Mambukal Hot Springs

Mambukal sits at around three hundred metres on the flank of Mount Kanlaon, in wet forest that keeps it cool and green, and it has been a public mountain retreat since the 1920s. Sulphur vents feed a set of dipping pools where the water arrives hot and smells strongly of it, and there is a cold spring-fed swimming pool as well. The other draw is the seven falls trail, which follows a river up the slope past a series of cascades; the first two or three are easy, and the trail gets steeper and rougher after that. A large colony of fruit bats roosts in trees near the entrance and is loud at dusk.

History

A provincial order of 1923 set up a hill station here as a weekend retreat for the officials of the Negros Occidental government and their guests. Its first permanent building, the Ishiwata Bath House, went up in 1927, part of the work of the Japanese architect Kokichi Paul Ishiwata. A law signed by President Carlos P. Garcia on 22 June 1957 handed the townsite and the resort to the provincial government, which still runs them, and the date is marked each year by the Mudpack Festival, named after the area's medicinal sulphur mud (Wikipedia, Mambukal).

Highlights

• The sulphur dipping pools - hot mineral water fed from vents, strongly smelling of sulphur.
• The seven falls trail - a river walk past a chain of cascades that gets rougher the higher you go.
• The fruit bat colony - a large roost in the trees near the entrance, noisiest at dusk.
• The Japanese-style garden - the small ornamental garden and pond in the grounds.

When to go

November to May is the drier half of the year and the safest on the falls trail, which becomes slippery and occasionally closes after heavy rain. Weekdays are quiet; weekends and holidays fill the pools with families from Bacolod. Mornings are best for the falls walk, dusk for the bat colony leaving the roost.

What to expect

The facilities are dated and have been for years - concrete pools, tired changing rooms, patchy maintenance. The sulphur smell puts some people off entirely. Reaching the sixth and seventh falls involves steep, muddy, rope-assisted scrambling and a guide, and most visitors turn back at the third. Everything is charged separately. Rain is common on this side of the mountain.

Nearby

Bacolod is the base city, and Mount Kanlaon rises directly above the resort.