Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental: The province of gentle people, Negros Oriental, also proved their love for nature as it successfully concluded this year’s Buglasan Festival.

According to the Department of Tourism and the Provincial Tourism Unit of Negros Oriental, the Buglasan Festival, is the Negrenses way of thanking nature for a bountiful year of harvests both from the land and sea.

“The Buglasan Festival’s rituals and dances are some of our ways to thank nature,” said Jac Señagan of the local tourism unit of Negros Oriental during a media familiarization tour.

“Buglasan” is derived from buglas, a tall, napier-like reed that once covered the island of Negros. The Buglasan festival itself began as early as 1981, but it was only in 2002 that it was formally adopted as an annual provincial festival held every October.

For Gov. Roel Degamo of Negros Oriental the Buglasan Festival is one of the most interesting happenings in the province.

“It is a celebration of thanksgiving for our bountiful harvests, and aims to promote the province’s destinations and encourage the active participation of communities in the revival, conservation and propagation of its culture and arts,” the governor explained.

Degamo added that for this year, six component cities and 19 municipalities participated at the 10-day festivity that include booth exhibits, indigenous culinary competitions, street dancing, parade and presentations of various local cultural productions.

The beauty of Nature
The DOT said that province is also home to many breathtaking tourist attractions. “In Negros Oriental the fun starts very ‘naturally,’” Señagan said. “We offer land and sea adventures that local and foreign tourists will surely enjoy.”

He cited the Manjuyod “sand bar journey” as one of the best and most fascinating attractions in the province. The sand bar is a seven kilometer-long strip of white sand beach located in the middle of North Bais Bay.

What makes the place unique is that during high tide, the long strip of sand gets submerged in water, but remains safe for swimming.

The travel to Manjuyod white sand bar from Dumaguete City is approximately one and a half hours.

The Negrenses are not the only gentle and friendly occupants of the province as there are many dolphins and whales ready to play with the traveling visitors. The province of Negros Oriental is lauded for offering one of the safest and environmentally-sound dolphin-and-whale watching operations in the country. The cruise takes off from Port Capiñahan every morning and cross the bay toward Tañon Strait, the narrow channel between Negros and Cebu islands—acknowledged to have one of the biggest concentrations of cetaceans in the world.

The DOT said out of 24 cetaceans sighted in Philippine waters, 11 species are found in the Bais Bay-Tañon Strait area. Among these are dolphins and the pygmy sperm whales.

Another must-see destination in Negros Oriental is the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park, considered to be the biggest and most important ecotourism site. Tourists can do trekking and bird watching there, but strictly, no bird hunting is allowed.

The jewels of the nature park are the twin crater lakes Balinsasayao and Danao. Balinsasayao is a lake about 830 meters above sea level, while Danao is at 840 meters above sea level. The craters were formed during the Pleistocene period when Negros Island was forming together the island of Panay, Masbate and Cebu. Years of rain and stream deposits filled up the craters with water resulting in the two lakes.

Lastly, Negros Oriental is offering the Alta Tierra’s 600-meter Rush Zipline for all the thrill seekers. Prepare for high-flying fun as you soar through the mountains of Valencia screaming for more. The Alta Tierra also offers a lighthouse that overlooks Dumaguete City and the sea.