By Demie Faith Danday and Jaimar Dianco
Isabela is most known as the rice and corn granary of Luzon, but Isabela has much more to offer. Isabela is also blessed with tourists’ spots, and one of the most visited tourist spots in Isabela today is the Ilagan Sanctuary, a protected area located in the Sierra Madre Mountain range’s foothills in the Province of Isabela, Brgy. Santa Victoria, City of Ilagan.
If you love walking, you can go trekking and visit the different caves and get your imagination wild while listening to the jokes of the tour guide about the forms and shapes of the stalactites and stalagmites. If you feel tired in walking and needs a bit of refreshment, you can go straight to the Pinzal Falls and submerge your tired body to the fresh and cold water.
Varied species of animals are also kept and taken care of in their Animal Kingdom like snake, tiger, ostrich, crocodile, eagle, monkey, deer and wild pig.
With your 250 pesos you can enjoy the fastest zipline in the region and the cable car.
They also offer culminating activities, you can climb a wall, rappelling, horseback riding or biking.
If you feel like the whole day is not enough and would like to spend the night in the eco-friendly environment of the sanctuary, they also offer cottages for couples (2500 per night) and family cottage that can fit up to 10 people (3500 per night).
Tour guides are not paid. “Share your blessing lang po kami,” Reggie Lou Mendiola, one of the tour guides in the sanctuary, said.
The group of teenagers like Michelle Kate Ginez, Baby Jane Galapia, Javie Esteban, and Dan Ella Cabilo love hanging out in the sanctuary. “It’s fresh, natural, clean, good for taking pictures,” they said.
The Sanctuary officials have also started creating the newest attractions which is the paragliding and paramotor.#
