The Daraitan Experience

It was a last-minute decision to join this nature adventure organized by a college schoolmate. It was the hyped spelunking that had me persuaded to trade my regular weekend dates with Ayn Rand for it. I didn’t have high hopes expecting just another okay nature encounter. Not to mention, I hadn’t really heard much about the place until it was introduced to me. Lo and behold, it was an experience of a lifetime!

Getting There
A rented rolling coffin we call jeepney brought us to Daraitan, a sparsely populated barrio nestled within Sierra Madre in Tanay, Rizal. The trip was for roughly three hours via a cemented road, with some rough roads after entering the access road to Daraitan. We stopped at a rural community at the slopes bordering a river surrounded by mountain ranges covered with lush and almost virgin forest. We were greeted by a relatively pristine river so tempting—others couldn’t wait until we could settle down and quickly took a dip in the river. There were cottages along the riverbanks, which I gathered get fully occupied on Sundays with the influx of visitors from the surrounding areas. A pre-arrangement secured us of a not-so-comfortable house to stay—no electricity and with just the free-flowing bukal as the source of water. We had to bring two big containers of mineral water for drinking. A group of mountaineers had set up tents camping out nearby.

Initial Impression

Immediately after a scrumptious meal, we started to get ready for a dip to this natural stream of water. I wasn’t really wowed to be honest. There were parts of the river that have floating mosses. There were areas wherein as you dip into, water current would pick up soil particles. The better parts were those that have pebbles on the riverbed. Essentially, it’s still amazing not having to see too many water systems this clean. I’d settle for this, I thought.

During the night surprisingly, we didn’t have even just one mosquito bite—as far as I was concerned. The night was lovely with the pale moonlight, silent—aside from the crickets chirping and the belting Daraitan singing champion monopolizing the Magic Sing—and breezy. Yet retiring for the night and getting to sleep wasn’t a breeze for everyone. Thanks to the hard floor where we made our beds on.

Detox

Although everyone woke up with an aching back and still a bit groggy, excitement was evident in anticipation of the spelunking—should’ve been. On foot, we headed towards the site of the caves traversing the varying tracks. As we went along the lengths, highs and lows of the sometimes sandy, sometimes muddy and sometimes rocky trail we couldn’t help but wonder at the sights so spectacular. The halted mining operation back in the 80s (we gathered) left boulders of limestone creating an organized chaos feel to it. The sights we passed through were good enough for us to settle anew and start swimming. The river here’s relatively shallow with some deeper portions and comprised of sand, limestone and rocks. Mainly, the river was green—now that’s tempting. But the constant assurance of our guide that there are still better sights to behold, kept us going and going. Along the way, we came across a group of mountaineers who camped their night out the wilderness. Here we gathered, it’s safe (relatively) to stay overnight as there are tanods roaming around even at the wee hours of the night. Sometime soon, that’s what we intend to do.

So after more than 30 minutes of trekking, river-crossing, boulder climbing, we finally reached our destination—the caves. Alas indeed, the far more interesting caves—particularly this one cave with a huge puddle inside—weren’t accessible without rock climbing gear. So we settled for the accessible smaller ones, which were just a few meters long and less spacious. Nevertheless, the caves were still sights to behold. Though mostly dead-ends, the ends of the tunnels we crawled into still had connecting smaller tunnels but not one brave soul dared to try exploring the unknown. These were the dead ones. There was one where cold water was flowing out from—relatively safe water you can drink. This cave having a creepy ambience to it with the sound of water dripping and other strange ones, not to mention our lone source of light not working anymore, we only advanced a few meters from the cave entrance.

The best part of this spot here was the much clearer and fresher portion of the river you could visibly see pebbles on the river bed—really worth the long strenuous walk/climb. Big boulders of limestone in different shapes and sizes randomly placed on the river emerged charming. Here, we stayed for hours swimming, whirling, playing, just feeling the water—allowing it to wash away our stresses. That, the soothing sound of the moving water and the chirping of the birds created a perfect setting for de-stressing. The whole experience is beyond words.

Going Home

Along with some mountaineers whom we made friends with, we headed back home 4pm aboard a jeepney going to Tanay—passing by every after two hours only—with big plans of coming back. Amid the towering stacks of sacks of rice and crates of veggies, passengers wrapped up inside blankets battling for an ample space for their butts and the noisy fowls tied around sticks that we had to deal with, we busied our minds with what was an inexpensive yet memorable experience worth many more revisits sometime soon.

Getting There:
Take the Manila-Tanay route. Daraitan is the same road going to Daranak and Camp Capinpin in Sampaloc, Tanay. Just ask for directions.