Siblaw Taraw

On the 28th of November, 2005 me and my friends finally decided to climb "Siblaw Taraw", a quicksand that was described to be in a middle of the far forest of Barlig. The drizzling weather didn't stopped us from hiking though sometime in the middle of climb I thought we should have waited for another day. Regardless of the weather the company of friends seems to have made it simplier and quicker.

It was then a discovery of a more mystifying forest, an untouched nature like to what I saw in our hike to Mt. Amuyao. This one is slippery and more dangerous because of the rain and gloomy weather. There are no proper trailways too, maybe because few hunters and farmers use them once in a while which then appears to be ancient trails to us. Our young guides though from Latang village knows how to navigate the ground and the mountain directions so we don't have worries of getting lost.

Finally, from too much anticipation and nagging questions weather we are near or not, the view of the quicksand appeared from below. I can see it from where I was at a higher mountain ground, from there I can see bright yellow ground surrounded by green thick trees. I can't wait to have a closer and full clearer view because the trees from where I was standing were against the way. I was amazed by the beauty as I get closer. Not taking the chances of drowning, I have to take some few and clearer picture like this from a tree.

The fire we started died because of the wetness of the woods and logs that we used. We were very hungry by reaching the place at 1:00 in the afternoon. We were hopeless of warmer air or improving weather to come so we quickly ate our lunch. Two hours of stay has allowed me to fully see the beauty of the quicksand. Because of it's nature we cannot go nearer to the central ground, otherwise, we will be trapped insided. At least I have a quick experience of the softness of the ground by walking with sticks and improvised bridging. As the air got cooler we decided to make a move. I can feel the dewness of the mountain and the slowly embracing hints of dark forest. I better take one picture more and go.

There I can almost see the "Allokoy" that my nan has once mentioned to me, a spirit that seats in the mountain. We religiously said goodbye to her and ask her to guide us on our way home.

In our attempt to do the shorter way to reach home, we ended into a more treacherous and dangerous hike in the dark. Following the pipeline from the forest reaching to Chatol has helped because we only had few lights with us. Finally we had a faded glimpse of the road at 9:00 in the evening! We shrug our clothes in the air as soon as we reached the welcoming Pan-oy's house. Clinging leeches, hunger, cold and tiredness made it a very challenging trip in the end. After a strengthening dinner given to us by the Pan-oy family, we have to walk the road to reach Barlig central. It is supposedly just 45 min walk but because we are very tired and have not enough light it feels that we have walked it for almost 2 hours! Home at last at 10:00 in the evening! We even missed the "Man-manok " (pinikpikan) invitation of Aunty Candida. So was it worth or not?

Definitely yes, otherwise I got nothing to share about this mystifying forest of Barlig.

For a short video clip of our hike please click here.