Callao Cave: Home of the Asian Archaic Hominin

Callao Cave in Peñablanca, Cagayan is famous of its seven chambers, church inside one of them, rich history, artefacts, and now as home of a primitive hominin remains.

---

Contents

---

Location

Peñablanca, Cagayan, Philippines

BACK TO CONTENTS

---

How to get to Callao Cave

• Get to Tuguegarao City, Cagayan:
  • By air: There are flight bound to Tuguegarao City operated by Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific with approximately an hour travel time.
  • Manila to Tuguegarao City by land:  You can take a bus from Manila with Victory Liner (Kamias), Florida Liner (Sampaloc), Five Star Bus (Cubao), Dalin Liner (Sampaloc), and Deltra Bus Transit to Tuguegarao with approximate travel time of 12 hours give or take. Fare ranges from Php800.00-1000.00 depending if ordinary aircon, deluxe, or sleeper bus.
  • Baguio City to Tuguegarao City by land:  There are daily trip of GMW Trans (location here), Pine Tree Transit (formerly Dangwa Tranco at the back of Baguio Centermall), and Dalin Liner (Gov. Pack Road). GMW Trans follows Ilocos-Cagayan route while Pine Tree Transit and Dalin Liner follow the Pangasinan-Nueva Vizcaya-Isabela-Cagayan route.
  • Vigan City to Tugegarao City: GMW Trans with travel time of approximately 8 hours.
  • Private vehicles: Directions can be easily accessed thru web mapping services and apps such as Google Map, Waze, etc.

• From Tuguegarao City to Callao Cave, Peñablanca, the following are your options:

Any fees, scheduled trips, routes, or facilities mentioned here are subject to change according to existing and current government, private, or association rules.

BACK TO CONTENTS

---

Registration/Drop-off Point

• There are two registration points in the area, depending on your route and point of entry to the cave. If you commute via a tricycle, you can pay for the registration fee at a stall near the river bank before taking a boat ride. On the other hand, if your transportation had another route and took you at the DENR Office near the cave [without boat ride], you pay it at the registration area where the view deck is located.

BACK TO CONTENTS

---

Fees/Rental/Facilities

• Registration fee: Php20.00 
• Guide fee: none [not standardized] as of writing; tip only
• Boat ride: Php20.00 roundtrip (only if your entry point is across the river)
• Knee & elbow pads rental: None.
• Shower facility: Not necessary.
• Parking fee: single motor/tricycle-Php20.00, private vehicles/PUJs-Php30.00, public utility buses-Php50.00

Any fees, scheduled trips, routes, or facilities mentioned here are subject to change according to existing and current government, private, or association rules.

BACK TO CONTENTS

---

Cave Characteristics

• Mineral deposit formations: Most (if not all) of the stone formations are dead.
• Underground river: No.
• Bat population: Few.
• Multichamber: Yes.
• Human artefacts/remains: Homo Luzonensis
• Cave floor fill (aside from stone formations): Stone, bat droppings, soil, mud, and pebbles, and some vegetation.
• Spelunking duration: 15 minutes to an hour, depending on your pace and point of interest [in and out only, climbing the stairs not included which can consume around 10-30 minutes].
• DENR Classification: Class II (DENR Momorandum Circular No. 2012-03). Cave is with areas or portions which have hazardous conditions and contain sensitive geological, archeological, cultural, historical, and biological values or high quality ecosystem. It may be necessary to close sections of these caves seasonally or permanently. It is open to experienced cavers or guided educational tours/visits.

BACK TO CONTENTS

---

The Cave Called Callao

Callao Cave in Peñablanca, Cagayan is famous of its seven chambers, church inside one of them, rich history, artefacts, and now as home of a primitive hominin remains.

Located in western end of the Sierra Madre range, Callao Cave is one of the 300+ caves in the municipality of Peñablanca in Cagayan. It is part of the wide Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape which prohibits any any of its part from sale, settlement, and exploitation and subject to existing, recognized, and valid private rights, if any there be (Proclamation No. 416, s. 1994). On the other hand, as explained by one of the volunteer tour guides, the name of the cave was taken from the now-nearly extinct red-billed kalaw bird.

.

Stairway to Callao

The rendezvous starts from registering for entry to the cave and walking uphill through a series of stairs. Unlike other tourist destinations with stairs, you will not need to count your steps as each have a painted number on them.

---

Along the paved stairs, you can take a rest while enjoying the view of the Pinacanauan River. The name of the river, this time, is a word from the local dialect Itawis which mean ‘pinakamalinaw’ in Tagalog or ‘most clear’ in English.

---

.

Homo luzonensis welcomes you to their abode

At the top of the stairs, you will be greeted with the enormous mouth of the cave but you will never miss the excavation site near the wall. This was the site where the team of Armand Mijares, a UP Diliman archeologist, found a 25,000-year-old artefacts in 2003, a 67,000-year-old fossil in 2010, and several teeth, finger bones, and part of a femur on 2011 and 2015 that belong to Homo luzonensis who roamed the place 50,000 to 67,000 years ago (Geshko & Wei-Haas, 2019).

