Postcards from Mount Kiamo

Mt. Kiamo is a minor hiking attraction in Malaybalay, Bukidnon which has become very popular now among weekend warriors and trekkers in Mindanao. This mountain came out as an alternate especially since other major mountains in Bukidnon are still closed for trekking such as Mt. Dulang-dulang, Mt. Kitanglad and Mt. Kalatungan. The mountaineering activity here is undertaken by the Higao-onon tribal group and certain amount is collected as entrance and camping fees, as well as guide fee for those who want to scale the summit of Mt. Kiamo.

My visit here was part of the Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) on June 11 and 12 as resource person from an invitation of a good friend and Mt. Apo guide Arjay Seron of Explore Mount Apo. It was participated by more or less 50 mountaineers from all over the country.

The jump off point to Mt. Kiamo is just a 20-minute ride from Poblacion Malaybalay. The ideal itinerary is to stay overnight at Sabangan campsite and take a hike to the summit very early the next day. Sabangan campsite is a huge, verdant campsite surrounded with panoramic view of Malaybalay mountain ranges. For me this is the biggest tropical campsite in the Philippines which can accommodate thousands of campers.

Sabangan campsite is also a good subject for landscape photography because of its wide and open panorama with vegetation of assorted pines distributed evenly in the surface. Here are some of my photos during that 2-day activity.

It has been so long since I last climb a mountain in Bukidnon. The latest was in 2017 in Mt. Kalatungan and it is always good to be back to this province which is known for mountaineering as its name connotes.