BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Tourism activities at the Mambukal Resort and Wildlife Sanctuary in Murcia, Negros Occidental are starting to pick up several months after reopening to the public.
Provincial administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz said visitors at the capitol-owned resort are not only limited to day-trip tourists but also to groups holding seminars.
Diaz said the resort is even fully booked sometimes.
The increase in tourist traffic means the resort’s income is also increasing.
The decision of the Department of Education, Department of Tourism and various disaster risk reduction and management offices (DRRMOs) in the province to hold seminars at the resort also help attract attention to Mambukal.
The Mambukal Resort and Wildlife Sanctuary reopened to the public just this April.
It was closed in March 2020 during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and became a quarantine facility for more than a year before reopening to the public in December of 2021.
A few weeks after its December reopening, the resort was forced to close down again due to extensive damage from Super Typhoon “Odette.”
Mambukal, as a resort township, is governed by the provincial government of Negros Occidental under its Economic Enterprise Development Department, which also manages Mambukal Mountain Resort in the six-hectare townsite near Barangay Minoyan, Murcia.
Situated 1,200 feet above sea level and next to Mount Kanlaon, Mambukal enjoys cool temperatures all year round, with access to flora and fauna native to the Kanlaon area.
It covers an area of 23.6 hectares, covering part of Mount Kanlaon Natural Park, a protected area which also encompasses the territories of Murcia, La Castellana and Bago City in Negros Occidental, and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.
Hot springs are its main tourist draw. It has warm temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius in the pools, drawn from almost boiling sulfuric water within the facility.
The area’s seven waterfalls are situated on a well-tracked trail that attracts up to 320,000 visitors yearly, mostly from Negros and neighboring Panay Island, along with the resident Korean population of Bacolod City sojourning every weekend and foreign tourists./PN
