I was supposed to do different things during my return trip to the Davao region; however, bad weather ruined my plans of visiting Cateel for Aliwagwag Falls and Awao Falls in Compostela Valley. When the skies cleared for a while, I found the opportunity to finally do something else during my trip. I decided to return to Samal Island to go to two places I have yet to visit during my first trip a few years ago.
Hagimit Falls
It was raining days before I arrived in Davao so the activities I was able to do were limited. When the sky finally cleared for a few hours I went to Hagimit Falls, a place I was unable to visit during my first trip to Davao.
I saw pictures of the falls online, the waters were blue, but because of the rain, it was muddy and brown.
Despite the muddy waters, I still enjoyed Hagimit Falls. It was still nice to look at the tiered cascade of the waters and the rock formations.
Hagimit Falls is very much developed already, with many cottages and small stores inside. It took some of the natural appeal of the place, but I still liked it. I was fortunate that there were few people that visited during my time there.
*I only paid half the price for the Hagimit Falls entrance at P25 because the waters were muddy.
Monfort Bat Cave
Next on the agenda was the Bat Cave, the complex seems small from the outside, but Monfort Bat Sanctuary has the world's largest known population of Geoffrey's Rousette fruit bats. Guinness World Records recognized the sanctuary as one of the largest single colony of this kind of bat.
If I'm not mistaken, there are close to two million bats in the sanctuary. I could hear them squealing and moving about when I visited in the morning.
The short trip to Samal Island was only a replacement of plans A to C. The bad weather made me change plans multiple times, but at least I managed to do something. I was hoping to visit Cateel in Davao Oriental and Awao in Compostela Valley, but things happen for a reason. Maybe I'll finally get to visit those places in the future.
*There is an entrance fee of P100 for the Monfort Bat Cave.
*I rented a habal-habal with driver to visit these two places, I paid P250.