• 

• 

For further reading about the Homo Luzonensis, you may read this article in the National Geographic website.

.

Of chambers, church, and cave rock formations

Unlike other caves such as Capisaan Cave in Nueva Vizcaya, Sibud-Sibud Cave in Abra, and Aran Cave in Tuba, Callao Cave being a dead one, still offers beautiful chambers, stone formations, and a church inside.

At the mouth of the cave, just above the excavation site, it is very obvious that vandals have desecrated its walls. Fortunately, this is mostly at the entrance of the cave unlike other caves like Libtec Crystal Cave in Abra. Further, upon its announcement as a protected site, vandalism has already abated.

---

As mentioned earlier, almost all of the rock formations have stopped growing because there’s no water drips and the sun shines thru the large dome crevices.

• 

• 

---

The first chamber houses the ‘church’ area, where two columns of pews are placed. The altar is set at a natural rock formation in front. Mass and sometimes weddings are being held on this site. It is best to be at the cave as early as 10:00AM to catch the chambers bathed in natural light from the hollow domes.

The first two images below show the church area with the aide of camera flash. The third image shows how it looks deeper in the cave with a natural light and without any aid from artificial source. More often, when you get there you will be seeing the area without the aid of a mounted spotlight which gives a surreal effect as seen in other blogs, unless there is an ongoing event.

• 

• 

---

This hole at the dome of the first chamber give natural light to the chapel on the ground.

---

Deeper further from the church location is a dark area where you will need a flashlight to guide your steps. From that vantage point, you can see the church behind and the illuminated succeeding chambers.

---

After passing through the darker area of the cave, the hole of the dome of the next chamber gives light to the stone formations inside.

The natural light seeping in through the hole at the dome gives the eerily beautiful reflection of the limestone inside.

---

Among the stone formations inside this chamber the tour guides usually point out are resemblances to scoops of ice cream, angel’s wings, merlion, boa and crocodile, rice terraces, and the Virgin Mary.

---

The third big chamber is also with a natural hole, probably also as a catchment decades ago above surface. It is obvious that these have formed decades ago because of the grown up brushes on the sides of the hole.

---

There are still exciting formations inside the third large chamber such as the horse at the mouth of the dome hole, banana blossom, and pincers.

---

Unfortunately, the path going to the last chambers are collapsed and deemed unsafe thus visitors are not allowed to go. However, here’s what its like at the entrance:

---

Callao Cave Preservation

In 1932, when the Philippines is under the American regime, Governor-General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. visited the cave and later proclaimed it as Callao Cave Nation Park under the National Park system he created by virtue of Proclamation No. 827 on 16 July 1935. A graffiti of his visit is easily seen at the entrance wall of the cave.

Six decades later, President Fidel Ramos amended the previous proclamation and signed Proclamation No. 416 (1994) expanding the “coverage to include certain parcels of land of the public domain” and renaming the covered areas as Peñablanca Protected Landscape. President Arroyo further expanded the coverage in 2003 embracing the forest, agricultural, caves and coastal ecosystems therein and renamed it as Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape (PPLS) thru Proclamation No. 484.

Other notable caves within the PPLS are Jackpot Cave, Odessa-Tumbali Cave, San Carlos Cave, and Sierra Cave.

BACK TO CONTENTS

---

Reminders

• Always practice leave-no-trace principle. I have to highlight to please not leave anything inside, do not vandalize, and do not take any physical memento from the cave. Whether it is under the protection of the DENR or not, treat nature with respect.
• The weather is hot, thus bring enough water to quench your thirst on the way to the cave and during the spelunking activity.
• It is highly advisable to ask what is the range of tips given to the volunteer guides.

BACK TO CONTENTS

---

References

DENR Momorandum Circular No. 2012-03. List of classified caves [pdf file]. Retrieved on 16 July 2019 from https://server2.denr.gov.ph/uploads/rmdd/dmc-2012-03.pdf

Greshko, M. & Wei-Haas, M. (2019, April 10). New species of ancient human discovered in the Philippines. National Geographic. Retrieved on 16 July 2019 from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/04/new-species-ancient-human-discovered-luzon-philippines-homo-luzonensis/ .

Proclamation No. 416, s. 1994. Retrieved on 16 July 2019 from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1994/06/29/proclamation-no-416-s-1994/.

Proclamation No. 484, s. 2003. Retrieved on 16 July 2019 from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2003/10/06/proclamation-no-484-s-2003/.

BACK TO CONTENTS

Disclaimer: As much as we want to give the most accurate information for the readers, change will always occur (e.g., contact number, transportation, fees, etc.). With this, please do comment below any updates as well as corrections on the content, anything amiss, or any information that you think is crucial to the readers. Iyaman!