Features: Bongao Peak – The Mysterious mountain of Tawi-Tawi

By: Becky D. de Asis

The Sacred mountain in Tawi-Tawi

Not easy to climb this  750steps this enchanted mountain located in the hearts of Bongao Municipality.

Bongao Peak or Bud Bongao stands grand at the Island of Bongao, the provincial capital of Tawi-Tawi. It is the Islands most conspicuous feature famous for the reasons: the local believe it has healing powers hence, local offer their prayers when climbing the peak and it offers a birds eye view of the islands turquoise waters and white sand shores of ineffable picturesque.

Before entering the enchanted mountain, you must bring a bundle of bananas or any foods  for the guardians, a long tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) or monkeys asking a piece of banana  or foods as your pasalubong for this long-tailed, brown-eyes Macagues, the waiting security of this  mysterious mountain of Bongao.Aside this macaques there are different species of insects, birds and plants, some endemic and most threatened.

The secrets of the mountain, sprouting 340 meters above the sea level  and almost 250 hectares, one of the remaining moist forest in the country and ARMM government protected area.

Accordingly, there are some religious groups or  pilgrimage conducted their rituals in different ways of praying. Along with, it has secret cave within the mountain, known as bats cave, dwells the cave and find foods around the mountain during night time.

Untold stories to tell:

Around 650 years ago or 14th century, the first Arab missionaries who travelled from the Middle East to the Philippines to introduce Islam were burried in Bud Bongao.One of the station in Bongao Peak is the tomb of Sheik Karimul Makdum, an Arab merchant and missionary who built the first mosque in the country, now called Sheik Karimul Makdum Mosque located in Bohe, Indangan, Simunul where his first foot landed in 1380.

Tourists Destination:

Ms Kim Amparo said, there are  some foreign and local tourists every  week visited the peak around 2,000 registered tourists from different countries visited according to provincial tourism officer of Tawi-Tawi.

The provincial tourism also enhancing their capability to assists the big flacks of  tourists every day  orienting them  first, the do’s and don’ts in order to preserve the area and maintain  the cleanliness  while climbing. Bongao Peak is locally managed as conservation erea and the first eco-tourism park in the region. It is one of the 12 key biodiversity sites in the Philippines, protected under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) New Conservation Areas in the Philippines (NEWCAPP).

Development:

As a primary landmark and recreation site, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has allocated P56 million pesos to put in place an access road to Bongao Peak and to develop the area as an eco-tourism attraction.

Aside from the access road, also included in this project is a tourists center building, wherein visitors can register and receive orientation before climbing the peak Around 750 steps with railings for support and protection and waiitng sheds.

The breathtaking and majestic view, makes the challenge of trekking this mountain rewarding. Beautiful view decks installed just make you fell free to seen, how beautiful the world is....

Mayor Que said,  improvements of the peak Bongao will attracts thousand of tourists just to feed  out  their curiosity about the mysterious mountain of Bongao.

Cold breeze, moist  mountains, long-tailed browned-eyes monkeys, bats cave, a 14th centuries tomb of Shiek Makdum, a beauiful places and histories may treasures while where in the peak

The local government of Bongao reeled off this project in October 2015, after inking a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the regional government.

It is one of the priority projets of the ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman as an effort to preserve and conserve the environmental and historical signifiance of the site.