all the colours of the Philippines, designed your way
Tropical Experience Travel Services - Tours of the Philippines
HOME - About the Philippines - Design your trip - Tour Samples - About us - Sustainability - Contact and Booking - Terms and Conditions - Guests Reviews
Mount Pinatubo, Subic, Clark
Mount Pinatubo: if you’re travelling in the Philippines, and you got a day to spare and go travel outside Manila, it would be a great idea to go trek Mount Pinatubo. Mount Pinatubo is an active volcano which errupted in 1991 after 600 years of sleep. At present, the catastrophic disaster brought about a beauty that draws people to admire its natural beauty. It offers active and fun ecotourism activities that attract families, group of friends or even couples on honeymoon who are into adventure. It’s tuorquoise beauty definitely covers its tragic past.
To reach Pinatubo, you need roughly 2.5 hours travel going north of Manila. Then, you will experience a thrilling 4x4 off road adventure ride across a moon-like terrain with vast ash fields and rocky rivers. Then, 2 hours of trekking will take you to view the blue-green volcanic crater lake and its majestic surroundings. By the crater is ideal to relax, enjoy the sun, have a picnic and be one with nature.
The indigeneous group of people called the Aetas, one of the oldest tribes in the Philippines, had lived in the slopes of the volcanoes for many centuries. These hunter-gatherer people are still present and are inhabitants in the area: the ownership of Mount Pinatubo was granted to them. You could have chances to interact with them in their village-communities surrounding the volcano.
Clark: this former American air base about 80 kilometers north of Manila had transformations since it was reverted to the Philippine government some few months after the Mount Pinatubo volcano erupted in June 1991.
Clark is an interesting center of exciting eco-tourism adventures – it is the jump-off point for trekking the crater lake of Mount Pinatubo and also to the dormant Mount Arayat volcano which can be easily scaled. And for the real thrill-seekers, other activities like hot air balloon flying, sky diving, parachuting, micro light flying and off-road motorcycling is in store for you.
It is always a gastronomis experience to dine in Clark which is located in Pampanga, a province that boasts of its tasty cuisine and culinary expertise of its people, the Kapangpangans. Some of the specialties are the tocino (cured pork), sisig (sizzling pork cheeks), and aligi (crab fat). There are also entertainment facilities spread around like casinos, bars, estates where you could take some leisue strolls or movie houses to catch the latest films. Shopping is also enjoyable in Clark as it is home to a lot of Duty Free shops, and for a local touch, it is an ideal place to shop for hand made Christmas lanterns made with local materials or quality wooden furniture.
Another 30 kilometers further north is the Subic Bay Freeport in the Zambales Province, where huge huge commercial and industrial complex resorts, hotels, de luxe villas are nestled at the foot of a mountain range. Inside the complex are also golf courses, yach clubs, a casino and on the south fringes are a stretch of marvelous sea waiting to be explored.
The Jungle Environment Survival Training Camp in the upper Subic is a perfect setting for Subic Bay has the country’s only remaining three-layered virgin canopy rain forestabundant with wildlife and foliage. Here is where the ancient Filipino tribal group called the Aetas conduct jungle survival techniques like drinking water collected in bamboo, making fire from bamboo twigs, identifying medicinal plants and eating edible berries in the jungle. In the same dense jungle lies the Zoobic Safari, home to different kinds of animals both endangered and endemic species where you may also have a “close encounter” with tigers roaming around freely. Other adventures include the canopy slide (sit on a harness and rise the wind), wall climbing, tension traverse, pole jump, high ladder, rope courses, etc. Numerous theme parks, marine sanctuaries, horseback riding, mountaineering and trekking, parasailing and other water sports are instore who are into active fun! Subic Bay is also popular for diving as around 20 American , Spanish and Japanese ship wrecks lie in the bay.
You will never run out of things to do, there is always adventure and discovery waiting for you here at Mount Pinatubo, Clark and Subic Bay!
