A Day Hike from Anda to Alicia Panoramic Park

The day after relaxing on Anda’s beautiful beaches, I headed for the mountains. Riding up and up from Anda, farmland opens out and a peaceful mountain landscape unfolds. Less than an hour by motorbike from that gorgeous sea, and you meet an equally gorgeous mountain view.

A Stop at the Rice Terraces

On the way to Alicia Panoramic Park, I spotted rice terraces. When it comes to famous rice terraces in the Philippines, the UNESCO World Heritage Banaue Rice Terraces in northern Luzon come to mind — but Bohol quietly has its own, too. I trudged along the ridges between paddies beside an ordinary country road, heading for the top of a small hill. The ground was muddy in places and kept grabbing at my feet, but I made it to the top. Oh! Neat rows of terraced fields! They may not match a World Heritage site, but in their own way it’s a refreshing sight.

After taking in the view at the rice terraces, I sped off again toward Alicia Panoramic Park. Gradually, the mountains began to show their faces.

Time to Hike!

At the reception desk at the trailhead, I paid the entrance fee. Entering the mountain on your own is prohibited here — you must take a guide. Which of course isn’t free… This is very much a Philippines thing (haha). Personally I’d have liked to head for the summit at my own pace, enjoying the scenery, but rules are rules, so off I went with my guide.

First, we walked along an ordinary road up to the entrance of the mountain trail. Looking up, I could see the summit we were aiming for. I’d been told it was about an hour’s climb — but could you really get all the way up there in an hour…? Along the way, a baby goat made an appearance. I was impressed at how skillfully it walked over such rocky ground.

After a good stretch of road (thirty minutes or so?), we finally stepped onto the mountain trail. It was a more serious climb than I’d expected — straight up to the summit, no letup. And my guide walked fast (haha). He did give me rest breaks, and at each one he took plenty of photos. Directing me into model-like poses and shooting an enormous number of frames — that’s the Filipino way, too (haha). Having assumed it was just a short hike, I hadn’t brought much water, and my guide shared his with me. (That was your lifeline water — thank you.)

Climbing higher and higher like that, the view gradually opened up. This is another one of Bohol’s mysterious places. The elevation isn’t especially high, yet almost no trees grow here. They say trees don’t grow on the Chocolate Hills either (see “Bohol, Part 1: Chocolate Hills & the Tarsier”) — is it the same principle? Instead, the mountains are blanketed in yellow-green grass, like undulating grassland.

The View from the Summit

Thanks in part to my guide’s Spartan pace, we reached the top safely in just under an hour. At the summit there’s a small hut and a platform for taking in the view — too simple to really call an observation deck. According to my guide, you can even carry a tent up and camp here. The starry sky from this spot must be spectacular. If I ever get the chance, I’d love to try it.

Beyond the majestic scenery of rolling peaks, you can see Bohol’s beautiful sea. Bohol really is amazing — good sea, good mountains. Looking out at the green and blue spread before me, the bean-sized houses, and rain clouds dropping rain in one small patch, I felt like a god looking down on the world below. I could see where the rain stopped. The people beneath that cloud must be in a mad scramble right about now.

Then I glanced the other way, and the mountain was scorched black… Half the ridge was lush with green, the other half a burnt wasteland. My guide told me there had been a wildfire just recently. Apparently a carelessly tossed cigarette was the cause. Looking at the contrast between the beautiful green and the scar left by people, my heart ached. So beautiful, and so fragile. A single moment of human negligence, and nature is lost this cruelly…

But there’s a postscript to this. When a colleague from work visited this mountain some time later, there was nothing but beautiful green spreading out before them. I’m in awe of nature’s power to recover.

Reluctantly tearing myself away from a view I could have watched forever, I set off back down. We descended by a different route from the one we came up, so I got to enjoy scenery different from the climb. On the way up I’d stared at the ground by my guide’s feet and plodded on in silence, lifting my head at breaks to look back down and take stock of what I’d accomplished, spurring myself on — but the descent, compared to that Spartan climb, was heaven (haha). I strolled pleasantly down through the green.

Eventually I said goodbye to the mountain and came down to the familiar road. It felt like returning to the human world. The mountains of Alicia Panoramic Park made me even more of a Bohol devotee than before.

Bohol, Part 4: Panglao Island — to be continued…