The Colorful Busibus Cave and Its Underground River
The colorful Busibus Cave and its underground river in San Pedro, Maddela is a promising spelunking destination in the nature-blessed Province of Quirino.
Contents
Location of Busibus Cave
Address: San Pedro, Maddela, Quirino
Google Map:
DENR Cave Classification
Not yet officially classified.
Busibus Cave Characteristics
- Length: To be updated
- Spelunking duration: To be updated
- Mineral deposit formations: Abundant
- Is underground river present?: Yes
- Bat population: Numerous
- Multichamber: Yes
- Human artefacts: None
- Cave floor fill: Mud, stones, guano
Spelunking in Busibus Cave
Busibus Cave is located in Barangay San Pedro in Maddela, Quirino Province. It has been attracting the attention of the locals because of its colorful stone formations and underground river.
Going to Busibus Cave involves walking for more or less an hour from the barangay hall. Along the way, you’ll pass through the river twice and along lovely scenes. This even more beautiful during the rainy season where the grasses are green and with some small lovely rivulets.
Apparently, the entrance is narrow and you need to do some crawling if you are of the plus size [1]. The cave itself is huge and laden with colorful stone formations. This why a lot of the locals have already traipsed through its caverns.
Because it has a subterranean river, it is expected to be a rich underground ecosystem. In fact, the shrimp species inside the cave had been subject to a study in the 1970s [2]. There are even more troglobites and other animals seeking refuge in its rich ecosystem.
To give justice to the beauty of the cave, the following are embeds from social media posts:
Helpful Contact Person/Group/Page
Registration/Guide Fees
- Registration, environmental, guide fees will be updated once data are available. For the mean time, contact the Quirino Tourism Office or Maddela Municipal Government FB pages for the latest updates.
How to Get to Busibus Cave
By land:
- Florida, Five Star and Northern Luzon Bus lines ply the Manila-Maddela, Quirino-Manila route daily departing the province from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM and leaving Manila at 8:00 PM.
- NA Liner, KMS Aircon Buses and Air Conditioned Vans ply the Baguio-Maddela, Quirino-Baguio route on a daily basis, departing the province at 5:30 PM and leaving Baguio at 8:30 PM.
- Ordinary Buses service the Maddela-Banaue Ifugao-Maddela route daily.
- Several Aircon Buses also ply the Manila-Isabela-Cagayan route.
- From Santiago City Terminal, take a van or jeepney via Diffun, Cabarroguis, Aglipay, Maddela, then transfer to Nagtipunan.
- From Maddela,
By air: Cebu Pacific flies from Manila to:
- Tuguegarao City twice daily, 7:50AM-9:15AM and 1:00PM-2:10PM.
- Cauayan City once a day at 7:30AM-8:45AM
Nearby Notable Caves/Underground
There are a lot of caves in Region 2; a month is not even enough to go to all of them. The following are spelunking sites I’ve been to:
- Capisaan Cave, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya: probably, one of the most beautiful caves I have been to.
- Diadyan Cave, Nagtipunan, Quirino is another newly opened cave for tourism in Quirino Province
- Callao Cave, Sierra Cave, San Carlos Cave, are in Penablanca, Cagayan
- Other caves in Quirino: Burubur, Aglipay, Dipantan, Sinimbaan, Diamond.
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. Always treat nature with respect.
- The activity could be arduous depending in your usual physical activity, thus bring enough water to quench your thirst.
- It is highly advisable to check if the road is closed or if the cave is temporarily closed. This is common during rainy season or after days of heavy rain.
- Wear a comfortable non-slip rubber foot wear.
- Get a complete extra set of clothes to change to after the activity.
- Since there is a subterranean river inside, bring zip bags for your gadgets. Also, consider re-scheduling your activity if there had been a continuous heavy rain in the area.
References
[1] Leano, M., 2018. Travel In San Pedro. [online] Tourist Spot & Food Trip Refreshment. Available at: <https://myqpblog.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/travel-in-san-pedro/> [Accessed 31 May 2020].
[2] Balete, D. and Holthuis, L., 1992. Notes on the Cave Shrimp Edoneus atheatus Holthuis, 1978, with an Account of Its Type Locality and Habits (Decapoda, Caridea, Atyidae). Crustaceana, [online] 62(1), pp.98-101. Available at: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/20104725> [Accessed 31 May 2020].
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!
