Marina Jimenez braves the canyons at Kawasan Falls, CebuMarina Jimenez/Supplied
It was never my intention to be a canyoneer. Two days ago, I wasn’t even sure what canyoneering meant.
Yet here I am, standing on a slippery limestone crevice overlooking the turquoise waters of Kawasan Falls on the island of Cebu. My heart pounding and my palms slick with river water, I am petrified to jump off the cliff and I almost lose my nerve – but for the shame of failing the “mandatory” first stop of Kawasan Canyoneering’s three-kilometre journey through the falls. The journey I voluntarily signed up for.
“You can do it,” shouts Ceci Capacio, my nimble 45-year-old guide. “Come on, it’s only five metres down.”
I grimace, scream and jump. For a brief moment, I am suspended between sky and water and then – the plunge. The water is unexpectedly warm and I feel refreshed and elated as I float to the surface – life jacket, helmet, bathing-suit bottoms and water shoes still in place.
The view of the turquoise waters of Kawasan Falls.Marina Jimenez/Supplied
The experience is a potent reminder that the wildest places often bring us closer to ourselves. And the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,461 islands located between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, definitely has wild.
Less well-known to Canadian travellers than other parts of Southeast Asia, the Philippines is a great tropical getaway. The prices are relatively inexpensive, the crowds are thinner, locals speak English and the country is dotted with historic Catholic churches, the legacy of Spain’s colonization, which lasted from 1565 to 1898.
Outside of Manila, a metropolitan area with 16 cities, the country has a few other large urban centres, including Cebu, but much of the Philippines is known as “province.” Away from the gleaming skyscrapers, marble lobbies and expansive malls are islands with pristine beaches, caves, volcanoes, world-class diving and kaleidoscopic reefs teeming with barracuda, snapper and sardine runs. Part of the Coral Triangle, the Philippines is a hot spot of biodiversity, home to more than three-quarters of the world’s coral species and 37 per cent of reef fish species.
“We have so many unexplored places, including in the mountains, the waterfalls and in diving,” says tour manager Angelica Faustino, who travelled with my group from Manila.
Canyoneering can be described as hard-core hiking in canyons, with all the rappelling, sliding and scrambling that entails.Marina Jimenez/Supplied
Canyoneering is one way to explore these places. Think of it as hard-core hiking in canyons, with all the rappelling, sliding and scrambling that entails. At Kawasan Falls, I plunge down a slippery rock slide into fast-moving currents, float through a narrow cave opening and swim behind the roaring water, pushed against the current by Capacio when the water’s force overwhelms me.
Floating on my back beneath towering cliffs, I stare up at a sky framed by ancient limestone and lush green rainforest that is home to monkeys, goats and iguanas. Magic.
Canyoneers used to be able to trek on their own here, until the Filipino government introduced regulations in 2015 mandating one certified guide for each visitor, an entry fee of 2,100 pesos (about $50, including the outfitting and lunch) and monthly cleanups that keep the falls pristine.
The 110-kilometre, three-hour drive from Cebu City to the town of Badian, where the falls are located, is almost as unforgettable as the canyoneering. Our comfortable, air-conditioned rental van careens along narrow two-lane roads, passing nine villages and all manner of transport, including motorcycles, brightly coloured jeepneys built from surplus U.S. military jeeps and motorized tricycles ferrying families of five. We see small farms of sweet potatoes and taro; groves of papaya, mango and jackfruit trees; a man selling fresh rice cakes baked on a roadside stove; and cock farms, where families feed roosters special vitamins, hoping to breed a winner for the weekend fights.
On the return journey, every member of my group falls asleep.
The next day I catch the OceanJet, a two-hour ferry to the neighbouring island of Bohol. I land in Tagbilaran and take a quick drive to Panglao, on the southwestern tip.
The author in Panglao Island on the southwestern tip.Marina Jimenez/Supplied
A jumping-off point for even more remote islands, Bohol received a UNESCO geopark designation in 2023 (a first in the Philippines) for its geological formations, including caves, sinkholes, a double barrier reef along the northern coast and the Chocolate Hills – more than 1,000 conical limestone mounds that turn brown in the dry season.
As part of this designation, the government has pledged to protect the environment and educate the locals about sustainable development.
The Bohol government recently banned all whale-shark watching – to the chagrin of some international visitors – because of violations of marine-life tourism regulations, including tourists feeding krill to the massive fish.
Overtourism was a problem several years ago on Boracay, an island three hours north of Bohol by plane. It became so overrun with visitors that the then-government closed the island for six months in 2018. It reopened with a cap on the number of tourists and a daily arrival limit of 6,400 people, to protect the ecosystem.
“We learned from the Boracay example. We would like to see more people coming to Bohol, but with the mindset of sustainability,” says Drew Fernandes, manager of the Bellevue Resort, a luxurious and laid-back five-star spa retreat in Panglao.
The luxurious Bellevue Resort in Panglao offers free diving for locals.Marina Jimenez/Supplied
The resort has organic gardens, offers free diving for locals and hosts coral rehabilitation programs and beach cleanups.
“We want tourists who just leave their footprints behind,” Fernandes says.
(The resort also has three generators, in case typhoons knock out the power. Cebu is prone to earthquakes as well. A recent one in Bogo City in the north left 79 people dead, highlighting the region’s vulnerability to seismic activity - though the parts of Cebu we visited were not affected.)
Bohol offers easy access by outrigger boat for private and group tours to nearby Balicasag Island, a marine sanctuary. There, a local guide takes me out for some fantastic snorkelling; we spot green and hawksbill turtles, underwater walls and drop-offs with schools of jackfish and barracudas.
Bohol is also home to the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary, dedicated to the world’s smallest, oldest and possibly strangest primates. With ears like those of bats, round eyes bigger than their brains and a rat-like tail, these nocturnal creatures can jump up to five metres. During the day, they hide in low-hanging bamboo trees.
The Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary is dedicated to the world’s smallest, oldest and possibly strangest primates.Marina Jimenez/Supplied
The sanctuary’s guides tell me not to disturb them, for fear of stressing them out. When anxious, the tarsiers can engage in self-destructive behaviours, including banging their heads against branches, sometimes to the point of death.
I tiptoe quietly through the trails as guides point out these precious creatures snoozing peacefully among tree branches.
In its improbable form, the tarsier tells the story of the Philippines itself: a land both fragile and fierce, endlessly captivating to those who dare to look closely.
The writer was a guest of Philippine Department of Tourism and Air Canada. Neither reviewed or approved the story before publication.
If You Go:
Air Canada recently introduced a non-stop, year-round flight to Manila from Vancouver; it runs four times a week.
The Philippines can be hot and humid, especially during rainy season (June to November), so carry an umbrella and mosquito repellent.
Bring cash (pesos). ATMs may not be available in rural and beach areas.
The food is delicious: In Cebu, try House of Lechon for crispy-skinned pork cooked to perfection. In Bohol, the Bohol Bee Farm is memorable for organic food and ice cream. And spend an evening at the Bellevue Resort for excellent seafood pancit, lumpia with peanut sauce and halo-halo for dessert (a shaved ice treat, layered with tropical fruits, ice cream and gelatin-based candies).