Inside Salay Cave

My visit to Algeria last 2009 was one of those experiences I'll never forget. We went up the mountains and walked for hours and then checked their marine sanctuaries. And one of the highlight of that trip was our visit to Salay Cave. Here's a part of the story i wrote for my Alegria feature:


Caving is one of the activities the town’s tourism officials have been promoting. In 2009, Salay Cave in Brgy. Valencia was featured in a documentary, Planet Philippines, with actor Richard Gutierrez personally visiting the cave. 

Across this waiting shed is the path walk to a more or less 20-minutes walk to the cave.

The Salay Cave is accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). This means that it is safe for tourists to get inside the cave. A local caving group was also organized to facilitate exploration and spelunking by tourists and other interested parties.

For those who want to experience Salay Cave, Tourism Officer Eric Ybas advises them to secure a permit at the municipal office with a fee of P100 per person. A guide’s fee of P100 is charged on the first hour and P50 on succeeding hours. 

To protect the cave’s unique features, entry is limited to only 10 people at a time. This is an eco-tourism requirement set by DENR.

“Ang atong makita dinhi sa mga formation sa stalagmite ug stalactites sumala sa among mga bisita, taga-Manila, DOST ug Department of Tourism, kay unique gyud ni sa ubang mga nakit-an sa mga caves. Ato ning ikapasigarbo ang Silay Cave tungod sa mga formations niini nga wala sa ubang mga caves,” said Ronnie Basia, a local cave guide.

As a general rule in spelunking, strictly no touching of elements inside the caves and most of all to leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures and kill nothing but time.

Passing through giant bamboos. Nindot kaayo ang view padung didto.

Eric Ybas giving us information about the cave and of the rules to follow once we get there.

Philip, our cameraman, filming Eric as he briefed us about Salay Cave.

I am ready!

Posing in the entrance of the cave with Ana (Sugbo TV Intern) and our cave guide.

Entrance to the cave

 The following are some of the photos I was able to take. Was really happy that I had my flash with me. We had no enough light to lit the magnificent view inside the cave.

I did't touch anything! :)

This shouldn't have been allowed. Ahehehehehehe 

Going out. (Norwin & wife Jenny, me and our guide.)

Eric and his tikwi stunts. Pasagirit!!!

Going back....we found interesting rock formations by the trail.

Denshoooooo!

Si Goat d Wanderpol

Reminds me of farm town in facebook

 Huh! Writing this brings back a lot of memories... how time flies! We took this last September 16-17, 2009. Thankful to the local government officials of Alegria for accomodating us!