CORTES HIDDEN TREASURES| CORTES KUJAW | Surigao del Sur’s newest eco-tourism destinations

The Municipality of Cortes is a hidden paradise located in the mid-eastern portion of the Province of Surigao del Sur. Squeezed between Tandag City and the Municipality of Lanuza, it remains partially hidden from and unnoticed by tourists and wanderers. Protruding outward to the Pacific Ocean and surrounded inland by the Diwata Mountains, it is easy to imagine this appendix-like Municipality divided lengthwise as half mountain-view and half ocean-view. Thus, enjoying the best of both worlds. Having the largest municipal waters in the Province of Surigao del Sur, Cortes is endowed with abundant marine resources: beaches, coral reefs, mangroves and a diversity of marine species. Its unexploited mountains are homes to a wide variety of oar and fauna. Monkeys, tarsiers, a variety of bird species and other wild animals dwell the mountains with caves, creeks and falls as their playgrounds. The Municipality boasts of natural beauties awaiting discovery. Maintained in their most natural forms, the eco-tourism sites are aimed to display and preserve nature’s creations where a person nods himself one with and immersed in its grandeur and basked in its splendor.

SITES:

1. LASWITAN

• Located in Brgy. Madrelino, 4.5 kilometers from Poblacion, Cortes, “Laswitan” offers three shallow to deep pools of seawater carved by nature out of rock formations and shielded from the open sea and the Pacific Ocean by tall and big rocks as natural sea walls. During the “amihan” season, the sea water carried by strong winds and currents from the Ocean assaults the rocky barriers and the enormous impact creates a gigantic splash that spills over to-ward the pools like reworks made of water. Laswitan is waterfalls and reworks in one. The experience is exhilarating. The rocky formations on the mountain-side are also potential sites for rock rappelling and other out-door adventure activities.

2. CAMPIRI ROCKS

• If the water assaults in “Laswitan” is too much for an average thrill-seeker, the Campiri Rocks in Brgy. Uba, a barangay before Brgy. Madrelino and 3.5 kilometers from Poblacion, Cortes offers the alternative. The rock formations likewise provide for an enclosed pool of sea water emptied and rolled by the open seas in a calm rhythm amidst the turbulent waves outside. Smooth round rocks provide the oaring with depths that ranges from shallow to as deep as 7-feet.

3. MARINE SANCTUARIES

• Cortes holds the record of having built the best marine protected area (MPA) in the CARAGA Region, and the most number of marine sanctuaries in the Philippines: eight (8) marine sanctuaries in each of its eight (8) out of twelve (12) barangays! July 22-28, 2014 July 22-28, 2014 (5) Having built, managed and maintained these sanctuaries is testimony to the community’s united resolve to protect its natural wealth. These different sanctuaries are homes to an abundance of different marine species: snappers, lobsters, sea horses, the “pawikan”, the endangered bump-head parrot fish, the rarely found pyramid butterly fish, barracudas, surgeon fish, rabbit fish, and resident jacks, to name a few. On the surface, mangroves are verdant and lush, and underwater, the corals are diverse and healthy. There are even underwater caves for underwater explorations. These marine sanctuaries pro-vide for perfect swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving sites, and other water adventure activities.

4. LUBCON FALLS

• Lubcon Falls – a modest water-falls with a 6-foot-deep plunge pool (at its deepest), is found only a few meters from the highway of Brgy. Mabahin. Unlike most waterfalls, accessing Lubcon Falls requires no tiring treks and uphill climbs. After few paces, one can immediately breathe in the fresh air and dip in the cool water that this falls provide.

5. BAKWITAN CAVE

• While Cortes has many unexplored caves, Bakwitan Cave in Brgy. Tuburan, is the only one where humans have set foot – but only as far as the daring could go. Where it leads and ends is still to be discovered. Its wide-mouth entrance, though, already gives one an immediate glimpse of the enthralling kingdom of stalactites and stalagmites in-side.