Sunday, November 17, 2013

Whitewater Rafting in Cagayan de Oro-Water rafting Capital of the Philippines

Water rafting in Cagayan de Oro is the adventure that one shouldn’t miss when in this area of Mindanao. This is the water rafting capital of the Philippines. The river is the boundary of Bukidnon and Osamis Oriental provinces.


My friend and I were hesitant to try it because when we were looking at some videos, they look like dangerous, so what I did was read the blogs about it. Finally I and my friend agreed to join the group. My sister booked us in The RED Rafts Whitewater Rafting, one of the agencies that operate for the whitewater rafting. We took the P700.00/head without lunch since we planned to have a heavy meal in the hotel before going to the Mambuaya, a point where the beginners’ course starts. Our group was picked up in St. Nicholas inn around 7:30 am and proceeded to pick up another group in front of Xavier University.


The river guides told us not to bring our own cameras because it might fall, offered a package for photos and videos for P 1,500.00 or photos only for P 1,000.00. We had a briefing on the safety before taking the rapids. We were briefed on how to do the paddling; there should be count to synchronize the movements, like forward 1, 2 soft, forward 1, 2 hard and backward 1, 2. There are 14 rapids for the beginners’ course. In the first rapid I got nervous had to hold the rope, I was the only one was holding the rope. Bam, our river guide was teasing me that I was just taking it easy, “char char lang”. But in the next rapids I was enjoying already.


The view is really stunning. It still wows me; the work of nature is really wonderful. Along the way we saw, wild butterflies, wild orchids, green snakes, monitor lizards, water strider and a whole lot more. The only regret I have was I didn’t bring the camera because we were not allowed to and let the photographer took pictures of us. For those who will take this tour, try to bring a underwater camera of your own because there are wonders of the nature that the photographer will not capture. The photographer will take pictures of the tourists while on rapids. Camera will not fall because flip over of the rubber boat is by request unless of course you want to flip over you shouldn’t bring your camera.




When you are in Cagayan de Oro city, water rafting is a must activity. Till then!


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