Hinatuan’s Enchanted River is a river on the island of Mindanao that
flows directly into the Pacific Ocean. When I first heard that this river is one of
the most popular tourist attractions in Mindanao, I got curious (really,
rivers?). Living in the Philippines composing of many islands, we are
accustomed to plenty of rivers (during family reunions, barkada trippings,
etc). I browsed the internet out of
curiosity, to know why it became a popular place to go.
I was really amazed by the pictures I saw on the net. The water of the river is crystal clear blue
(unlike normal rivers that are either dirty brown or just normal-looking-river.. LOL). At first, I thought the pictures were photoshopped,
so to prove me wrong, I included Enchanted River to my itinerary.
How to get there
By Air
From Manila or Cebu or Davao
City as transit point, Philippine Airlines (or its low cost counterpart –
PALExpress) and Cebu Pacific ply the Manila-Davao-Manila and
Cebu-Davao-Cebu several trips daily. From Davao City, there are non
air-conditioned buses in Davao Ecoland Terminal directly bound to Mangagoy in
Bislig City for a 5-hour trip. From
Mangagoy ride a bus bound to San Francisco/Butuan City – and just tell the
driver to drop you in eskina/crossing Enchanted River- that’s more or less an
hour travel.
From Manila or Cebu or Butuan
City as transit point, Philippine Airlines (or its low cost counterpart –
PALExpress) and Cebu Pacific also ply these routes three
times a week. From the airport take a cab to the City Bus Integrated Terminal
where air-conditioned van may be hired for a 4-hour trip to Bislig City (passing
the town of Hinatuan) at a reasonable price. Regular trips of Bachelor Express
buses also ply the Butuan route as early as 2:00AM daily. Note that Hinatuan is the last stop before Mangagoy/Bislig, so be
sure to be awake when the bus stops at Hintuan (or just inform the driver to
drop you off at Hinatuan Terminal). From the terminal you can hire a
habal/habal (single motorcycle) to the river.
You can also ask the driver to drop you directly in eskina/crossing
Enchanted River where single motorcycles are also available (there is a large
tarpaulin of Enchanted River in the crossing).
By Sea
Inter-island vessels like the Super-ferry and Sulpicio Lines serves the
Manila-Butuan or Cebu Butuan routes on regular schedules with Nasipit Port as
transit point. Aircon vans are available at the wharf or take a jeepney to the
city terminal for the regular bus trips to Bislig City (passing the town of
Hinatuan).
Source: Bislig City Tourism
Leaflet
Enchanting Experience!
If my ride to Tinuy-an Falls was a real pain-in-the-ass, my trip to
Hinatuan Enchanted River was a delight. The cool breeze of the morning touches
my face as we drove deeper into the forest where the river is located. We reached the river after a 45-minute to
1-hour drive from Bislig City. There was an entrance fee of Php50.00, stores
are located near the entrance of the river, cottages can be rented for those
who are planning to stay longer, swimming and diving gears can be rented at a
reasonable price. (Entrance fee is 50 pesos per person, life jacket rent is 15
pesos per hour, and cottage rent costs 100.00.)
A little walk from the entrance, you can already see the crystal blue
water of Enchanted River. Since, I arrived early in the morning, only a few
people were in the vicinity which made my trip to
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