Calinawan Cave, Tanay, Rizal

I have never heard of Calinawan Cave, until my 8 year old nephew, who is into outdoor activities now, planned to do some trekking and caving.

Calinawan cave is in Tanay, which is but an hour ride away from home.  We headed to Daranak Falls, which is the jump off point.  There were way too many people at Daranak Falls during holy week, and we reminded ourselves never to go there again during Holy Week.  We wanted to back-out, but nephew prevailed (of course). 

The good thing is, most of the people there only wanted to be by the falls- and were not interested in the cave.  We signed up for the trekking and cave tour at the booth, which is a few meters away from the entrance to the falls. The guide showed us the trail to the cave, which is a 30 to 45 minutes uphill trek.

And he just keeps on going...and going..and going..and going...

We reached the cave- and there was a kiosk where we hired another guide to the cave.  The cave tour is run by the descendants of the person who discovered it. It was discovered during the Spanish colonial time and the family has donated it to the government, but the government is not acting on it so until then, they will continue to run the tours to the cave.

The cave is not impressive at the outside.  It looked like a mound of unimpressive stones with a small opening.  The guide lent us flashlights and we went down the opening.  

But we were surprised how big it is inside. We found ourselves in a big hall and the guide shared with us how the cave was discovered by his ancestor. Calinawan cave was where the Americans and Filipinos secretly meet during the Spanish-American war.  It was where they “settled” (nagcalinawan) and signed off on the details of their agreements. Another account says that here is where the Filipinos realized (nalinawan) that they wanted to be a free people. The guerillas hid there during the World War 2, and so did the 200 Japanese before they were cornered by the Filipinos and American soldiers. 

At the mouth of the cave

Inside the caves, there are different rock and stalactite/stalagmite formations.  (I'm sure there will be a lot more if you let your imagination run wild). At the entrance is the eerie looking face which the guide calls as “The Face”. It stands at the entrance like the guardian of the cave. 

The Face..up close

The Face

Further is a big column, of course called "The Column". "When the stalactite/stalagmite meet, they form the column". This one took millions of years to form.

Our guide by The Column

To the right of The Column is The TRex. 

The mighty T-Rex

Further up, is the beautiful and impressive Grotto. It does look like the scene of the apparition of The Lady.

The Grotto

There is also The Curtain and another which looked like an aquarium.  Beside the aquarium is The Volcano. 

By The Curtain

The Volcano eruption

And of course, this hole the shape of a heart, which the guide jokingly calls as The "May Forever".

Yes...Forever exists..

Guests can explore levels 1, 2,3 and 4 of the cave .  There is a level 5 where the bats live.  We had children with us, so we opted only for levels 1 and 2- which took us more than 30 minutes to explore. 

What used to be bat caves..before they got disturbed by people and they had to move to the lower levels of the cave. 

And finally.. The Exit

After the cave, we met with our first guide and did the river trekking- which was a lot of fun for my nephew. 

It was a fun day-despite the heat.  My nephew and 1 year old niece survived (and enjoyed) their first cave experience.  Looking forward to more outdoor activities with these two!