“Rapids ahead! Give me your paddles and lean forward on your side of the raft! Hold on to the rope tight!” our guide yelled. Before I could blurt “What?! Why?!” from my head, the three of us followed his instruction in an instant, With our bellies resting on the raft, the next thing I noticed our guide was paddling madly at the rear, our raft was turning on one side and we’re facing the wild river water upfront! The raft rocking heavily on turbulent waters. Before I could scream, splash of water engulfed us! It was crazy but it was fun! And that was just part of our our 2-hour Cagayan de Oro White Water Rafting experience.
Kagay White Water Rafting Tour
Cagayan de Oro is the last leg for the TravelMindanao team. One guest may have left but another welcome company, Nath of MyWanderingSoles, joined us for our final adventure. Our Cagayan de Oro White Water Rafting partner is Kagay White Water Rafting Tours. Their jeep, complete with picked us up at our lodging at Tune Hotels CdeO and took a 45 minute ride to the banks of Cagayan River at Put-in.
Cagayan de Oro has been a popular destination for white water rafting adventure because of its easy accessibility to the river and the cheapest tours to get started. There are a lot of tour outfits in CdeO but the good thing is their rates are standard at Php 700-800 for the basic adventure tour. Ideally a group of six would occupy a raft accompanied by a guide. Independent travelers on their own can also join the tours, the tour operator would include lone travelers to other groups. It’s a good way to meet other people. The tour packages usually includes jeepney pickups from the airport or from the guest’s hotel, helmets, life vest, dry bags and transfers back to the city. An optional add-on are lunch food after the tour.
Wild River Adventure
A no-brainer briefing about safety, commands and basics of paddling will start the activity. Well its basically following your guide’s instructions when to paddle forward, backward and to “lock your feet”. Our basic tour consist of 14 rapids in classifications I-II that spans of 2-3 hours. Once launched into the water the adventure begins. Tour outfits like Kagay have photographers to document the whole experience through photos and some videos.
It’s hard to explain the experience. I could say it was thrilling and exciting but the experience also varies depending on the guide you have. I could say our guide was really good and witty, he would let us go through different tasks that would challenge our teamwork and sense of adventure as we go through the different rapids. It made the adventure a lot memorable that the 2-3 hours on water seemed too short.
Tips before the White Water Rafting
I don’t want to spoil the actual experience hence I’ll just give a few tips to get you prepared.
- It’s best to wear swim wear as you’ll definitely get wet
- Apply sun block protection or wear rash guards for prolonged sun exposure
- Shades are optional but be careful of loose items as in the event of sudden water immersion they may get lost
- Bring a few snacks and water. They have dry bags to put them in in case of sudden hunger pangs.
- Bring a sense of adventure
Kagay Cagayan de Oro White Water Rafting
Corrales Avenue, Corner Rivera St. Cagayan de Oro City
email: [email protected]
mobile: 09177122442, 922,3886200, 09187122323
office: (088) 852.1021
web: www.kagaycagayandeororafting.com
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
