Are you looking for a challenging summer? Mt. Manaphag is the one you should try!
Mt. Manaphag is located in Tambaliza, Pan de Azucar Island, Concepcion, Iloilo. It is about an hour by boat from Concepcion wharf. The island features rocky and sandy shores. The mountain itself is rocky but forested. Don’t worry too much about the hot temperature, the trail has a moderate one. When it comes to difficulty, I would say it’s average.
How to Get There
You can commute from Ceres Terminal for 150php, 3 hours bus ride (aircon) for non-aircon buses, the fee may be lesser.
When you arrive to Concepcion, the wharf going to Pan de Azucar is just 15mins away by foot. Daily trips to the island leaves at 8AM and 4PM at 35php per head you can also charter a boat for 1500php per trip.
Schedule
Concepcion – Pan de Azucar 8AM, 4PM
Pan de Azucar – Concepcion 6AM, 1PM
It is best to travel early to avoid heat and the crowd. Unfortunately, I don’t have the Bus Schedule bound to Concepcion but I think the earliest is at 4AM.
The boat that does regular trips to Tambaliza is named Halel. You may contact Ms. Lerna (09064423122) if you want to reserve slots for the trip. She can also provide chartered boat for your team for the same price I indicated above.
When you arrive to Tambaliza, it is up for you to decide whether to climb right away or camp for the night and climb early next day. As for our case, we arrived late in the afternoon so we camped for the night and resumed the following day. There are places to spend the night in Tambaliza, but we preferred camping (to save). We stayed in Irishshane Beach Garden owned by Kagawad Daryl aka Bong-Bong. We set up our tents outside for 50php per tent. Not bad right? They have rooms available also ranging from 500php to 1000php. You can swim in the seas of Pan de Acuzar while waiting for your schedule to climb.
For food, you can ask someone for help to cook. There are also people selling fish early in the morning. There are also places where you can buy your food so you don’t have to worry that much about food. They have fresh spring water as drinking water and baths costs 10php.
Our guide is Manong Rolly. He doesn’t have a phone number (because he can’t memorize) but you can book him through Ms. Lerna. Guide fee is 700php per guide per 5pax.
We started the ascent at 6AM and we reached the peak at around 8AM. It was just a slow pacing to give time to take photos also. Our descent was quick. Less rest and then we had lunch back at camp. We wrapped up and left for Concepcion at 2PM. We boarded the Aircon Ceres at 2:15PM and left at 2:50PM.
Expenses Summary
Iloilo City-Concepcion -150php
Concepcion-Tambaliza -35php
Environmental Fee -15php/pax
Tent fee -50php/tent
Guide fee -700php/guide per 5pax
Cooking fee -50php
Bath -10php
Water -FREE
Don’t forget to bring your own food if you can for added savings.
This is a guide made by Lester Ronco for those who wanted to experience Mt. Manaphag in Concepcion. The itinerary is optimized for people coming from Iloilo and Iloilo City.
