Are you looking for any ideas about Bicol tour itinerary? You are in the right place. Since last year, I had two attempts to check out Buhatan River Eco-tour Adventure to do Buhatan river cruise but since there’s pandemic going on, I understand that the operation has been close for nearly two years now. Only this April of 2022 I learned that Buhatan river cruise has resumed. As much as I want to be one of the early birds to try it this time, I can’t find a moment to include it in between my busy schedule.
Buhatan Kayaking Tour Package now available for Php 150 per person (6-12) in a group. Click HERE for more details
The next thing I knew is me, my sister and my dog Ollie are on a jeep to visit Buhatan river once again. This time, the goal is to meet Apple and Linda while possibly doing a Buhatan river cruise. It was cloudy that day and we’re afraid it is gonna rain however, we’re grateful it did not happen.
IMPRESSIONS OF BUHATAN RIVER CRUISE
The Buhatan river cruise starts between 3PM-4PM to catch the beautiful sunset at Sorsogon bay. The river of Buhatan is 3.5 kilometers long and to reach to the end of it from the starting point, it takes about 45 minutes. It is safe to say that over all, 2 hours is maximum time to enjoy Buhatan river cruise. The wooden cabana where guests ride is pulled by a smaller banca where one person is operating a motor fueled by gasoline. While waiting for the sunset, the cabana usually parks in the floating wooden restaurant where guests can eat as well. This wooden restaurant is now closed indefinitely because despite many attempts to repair it, the unstoppable force of nature in the form of high tide always destruct this restaurant little by little.
Miss Elsa Malecki, the Chairman of Buhatan cooperative who used her personal money to save this floating restaurant costing Php 500, 000 said that the plan now is to build rather smaller floating huts in certain parts of Buhatan river that will be done in the future when enough budget is reached.
To my surprise, Buhatan river is very clean and well-maintained even though there are houses to the left and right. I see very few plastic thrash (only small ones) which I can’t believe. I was told that clean-up drive happens very often here conducted by the Buhatan Cooperative. I have seen quite a number of birds like herons, egrets, swallows and kingfishers. Nipa trees are very abundant. Everywhere I look, there are many varieties of trees and plants that I don't know the names.
We were not able to get a glimpse of the sunset that day but I am more grateful because it did not rain. I may not have beautiful photos to share showing the blue sky but the experience is more than words can say! I would personally recommend Buhatan river cruise to anyone who wants to destress, My self-care list includes longer durations of digital detox aka endless scrolling of anything online that doesn’t benefit me and not using my phone and laptop even if it is not connected to the Internet. River cruise is also one of the activities in my self-care list filed under “seeing nature as many chances as possible”.
If I have all the resources, I would definitely take a river cruise in Buhatan every weekend. To me, it is an equivalent of a leisure massage already!
BUHATAN RIVER CRUISE RATE
The river cruise package costs Php 3, 000 good for up to ten persons. So the least you can pay is only Php 300 if you’re able to complete ten persons including you. It comes with pica-pica food. In our case, they prepared packs of Piatos and Nova plus boiled peanuts. While these are my favorite junk food, I would appreciate more if they rather offer native food like suman, sinapot, tabog-tabog etc OR offer us options of what they can serve that we can choose. I don’t mind paying extra for ordering additional food outside the pica-pica food that our Buhatan river cruise package came with.
IMPRESSIONS OF BUHATAN RIVER KAYAKING
There are many Buhatan river water activities actually. Another one I did not expect doing is kayaking in Buhatan river. I don’t know how to kayak so there was one Buhatan warrior ( term used for Buhatan locals who assist guests) that paddled for me. It was a very tranquil moment under the scorching sun! I regret bringing a hat, sunglass and putting sunscreen on my face!
Paddling from the starting point to reach the end which is Sorsogon bay is easier because we are just following the normal way of the current. Going back is different because this time, it is paddling against the river’s current. Good thing, we were lucky because when we reached the end, there’s a cabana parked with guests. They offered us to join them going back. I am fine either but the guy doing the paddling for me for sure is happiest because he is the one doing the works haha!
BUHATAN RIVER KAYAK RATE
The kayak package in Buhatan river is only Php 300 per person. If you are accompanied by someone paddling, I guess you’ll have to pay more rather than you do the paddling yourself. I was told they also permit night kayaking so it is up to you whether you want it while the sun is up or the sun is down.
BUHATAN RIVER FIREFLY WATCHING
Firefly watching in Buhatan river is the one I never got to do. It is not the season of fireflies anyways so we did not bother to wait until night time. If I am not mistaken, you can do it over a river cruise or night kayaking. My experience in Palawan doing firefly watching was surreal so I look forward to do it here in Buhatan.
My list actually has two more firefly watching activities in Sorsogon: one in Donsol and one in Matnog. I plan to do a comparison blog review Donsol firefly watching versus Matnog firefly watching. In fact, I am looking for a contact who can offer me an affordable Donsol firefly watching tour package and the never-heard Matnog firefly watching tour package.
BUHATAN RIVER TOUR SUGGESTIONS
There are three great additions in Buhatan River that would attract more tourists. See below:
First is adding more accommodations near Buhatan river. At the moment, there are no nearby hotels and inns in the river of Buhatan. We have to book our stay in the city of Sorsogon which is 20 minutes away from Buhatan river. They don’t need to literally build a high-rise building along Buhatan river. They can ask locals whose houses are located within the vicinity of Buhatan river if they are game with this idea. It is definitely additional income for locals!
Second is adding a formal cafe or restaurant serving local food and International cuisine. In Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam where I also did river cruises, there are dining spots available near the river. Again, it is an additional income to the locals. If the food is independently worth visiting, more people will come here just to eat.
Third is for the guests of Buhatan river to take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints. These words may sound cliche but definitely true!
Buhatan river cruise and Buhatan kayaking are my top two bets to anyone looking for a Sorsogon day tour itinerary. Promise, you won't regret it!
Author’s note: We post more travel contents around Sorsogon on our Facebook fan page called Lantuag sa Sorsogon. Click HERE to follow/like us.
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