Traveling: Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, and Lanao del Norte Series Part 1:The Adventure Park on the mountain manicured with Pineapples at the base

My first view of the park

I have done the white water adventure in CDO twice, same goes with an overnighter tour in the beautiful island of Camigun so for me it is not thrilling anymore to indulge in those activities so in my latest trip to CDO I decided to go somewhere I have never been to before.The first thing that came to my mind are the zipline facility of Dahilayan Park in Bukidnon and the Maria Christina Falls in Iligan City.

The uneventful ride to Bukidnon

We arrived at the new Laguindinagan airport near CDO at at around 6 in the morning. All the while I thought the airport was just a renovated one but in the same location but I was surprised to find out that the fare to the city center has blown up to 199 pesos per person. The travel to town also took about an hour as far as I can recall the first two times I visited CDO the travel to the city center was just roughly 20 minutes. The driver informed me that the airport I landed on was a new one. It was only opened in June 2013. So that explains everything.

The shuttle service to Dahilayan Adventure Park

Dahilayan Adventure Park offers a shuttle service to Dahilayan from CDO and back every Saturday at a reasonable rate of 375PHP per person. This is a very good option if you are traveling alone or with just one or two more companions because hiring a van would cost something like 4000 to 5000 PHP for a day tour. Anyway, we arrived too early to spot the Shuttle at Coffeeworx Divisoria so we decided to fill our empty stomachs with sausages and eggs from the Filipino counterpart of McDonald which is an obese bee in orange overalls:p

Pineapple Plantations to your left and right. "Pineapple fields forever"

 8 A.M. came and off we boarded the bus.It took us around two hours of uneventful ride to reach Bukidnon. Bukidnon as I deduced is from the word Bukid which generally means field e.g. rice fields for the Filipino layman but I later found out that it actually means mountains. And sure thing Bukidnon is surrounded by mountains.The dominant color in this place is green and if Shrek would be here and spotted because of movement then I would be convinced that instead of being an ogre, in actuality he is a chameleon. Back to my story our bus entered a Del Monte Pineapple plantation full of well you guess it pineapple fields. I was singing non stop a parody of strawberry fields.Well you guessed it again." let me take you down where I'm going to Pineapple Fields lalala"

Ziplining in Dahilayan Adventure Park

Play like native American Indians in Dahilayan Forest Park

There's my Wigwam!

Dahilayan Adventure Park and Dahilayan Forest Park

We arrived at the park at around 10 A.M. By opening the door I realized the fact that we are already in the mountains. I can already hear Heidi singing her tunes and the bah bah of the sheep? nah! i was actually just day dreaming. I realized I am already in the mountains when I felt the cold breeze on my face. Dahilayan adventure park offers a 600 php all zip package which includes two short zip rides and an 800 M. one that is dubbed as the longest zipline in Asia. ( Unless disputed) They have newer attractions like a python roller zip and a dropzone which we opted out off.

A common sight in the park. This is pine tree wonderland :P

Dahilayan is so green!

Another green spot in Dahilayan

There are two relaxing koi ponds in the Forest park

The ziprides here were not that special for me anymore. Having tried the ziplines of the Seven lakes of Surigao and my favorite ziplines of Camp Sabros near Mount Apo of Davao. But I still suggest you try it to view the beautiful surroundings of Dahilayan in the bird's eyeview. Only trouble is the helmets they lend their guests smell like rotten fish. (Replace! Replace!)After our zip line rides we moved on to the resort adjacent to Dahilayan Adventure Park. It is called Dahilayan Forest Park. This sprawling compound gives you a playground complete with life size figures of animals and American Indians. They have a tiny tree top adventure facility which is like an obstacle course up on the small tress. I had fun feeding the kois in their ponds, basically tried out their 8 hole mini golf park, and wind down the slopes on a speedy luge ( If you have tried the luge of Sentosa, Singapore then this is nothing but it is still fun nonetheless.) 

The luge

Vintage cars

One final look

At noon, we were famished so we headed back to our first park and ordered food! There was nothing interesting to say about the food they serve at the adventure park. All I can say was I was hungry and I would devour anything served on the table. The exploration of the park was fun though so after many hours of snapping pictures. I found myself snoring in the bus. At 5 P.M. we were already on our way back to CDO.

Information:

Dahilayan Adventure Park

How to get there:

1. As of February 2013 Dahilayan Adventure Park offers a shuttle service to Dahilayan every Saturday which departs from Coffeeworx Divisoria (beside Xavier University) at 8 A.M. and departs from Dahilayan at 5 P.M. The fee is 375 PHP

2. Go to Agora bus terminal. take a bus or a van that goes to Camp Philips in Manolo Fortich Bukidnon. Once you get to Camp Philips ride on a habal-habal (motorbike with a driver so you will not drive the bike on your own) The fee is around 150-200 PHP

Activity Rates:

Ziplines (All three)- PHP600

Luge - two rounds at PHP600 with free entrance to both the park and mini-golf.

Telephone numbers: 

Zipzone Dahilayan – 0922-880-1319