By Joel B. Belinan
Thirty years since the birth of ecotourism, we may be seeing its re-birth or resurgence, thanks to the fear brought about by the COVID-19 news through all the mass media. While the capitalist calls it ecotourism, most of us call it the outdoor sports or wilderness adventures. And these include all forms of mountaineering such as hiking/trekking, rock-climbing, bushwhacking, river hiking, and spelunking. I am not even including the water- or sea-based adventures which am not familiar with. Worth mentioning also are the Long-running and long mountain bike rides now very popular among all ages.
Back in the early 1990s, Local government units and host communities were a bit unprepared for the revenue-generating potentials of these. As we experienced before, their unpreparedness was shown by the lack of regulatory measures to safeguard the environment and the community from the adverse effects of the sudden influx of outsiders in ecotourism sites. We hope that such measures are now in place in most if not all possible destinations. Although by the looks of the more well-known destinations, environmental degradation caused by outsiders or the locals themselves has not been prevented or stopped.
Mt. Pulag for one, based on information that I have been getting (I have not been there the past 11 years or so) the real protected areas keep on decreasing due to the continued encroachment of vegetable farmers from almost all sides. It should be noted that Mt. Pulag is in the tri-boundaries of Nueva Vizcaya in the Ambaguio area, Ifugao on the Tinoc side, and Benguet in the Kabayan and Bokod areas. “Awanen, dumanonen ti Lugan inggana asideg ti Grassland” (referring to the camping sites 20 minutes to the Pulag summit), says the comment of my friend Norman Marino who still frequently hikes to the summit of the second-highest mountain of the country. Although I should point out that using the easier route passing through the Ambangeg and Babadak Ranger station is the easiest and more frequently used, there are at least five other routes that are much more scenic and pristine paths to the summit such as the Akiki Trail from the Kabayan Municipal Hall, the Ballay-Tawangan Lusod Route, and the Ambaguio Nueva Vizcaya route, to mention a few.
Going back to the sudden interest of so many groups and individuals for the outdoors, one could easily glimpse at our favorite social media posts on such activities that are continuously increasing. I keep on seeing the posts of Atty. Brenda Poklay and her group of lawyers who seem to have regular weekly get-away travels to the wilderness. This pretty attorney and her group seem to really enjoy the wilds as shown by their hiking preferences which may not be called extreme adventures but enough to burn accumulated fats and to appreciate the beauty of nature.
There are of course several kinds of hiking/trekking trips that vary from the level of difficulties and how strenuous they are. The very first are the so-called day trips which only involve a day of walking. But there are those who would prefer a few hours of hike to a certain destination then set-up a bivouac site or a camp, spend the night there, and then utilize the next day appreciating the natural environment.
The next kind is the medium-range or the so-called week-end trip which would involve a full two days of hiking (Saturday and Sunday), and the more “elitist” kind which would at least need three to four days of hiking.
The real extreme adventurous trips of at least 7 or more days are seldom done in this country due to our already too denuded environment. I am however very interested on how to popularize the so-called family trekking and camping that is slowly becoming popular among the various segments of the populace as this would have a very good effect on the relationship of the members of a family and the long-term love and care that would be developed among the children for the environment.
On the other hand, there are the more adventurous trips that can only be undertaken by those with some technical knowledge and experience. Those trips include bouldering (an easy climb through boulders), rock-climbing, rappelling, or spelunking. Such trips which I got addicted to 25 years ago are a little bit risky and involve more resources to undertake. But these are what can really attract the ideal tourists who are usually willing and able to let go of tourism expenditures. I am not saying that the easy hiking types are not good. These are good but such easy trips are usually done by local groups and individuals while the technical trips usually attract visitors from afar.
Examples include the White Water Rafting at the Chico River in Kalinga Province, exploration of the Aran cave in Camp 3, Tuba, Benguet or the cluster of caves in Ambongdolan, Tublay, Benguet and, of course the ever popular Sagada caves.
With the easing of restrictions to cross the borders of provinces, we will surely see the road bikes from the lowlands again coming from Pangasinan, Tarlac provinces, etc., riding up early morning to take breakfast here and then go down again. Earlier, long bike rides were very popular among local groups.
Another lawyer with a strong passion for sports is Atty. Benjamin Gaab and his group. They usually go for a few hours bike ride around the BLISTT area at least once a week.
Meanwhile the Mayor Magalong-led Sunday Fun-ride around the city had been going non-stop since it started in the middle of last year. If and when the world as we knew it before the pandemic comes back, we hope that interest in outdoor sports won’t fade for that would mean forgetting its health and environmental benefits. **
