more prominent than the blog text. But I like that the blog post doesn't seem to be floating on top of the rest of the blog unlike the previous theme.
ReplyDeletethanks for the feedback!
Delete:)
I remember doing a quick side trip here and as much as I wanted to climb up to the 7th waterfalls, we needed to catch our flight back to Manila so we just go up the first waterfalls - anyway maybe next time.
ReplyDeleteOopps, you forgot the entrance fee (amount) details.
Nice blog BTW.
I'd like to see the rest of the 7 waterfalls when I visit Mambukal next time.
DeleteThanks, will correct it now, yodi. :)