Medellin's dark realms

CEBU, Philippines - As our coaster passed through tall walls of sugarcanes in the town of Medellin, my mind began to drift. It was the weekend of the much-awaited CineEuropa wherein most of my friends were surely lining up for the annual free screening of foreign films. I deliberately chose to document a special assignment – a caving exploration in Medellin, instead. I hoped this experience is worth sacrificing the movies.

I always wanted to shoot caves. Ever since I saw those amazing photo features on the National Geographic website, I became enthralled. I vowed that someday I would have cave photos of my own. And when this rare opportunity came to my door I knew I had to grab it. The experience would be the perfect training ground for my photography, for this is way beyond the norms of photojournalism or the glam/pin-up/wedding bandwagon. This is totally hardcore.

The town commissioned the Cebu Speleological Association (CSA) to survey and assess some of the caves in their territory for tourism. I was reluctant at first, since I have no real training in spelunking and my photo equipment was limited to my daily regular kit. This meant no protective sealings and no adequate lighting equipment. Nonetheless, I ended up bonding with this bunch of so called "cavemen."

 We had our lunch in the bushes of Brgy. Kawit where we explored two caves, namely Mabaho and Bito. At the mouth of Mabaho cave, team leader Dondon Dimpas decided to split the team into two units to save time and collect more data. I chose to go with the Bito team after Maharuhay (a neighbor barangay) Brgy. Captain Antonio Ygot (our local guide) told me that it was the bigger and longer cave.

Bito (meaning pit) cave, is a common name for most caves here in Cebu. From its mouth, it had a steep vertical entrance, wherein we were aided by a bamboo ladder to get down. The height to the first landing wasn't that deep for us to rappel. As we got deeper, my eyes had a hard time negotiating in the sudden darkness, especially when the light from the opening began to die out on us.

I was now in a different world. It was a strange feeling to be engulfed in darkness. I could feel the coldness of the place and yet I was sweating heavily as we marched, climbed, and crept onwards. It was impossible to shoot in the pitch darkness and everyone was moving. I could only figure out the team's silhouettes and several rock formations every time they're hit by someone else's headlamp beam. As I scanned with my cam's LCD, there were more blurry and dark shots than recognizable takes. So I took my time and waited for everyone to regroup. It was only then, when everyone rested, that I got to play with their lights. I had them concentrated on different areas and used light painting, a lowlight photography trick I learned at school.

Inside Bito's belly, I was surprised to see several life forms adapting in the darkness! There were some sayaws (swiftlets) and a large population of insect bats. Bito has a feature of multi-level trunk passages with a number of rooms and chambers. I noticed my feet began to feel heavy as I noticed that we were stepping on soft earth. In fact, it was guano (bat droppings). They're all over the place but the most amazing part of it was, they did not smell bad at all. From then on, I went into a shooting frenzy.

Then we had a sad discovery. Even this hidden beauty wasn't spared by humanity's ignorance and plain stupidity. There were already a number of graffiti inside it and there were even traces of mining activity. Notably, inside one of the chambers was a Japanese character written in mud and preserved for several years. I realized that Japanese soldiers probably had used the cave during the war.

After an hour of clicking, I worked my way out and proceeded to the other team in Mabaho. I realized I took a long time inside Bito that I almost forgot the time. Mabaho's inclined entry was kind of tricky; we have to cling on to a rope to maintain balance in our descent.

Mabaho (baho meaning foul smell) cave probably got its name from the presence of guano by small population of fruit bats. Unlike that of the insect bats', a fruit bat's droppings produce a slight smell. CSA estimated the cave's length to be between 150-200 meters. There were traces of heavy mining inside, probably from treasure hunting.

I didn't have much time to explore Mabaho due to time constraint and my body seemed about to give in to exhaustion. The moment I reached the surface, smelled the air, and heard the chirping of birds, I exhaled a sigh of relief.

CSA concluded that both caves were heavily damaged by human activities. There were minimal calcite formations such as stalactites and stalagmites. Bito cave was heavily dug up for phosphate mining and possibly treasure hunting. CSA suggested that a biological survey should be made to identify the different bats inhabiting both caves, especially the insect bats. Who knows if rare insect bat specie might just be there waiting to be discovered?

The "dead" caves in Medellin might not pass CSA's but for an amateur caver, like me, it was more than enough. It wasn't just about the caves, but the whole experience of the exploration of the mysterious unknown that captivated me. The first day of our expedition proved to be a rewarding one plus I got to win a new set of friends. I was glad to forego the movies, because being inside these underworlds was by far a much cooler experience than any 3d/IMAX movie combined.  (FREEMAN)