Visit to Lake Taal

Just off the end of a long weekend here in the Philippines where the country celebrated its independence from Spain in 1898. Held on the 12th of June each year, parades and public events celebrate independence after this national day began in 1962.

As a treat and of course being a long weekend, we left Los Banos and headed for Lake Taal, a very famous lake within the Philippines. It is a freshwater lake in the province of Batangas, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The lake fills Taal Caldera, a large volcanic caldera formed by very large eruptions between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago. It is the country’s third largest lake after Laguna de Bay and Lake Lanao.

Lake Taal and the volcano crater in the distance

My IRRI supervisor Martin very kindly invited me to join his family at a nearby resort where we planned to do some sailing on the lake and climb the crater located in the centre of the lake. Saturday morning was spent preparing the boat for sailing and just after lunch we hired a local boat to make our way across the lake to the crater. All was well until halfway across the lake,”the good old Irish like weather” decided to make a timely appearance. The heavens opened! We were drenched to the skin and being the inexperienced tourist brought nothing with me only sunscreen..in the middle of the Filipino wet season! My German comrades were no better. Poorly prepared and soaking wet we eventually reached the other side of the lake. We were committed at this stage so there was no turning back!! So on we went..

On the other side was a village that was like nothing I’d seen before. So cultural! Houses were made of wood and there was no mechanical transport to be seen. Just horses and dozens of chickens running around everywhere!! It was clear that subsistence farming was the way of life here. I also noticed a worrying amount of deforestation. I’m sure these trees provided the only means of fuel and shelter for the community.

The rain continued to pour down and did it faze the locals? Not a bit. The children played football and couldn’t have been happier. Everyone smiled and greeted us with open arms. We were offered a horses to aid us on our journey to the top of the mountain but we refused. We kept moving considering we were so wet. After 30 minutes of hiking we reached the top. The views were just amazing. We could see for miles and miles. Apparently it was possible to see the ocean between Palawan and the Philippine mainland but with heavy cloud cover we struggled to see that far. So there we were, on this island, was a lake with a volcano, with a lake with another island! (You read it right!).

Soaking wet but time for a smile!

We settled for a bit drinking out of a fresh water melon and bought a t-shirt off one of the locals, a great bonus to have dry clothing again! I was then offered a shot with a golf club to drive a few balls into the lake. I stepped up to tee off and nailed 3 balls as far as I could!! It was actually one of the coolest things I’ve ever done!! Not sure how well it looked though.

Foooooooorrrrre!!!

Not sure about the technique..

The Filipino guy who offered me the shots claimed I was a professional golfer. There was a moments pause and uncontrollable laughter ensued between us! After the excitement and the views we headed back down to our boat having witnessed some of the true beauty of the Philippines. Beauty for sure but only a drop in the ocean!