Your trip to Sagada will never be complete nor thrilling if you don’t try completing the cave connection between Lumiang Burial Cave and Sumaguing Cave.
The Sumaguing cave is known to be the largest chamber in Sagada, thus it is called “The Big Cave” and also getting famous for its nickname as “The Porn Cave”. Yes, you read it right, Porn Cave. However, to all the guys that are reading these, hate to break it to you; you’ll not be seeing Alexis nor Sasha in the cave.
We started our adventure pretty late since we arrived at Sagada mid-day. After powering ourselves up by a heavy meal we went to get our guide in the town. Note that before anything else, you will have to go to the tourism office and pay PHP30.00 for the tourism fee. They will be providing you a receipt where you will have to show while going in and out of the caves.
We started the spelunking around 3PM already with our guide (who I forgot the name since it was a very unique native name), who is very fund of chewing “mama” or “nganga” or in English it is called “Betel Nut”. I asked our guide how does chewing the betel nut helps and he said it will keep him warm in the cave and it serves as their energy booster. I wonder if it is stronger than Red bull. So if you notice your guide chewing and spitting all the time, what he is doing is called “nag-mamama”. This is actually part of their culture as native local tribes in the Cordillera region and they have been practicing it since they were young to make their teeth stronger and to keep them comfortable in the cold weather. So don’t be surprised if you see it often in the Mountain province.
On the way to the cave, you will see the hanging coffins from a distance; you won’t be able to go near it since there is a cliff in between but the guide will actually give you time to take a couple of pictures from that spot. Before you even see the entrance of cave, you will be welcomed by a very cool scenery of woods of pines that will actually make you feel that you’re in a different country. There were also a large group of people just ahead of us to explore the cave and we can hear their excitement from behind.
Fun Fact: Hanging Coffins is a burial method of the Igorot which they have been practicing for 2 millenniums now.
Entering Lumiang Burial Cave
The entrance of the cave is already a good experience since a bunch of old coffins will welcome you. These are actually real old local coffins and you’ll even see some bones inside it. Taking a picture of the entrance is a must.
Fun Fact: Local tribes in the Mountain Province are called Igorot and they believe that the higher the coffin is placed, the closer to heaven. However, not all Igorot are entitled to be placed in a high ground so all the bodies that are actually in the hanging coffins are tribe leaders or rich people and commoners are placed in caves.
Entering Lumiang Cave will require a lot of going down and going into small passages. The cave doesn’t have a lot of rock formations and mostly made of big rocks. Your guide will be your harness and gear the entire exploration so if he told you to step on his legs or shoulders just do it.
Sumaguing Cave
I think it was about an hour and a half of spelunking when our guide said that we are at the boundary between Lumiang and Sumaguing. It is very dark in Sumaguing Cave but there are a lot of rock formations. There is a small body of water inside which is not deep, however half of your body will actually get drenched. This is the part where the guide will ask you to remove your slippers to have more grip on the rocks since it is becoming slippery on the way.
The most famous rock formation is actually almost near the exit of Sumaguing Cave, but this is also one of the most challenging part. We had a good laugh while our guide is explaining to us the names of the rock formations. If you are good with green jokes, you’ll find it easy to get why Sumaguing is also known as the “Porn Cave”. xD Unfortunately because all our cameras were failing, we weren’t able to take pictures of all the rock formations. However, our guide was very creative on explaining to us the King and Queen Rock formation inside the cave and how they are given the nickname “Porn Cave”. Well you get the point.
Fun Fact: Back in August 14, 2012, an episode of “Destination Truth”, a paranormal reality TV series hosted by Josh Gate was conducted here in Sagada. They investigated the Hanging Coffins at the Echo Valley and the Lumiang Burial Cave. There actually got what they said to be “the most shocking paranormal discovery” photo they have ever had in the series.
It took us almost 4 hours to explore the entire cave connection. We were able to get out of Sumaguing cave around 6:45PM and it was already dark outside. We gave ourselves a good pat at the back for surviving the activity and it was a good experience for everybody.
On your way back to town you will actually pass by Gaia Café and Crafts. It is the most famous Vegan restaurant in town and very popular to tourists because of the view you’ll see while eating healthy foods.
Fun Fact: Gaia Café and Crafts has been preview in the movie “That Thing Called Tadhana(Destiny)”, starring Angelical Panganiban and JM de Guzman. Where a girl tries her best to move on from a heartache. Thus, Sagada became more famous for its charm to mend broken hearts.
Tips and Infos
Lumiang Burial Cave difficulty level: 6/9 and about 1 to 2 hours depends on the number of people
Sumaguing Cave difficulty level: 7/9 and about 2 to 2 and a half hours depends on the number of people
Requirements: One must be physically. Don’t have any fear of the dark or fear of descending, since going in the Lumiang Cave is like an endlessly going down. Local Guide, you are not allowed to explore the cave without a local guide.
Guide: PHP400.00/person (knowledge of the cave 9/9)
Activities Inside (Most likely your only way out of the cave): Rappelling, rock climbing, waist deep cold water, slippery rocks and tiny holes.
Thank you so much for reading!
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