The Crystal Cave

I have always been fascinated with caves, and being in this part of the Philippines gives me the privilege to always seeing one if circumstances permits. Being close to Mabinay- considered the Cave Capital of the Philippines having more than 400 caves situated in the whole area of the municipality; is really great. 50 of this caves have already been developed and are indeed open to everyone who wishes to have a one of a kind caving experience FYI. I am so proud to be able to see for my self one of the famous and marked "easy" cave- The Crystal Cave.

 Mabinay is by the way located in the central part of the Negros Island. It is 87 Kilometers northwest away from the capital Dumaguete City. So 2 hours and 30 minutes ride perhaps.

When you reach this signage, you sure would know that you are in for an adventure. All you need to do is to register listen to the orientation, and then hike for like 10 to 15 minutes, so let's go.

The registration and orientation area. They have a fee of P15 pesos fee for each cave a P300 peso fee for the guide. Not bad.

The hiking starts now:

When we reach the opening of the cave, the first question is why is the cave locked up?

The municipality of Mabinay decided to create a barricade to protect the cave. "Sayaw" or the Pygmy Swiftlets resides in this cave and the locals long time ago harvest's swiftlets edible bird's nest in these caves-which are by the way expensive due to it's high protein and valuable mineral contents. Not only they are expensive, they are as well dangerous to harvest being on those dark part of the cave. Chasing the birds and harvesting their nest would mean touching the minerals. One and basic rule before entering the cave is to "NOT TOUCH ANYTHING" because the rocks are too delicate with other particles. Simple touching would mean death to these rocks. It takes 10 years or an inch of growth, and 150 years to create a column. So now you know, let's get inside.

The reason why this cave is called Crystal Cave is because it literally sparkles like diamonds when it gets hit by a light. Truly amazing!

We were greeted by the residents of the cave.

The tail-less scorpion or the cave spider- my memory is getting horrible.

Cave cricket.

A centipede.

The one and only cave bat. He is quite shy. He hates the light..:]

Let us go further and take a look at the inside of the cave.

They have to install a light on some parts of the cave to have it sparkle. It actually looked awesome with the lights on.

The bacon formation.

See those teeth? It looks scary.

  

The beauty of a column.

There's actually a lot of fascinating formation found in this cave, and it amazes me how the love between the stalactite and the stalagmite does in order to survive and actually reach the point where they can be together after a century or two forming a column. It is indeed the story of love, giving, patience, waiting, and unselfishness. 

The cavers...bwahaha

Bye for now. Till next time.

This is indeed a one step closer to the intermediate caves. I wish I can go back to this lovely municipality and experience their other caves. It really made me realize how beautiful our country is. How we are to take care of these national treasures for the next generation to see. Thank you for sticking around. The next destination is on my next post...xoxo!

Photo of the day and special thanks to Phioxee for taking this shot. I lurv it!

Swear the water did not feel on me but to it's dearest stalagmite.