Wonderful attractions in Colan

On August 26 I visited sitio Colan for a customary monitoring routine every long weekend. Instead of the usual desander climb I took the other route to witness several attractions of the upstream portion of Baruring River. With me was Artur, the Sibulan Porters Association's President.

Little did I know that Colan could be a very good adventure tour destination for a day or two. Just a little over 5 minutes from desander we saw the pristine Colan River in its finest state as it is spared from obliteration, perhaps the only one left in the area. A cold stream is being intersected by the hot river accumulated from the spring that flows directly from the volcanic waterways above Colan. The magnificent blue water was mixed with brown color from a distant channel, good enough for a transitional range of vision.

Over at the eastern part of the river is a three-layered waterfalls being laid out in a verdant setting of Colan’s tropical rainforest. The highest part is estimated 30 feet. Artur told me that a lot of locals have been visiting the waterfalls already and the land possessor where the waterfalls belong is bent on developing the area to cater to a wider audience.

As we trekked further we reached sitio Mararag. Situated just a hill apart from Tumpis, Mararag is a vast farmland planted with high value vegetables and abaca. Sitio Bolyo is another area bordering Mararag, a site that offered us vantage point of the scenic Kapatagan mountain range. Bolyo is a name derived from a local water source in Colan.

A short trek from Bolyo brought me back to Palaka Hot Spring, one of the three hot springs in Colan. My last visit to this site was way back 2002 and I was amazed by how this attraction retained its natural characteristic. We followed the hot water trail from Palaka and reached another good site, the more-popular Mundo Apo Hot Spring.

Our 2-hour trek with Artur enabled me to document few good reasons to visit Colan other than climbing Mt. Apo. For those who love to commune with nature without unleashing so much physical strain I suggest you take this foothills loop in Colan and I am pretty sure you will be rewarded with its wonderful attractions.