Mt. Kulis-Sambong 2021

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Hello everyone! It’s been a while and March has come it’s way! Time flies so fast and we’re now a year in pandemic XD So far, vaccines have arrived but I haven’t gotten one and I don’t know if we’ll be able to get one XD anyway, HOW IS EVERYBODY?

For this update, I’m gonna share my very first outdoor adventure for 2021. I was able to find an opportunity to travel a bit far away from where I live and relieve the feeling of travel goals again 🙂 I went out and hike a mountain! You probably read or saw some of my hiking post and I really love hiking. It’s good to know some are now open for visit and can accommodate tours like this so I grabbed the opportunity and invite some friends to do some hiking with me 🙂

WARNING: Heavy Pictures Ahead!

It all started when I stumbled upon a sponsored travel agency in Facebook. They’re quite a lot and very much enticing because they offer an easy and affordable tour. I ended up inquiring with TravelHubPH. They were really accommodating and answered all questions that I have.

So the tour I took was Day Hike at Mt. Kulis-Sambong for worth 999/head for joiners group of 10 (meaning, you’ll be group with random people until the batch reach 10 or more heads). I’m not new with joiners, I’ve done I think twice joiner hike already and it’s fun 🙂 They can also offer an exclusive tour if you want just with people you know.

Additional fees that you need to pay on the day of the tour are: Meals, Entrance Fee for all destinations (300), Tour guide (100/head), 4×4 ride (100/head – back&forth)— So that’s 999+additional fees 🙂

The tour package includes: Van Transfer, Driver/Tour Coordinator Fee, Gas and Parking Fees and Environmental Fees.
The places you’ll visit are: ⭕️Mt. Kulis, ⭕️Noah’s Ark, ❌Spider Web, ⭕️Mt. Sambong, ⭕️Heart Peak, ⭕️Sierra Madre View, ⭕️Lion Falls, ❌Hanging Bridge, ⭕️Natural Swimming Pool (I’ll explain as we go on about the XOs on these places)

So yes, since it’s new normal and we’re still on the pandemic period, there are requirements you need to provide or show so you can proceed with the tour: ✅ID, ✅Health Certificate, ✅Face masks, ✅Face Shields— Pretty much just a few but if you don’t have these stuff, they’ll definitely won’t allow you to proceed so better secure 🙂 For Med Cert, you can further ask the agency regarding this as they can assist you if you won’t be able to provide one.

So before we start with the tour, here’s my team for the day hike! I only know 1 colleague here and the rest are new found friends 🙂 It was really nice meeting you guys! 💕 Thank you for a safe and fun travel!

We departed 10pm, Saturday for a Sunday day hike tour and we arrive at the campsite around 1am. The hike said was 3am so we have to wait for 2 hours for that. Said that as much as possible we need to be early so we can avoid the crowd and long waiting lines. I was honestly amazed how a lot of people came in and it just keeps getting crowded! I thought since it’s pandemic, there wouldn’t much people but damn, it was too much! Quite fun and worrisome but travel must go on! XD

Started to walk exactly at 3am. It was a 30-minute hike going to Noah’s Ark first but we were able to get there for 20mins only and only to see there were already a lot of people on the said destination. So since there’s no sunrise yet we have to wait again for almost 2hrs XD There’s so much waiting game in this tour and I find it a much waste of time but we can’t do anything about that and so we just wait—–

NOAH’S ARK

I honestly wasn’t satisfied with the shots I have here at Noah’s Ark as most of it are too far away and in just one angle. I understand that it’s because there were so much people waiting in line that we’ve got limited chances to do so. Overall, it was a nice experience 🙂 TRIVIA: Why is it called Noah’s Ark? There’s not much related biblical history to this and the boat was only man-made and the reason they put a boat on top of it was because when there are sea of clouds (which we didn’t experience), it will make you look like you’re sailing on a sea of clouds. That would be very beautiful if you can experience that but I think it’s impossible with all the waiting and crowd included but we’ll see again? 🙂

MT. KULIS-SAMBONG PEAK

Reaching the mountain peaks wasn’t that really hard. From Noah’s Ark, it will take you 15min to Sambong Peak and 5-10mins to Kulis Peak 🙂

Here in Kulis-Sambong peak, the next attraction/activity was the Spiderweb but we were not able to push thru yet as there’s a line to wait as well. If we got to Noah’s Ark early (we’re #5 in line), in Spiderweb we’re #51 and when we arrive, it was just around #20s. We decided to skipped this and eat lunch instead because we’re dead hungry XD And if you’re curious what this Spiderweb looks like, you may check this out: SPIDERWEB

Lion Falls + Natural Infinity Pool

Our next stop after the mountain peaks was suppose to be Hanging Bridge, Lion Falls and Infinity Pool but unfortunately the waiting line for hanging bridge was too long. When we arrive there, the number of group next in line was 23 and we’re number 64! HAHAHAHA! We decided to go ahead first to visit Lion Falls to kill time instead of waiting.

It was a wet and rough rocky trail before reaching the Lion Falls but it wasn’t that hard. Estimated for at least 30minutes 🙂 The falls wasn’t that really extraordinary but I love the cool waters. It was small, not really convenient to swim around so we just took pictures and went back.

The last stop we had was the Natural Infinity Pool. This is were we soak and swam. It was refreshing and not too crowded 🙂 but we didn’t took a long dip and decided to pack out early. And oh— about the hanging bridge, when we got back to Lion Falls, the number was in 40s so if we wanted to push thru, we still have to wait again and take note, we’re number 64! It was already 2pm and we decided to give that up and prepare on going home. We’re too exhausted too so maybe next time XD Click the link for what’s like with hanging bridge.

Overall it was a fun experience though there were definitely Pros and Cons.

PROS:

• Affordable tour package – You also don’t have anything to do. The agency has already done everything.
• Meet new friends (if you’re a joiner)
• Easy Hike

CONS: This varies on when you hike. As for us, we booked on weekends (Sunday) and they are expected to have much visitors compared to weekdays

• Too crowded — yes because it’s weekend.
• Because there’s many visitors, waiting game struggle is real that we skipped 2 tourist attractions 🙁
• Limited time for each attraction due to long lines

So it is recommended to hike on weekdays but impossible if you’re working unless you take a leave. In that way, you can have each attraction to your self and take good pics to your hearts content. Kudos to our wonderful tour guide btw! They’re so kind and accommodating and patient with us! Good luck to you mga Kuyas!

PS: I was just curious about the travel agency. I honestly thought they will be with us during the tour like a representative from their team but apparently no one showed up. The driver came to pick us up and the on who manages moving forward was the tour guides we hired. I just notice because this is the first time I joined a tour without even seeing the organizer or the coordinator at all XD Usually they’re the ones who will guide you all through the end of the tour but I guess this is how it is when you booked on a travel agency? I don’t know XD I was just curious and keep looking out who’s the TravelHubPH organizer is with us but there’s none! Hahahaha! Oh well, glad we’re safe and sound 🙂

That’s for a long update! Thanks for reading!