By HENRY EMPEÑO

BOTOLAN, Zambales — This town’s tourism industry is rising, literally, from the ashes of Mount Pinatubo’s explosive eruption in June 1991. From its famous crater lake, down to chilly mountain rivers and falls, expansive lahar fields and sand dunes, and even tropical mangroves and beaches, Botolan capitalizes on the gravitational pull of Pinatubo’s turbulent past that has created a wonderland of surreal beauty.

Botolan’s appeal derives primarily from a sense of its devastating history. And the scars that the wounded land has to show for its painful experience have become popular destinations for tourists and even local residents.

Today, years and years after the volcano blew its top and sent high-speed avalanches of hot ash and gas tearing down the surrounding foothills, after giant mudflows filled up river valleys below, and after relentless wind and water carved these deposits into giant sandcastles, people are coming back to enjoy the rugged land features that the cataclysm has wrought.

It was an unexpected gift, as if Nature made amends for the destruction that occurred, said Botolan Mayor Doris “Bing” Maniquiz-Jeresano.

The town made famous by its resident volcano is the biggest municipality in Zambales in terms of land area. But the 1991 eruption not only displaced a lot of its native residents in the physical sense, but also disrupted their economic moorings.

“We had to find more jobs for our people, but there is much competition in most fields of business, so we naturally turned to tourism,” Maniquiz explained.

Breakthrough Year

Maniquiz, a former construction contractor who became town mayor in 2013, first toyed with the idea of a Mount Pinatubo tour via Botolan in 2016 at a time when tour packages via Capas, Tarlac were hogging the attention of the eco-adventure tourism market.

In May that year, after her municipal tourism staff found a viable—albeit longer—route through the Bucao River lahar fields, regular guided tours to Pinatubo via Botolan began. This, in turn, led to the development of more component-features for the Botolan tourism package.

In the same year, Maniquiz established Camp Kainomayan, a recreational facility near the Bucao River in Barangay San Juan, which rented out all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and also served as the starting point for the two-hour 4×4 ride to the Pinatubo crater lake.

“In the beginning, we were just another jump-off point to Mount Pinatubo, so we thought of ways to make people stay longer—for them to have an overnight stay or a weekend package tour,” Maniquiz said.

“We started out with five units of ATVs, which we rented out during weekends, then we developed the tour to Tukal-Tukal Falls, the ATV adventure ride to Lomboy Lake, and later on, we opened the kayak and boat rides along the Bancal River,” she added.

Tour Packages

Over the next two years, Botolan town slowly but steadily became synonymous with adventure, exploration and discovery, thanks to the natural attractions that was created by the second-largest volcanic eruption of this century.

Most weekends, Camp Kainomayan is inundated as early as 5:00 a.m. with as many as 200 persons waiting for the 4×4 ride to Pinatubo. Increasingly, a good part of the arrivals also stay overnight for a trek to the Tukal-Tukal Falls the following day.

Maniquiz said Botolan’s Pinatubo tour package caters to the young and adventurous segment of the tourist market, with most of them coming from Manila and neighboring areas.

However, with the development of local tourism centers like Camp Kainomayan, as well as bed and breakfast facilities and restaurants, Botolan’s visitor profile is increasingly getting varied.

“Now, we’re also becoming popular for company team-building, weddings and pre-nuptial shoots, as well as birthday celebrations,” Maniquiz enthused.

“We’re definitely starting to make heads turn,” she added.

More Come-Ons

Camp Kainomayan, for one, is being transformed from a basic trekker’s camp into a first-class recreational tourism center to expand its clientele base and gain a foothold in the corporate meetings and incentives market.

On March 23, Mayor Bing Maniquiz and Kainomayan’s own celebrity endorser—vlogger, commercial model and ESPN 5 anchor Amanda Fernandez—formally inaugurated the new facilities at Kainomayan. These included amenities like tourist center, and installations for wall-climbing, rappelling, and paintball war games, obstacle course and zip line.

At the moment, visitors to Kainomayan can enjoy the thrill and adrenaline rushes of wall climbing at P200 per person; rappelling at P150; zip line at P200; obstacle course at P100; and paintball at P170 for 25 loads; and ATV rides at P300 per 15 minutes, P500 for 30 minutes, P800 per hour, or P1,500 for the so-called “lahar adventure’ package to Malomboy Lake.

 

Of course, the main attraction remains the Pinatubo crater lake adventure at P1,400 per person, inclusive of the 4×4 ride, tour guide, ecotourism fee, IP cultural heritage fee, and environmental protection fee.

There is also the Tukal-Tukal Falls package for P500 per person, with similar inclusions. Both packages require a minimum of five participants.

Then after the day’s adventure, visitors can also settle down for the night at Camp Kainomayan, for a camping fee of P100 per person per night. Tents could be rented at P150 each.

Maniquiz said the camp will also have its swimming pool soon, to complement the garden-playground that was developed under several stands of agoho trees.

Maniquiz said the existing facilities have so far covered only two of the five-hectare camp property. The rest of the acreage will be developed as a campsite, she added.

Ripple Effect

Kainomayan roughly translates to well-being in Sambal, the dialect spoken in this part of the province, but by extension the word can be taken to mean progress.

In this case, it is starting to live up to its name in terms of providing livelihood to local residents, which was the first objective of the project.

Architect Iska Cruz, who heads the town’s Tourism Office, said the influx of visitors to Botolan had not only meant more jobs for local residents who are hired to help operate the growing tourism facility; it has also opened up more businesses in the town’s fledgling tourism industry.

She said that the Bancal River boating area, for example, has grown to include not just kayaking, but also rentals for pedal boats, motorboats, and guided mangrove tours.

Up town, the vibrant tourism scene has also encouraged local businessmen to put up rooms for rent and small restaurants to cater to tourists.

Pinatubo’s explosive eruption in 1991 may have disrupted Botolan in 1991, but a quarter of century hence it can now be seen as Nature’s device to call visitors’ attention and tell them to come closer.

 

TOP PHOTO: Come ride with us: Mayor Bing Maniquiz (center) tries out the ATV with ESPN 5’s Amanda Fernandez (left) and Gabby Villamin of Botolan (Photo by Henry Empeño)