ZIPPING THE SKYLINE OF DAHILAYAN FOREST PARK AT MANOLO FORTICHE, BUKIDNON

Here we are again, on another adventure for adrenaline junkies like me.  We are on another expedition this time to the cool, fresh-air forest park of Dahilayan in Manolo Fortiche, Bukidnon.  We rented a van in Cagayan de Oro and with me are my sister Dannah, her daughters, my son Speed and my nephews Bernie and Wowie.  We have accepted the challenge of zipping through Asia's fastest dual zipline!  I can really feel the excitement and this will truly be a fun and memorable experience!

Dahilayan Forest Park tourist destination that offers an array of fun activities for the whole family, and for all ages. Located at Barangay Dahilayan, Manolo Fortich Bukidnon, Dahilayan Forest Park is nestled at the foot of Mount Kitanglad 4,700 ft. above sea level. Forest Park was built with the vision of helping develop the tourism industry in Bukidnon and the whole Philippines as well.

Dahilayan Forest Park is not what I was expecting.  En route to the place, I was expecting the landscape to be laden with the usual vegetation of a tropical forest with its humid temperature and somewhat jungle ambiance.  But to my surprise, the place was thick with pine trees, cool climate and sprawling fields for grazing cows, horses and other ruminants.

Elpidio M. Paras, an engineer and owner of the park, bought the property 10 years ago out of the prodding of his brother, who was in the construction business, supplying gravel and sand in a neighboring town. “He saw this place, surveyed the area and convinced me and our other siblings to buy. It was nothing more than a cogonal area, logged down by the locals in the late 60’s.”

Intending to build a resthouse where the family, who lives in Cagayan de Oro, can vacation and enjoy cool mountain air during the summer, they planted 20,000 pines trees on the bare land. Now they stand majestic and proud, supplying the mountain resort with fresh pine scent and lending an ambiance to rival that of Baguio.

When they opened the park in 2009, the park was then a place for outdoor activities and company team buildings and the zipline was one of the main activities. The ZIPZONE started out with the 320-meter and 150-meter. Now both have become training grounds for guests to get into the action and gather enough guts to eventually tackle the adrenaline-pumping 840-meter.

Once you finish all three, you consider yourself a bonafide extreme adventurer, and get a certificate and photo to boast.

Of course any extreme adventure like this deserves a posterity shot depicting mean faces with fear factor attitude!

We took the 3 zipline package and begun with the 2 training ziplines.  Not much excitement here since that have other similar ziplines in the past.  What I was really excited about is the 840m zipline, the longest dual zipline in Asia.  We have to travel first on an all terrain vehicle that will drive us to the top of the mountain where the launch tower is located.  Upon reaching the place, we took first some posterity shots and proceeded to suit up for the flight.

I was impressed by the their facilities.  Other ziplines that I have rode are still quite crude in their equipment and somehow you will sense a little bit of uncertainty whether or not the take-off will be safe or the cable are strong or whether the landing will be smooth.  The personnel here really are very meticulous with their work and every bit of details are treated with  high level of safety.

Another impressive factor in this place is the cowboy feeling that you will experience while driving around the range.  It makes you feel like you want to return to the place and have more of that Dahilayan feeling aside from the zipline.  I was not aware that there are other fun and exciting activities to be done here aside from the ziplines.  I will definitely be preparing for my next visit here and the next time will surely be better and more memorable.

In every adventure, sometimes we enjoy the experience in solitary excitement, but in this trip, the feeling of sharing the excitement with your loved ones added to the memory worth cherishing forever.  Thanks to my sister Dannah and her 3 lovely daughters.  My cousin Wowie and nephew Bernie who served as our tour guides, ensuring that we won't be duped into paying more that we should and most especially my son Speed, whom I rarely have fun moments with.  I sure hope that the day will come that God will give me more quality time with my son.  He is my only witness how much I love my son in spite of the challenges that hinder my relationship with him.

This experience has given me lots of health benefits.  First the level of adrenaline that rushed throughout my body elevated all my earthbound systems to the max.  Heart rate pumping to the max, eyes wide open for unexpected events, muscles tense like a corpse and everything you can think of that is associated with fear and excitement.  My adrenaline level even prevailed the entire day and the entire trip going to Camiguin until night time were we had a bonfire by the beach.