Dahilayan Adventure Park

Twilight setting?

The newest attraction in Northern Mindanao situated at Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, boasts of the longest dual zip line in Asia. Being a Kagay ananon, I definitely cannot miss this.

Days before going there, it was raining hard in Cagayan de Oro and what more in Bukidnon which is just an hour away from my town. I was praying with all my heart out that it would stop raining in the next few days as zip lining in Bukidnon is not allowed when there is zero visibility.

Come Saturday sometime in March 2011, my prayers were answered. It wasn’t raining just cloudy. I thought it’s the best weather we can get though a chance of raining in the highlands is a big possibility. So together with my niece and hubby, we went to Coffee Works near the gym of my Alma Mater Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan where a van that will take us to Dahilayan was waiting.

The road to Dahilayan was rough and muddy as a result of the heavy rainfall in the past few days. It was almost an hour ride but sitting comfortably in the spacious red Mercedez van, enjoying the lush greenery and mountains, and passing by Del Monte’s vast pineapple plantation made the trip worthwhile.  It was foggy and sometimes would drizzle a bit. Made me recite in my thoughts “Rain Rain go away, come again another day. Little Ines wants to play.”

Sitting comfortably inside the van

Finally we arrived just before noon and I was surprised there were already hundreds of tourists that came ahead of us. Vans lined up the muddy road of Dahilyan. The weather was still cold and it was foggy but not close to zero visibility. Thank God.

The Superman ride was supposedly the highlight of all the rides. It was an almost 1km zip line but thinking of the php750 that will last for only 5 minutes, I made a pass and instead took the php350 ride.

Superman ride at 840m

Zip lining was done by batch and by pair. Together with my niece, we took the course and we were speeding up our way at 90km/hour. That was fast and it was fun! It lasted for 3 minutes.

speeding 90km/hr!

So what’s next after this? The van would pick us up not until at 3pm and it was still 1pm.

There were restaurants and cafeterias around the place. But we opt to eat our “baon”,which consisted of  my mom’s spaghetti and chicken sandwich.  Nothing beats mom’s cooking, so they say.

Right beside the zip line area is the Forest Park. It was like the setting of the famous movie Twilight. Tall pine trees were all over the place. There were also animal statues that really looked real, a nice pond that was full of kois and a children’s playground, which I enjoyed the most. It has been years since I last set foot on a playground and so the 3 of us let go the child in us and took the swing, slide, the monkey bars and the rotating discs which was surprisingly fun.

For an entrance fee of php100, the pictures and the fun was all worth it. You can also enjoy other activities such as the zorb, trampoline, ATV, and horseback riding. For another php 100, me and my niece took the horseback riding.

The Dahilayan Adventure Park is definitely one of a kind though cliché as it may sound. It’s a one stop shop for adventure seekers and nature lovers. My five day vacation in my hometown would never be complete without this experience. And the weather that day was just the perfect way for me to enjoy the experience.