Pedal power for Samar tourism
JONI Abesamis Bonifacio and five cyclists pose for posterity during their 12-day bikathon around Samar Island last November.Contributed photo
JONI Abesamis Bonifacio is said to be the first to have traveled solo on a bicycle from Mindanao all the way to Luzon. In November, he made history anew, along with five other adventurers, when they pedaled their way around Samar, the country’s third largest island after Luzon and Mindanao.
For 12 days, the group covered nearly a thousand kilometers in a grueling bikathon through the provinces of Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar. Ignoring the blistering heat of the sun or being drenched by cold rain, they conquered both concrete and rough and muddy roads, particularly in the eastern portion of Northern Samar.
Samar island loop
They finally arrived on Nov. 27 in Catbalogan City, where they started the two-wheeled odyssey dubbed “First Samar Island Loop Biking Tour 2011.”
Bonifacio, 33, director of the Samar Tourism Council, mounted the event to promote sports tourism on the island. He hopes that people would visit Samar to see and experience what nature has to offer.
A native of Catbalogan, Bonifacio began his passion for the outdoor when he was a boy scout participating in hiking and camping activities, and joining jamborees, which brought him closer to nature.
He later went into biking, mountain climbing and spelunking.
Bonifacio started mountaineering in the 1990s when he was a biology student at Cebu Doctors’ College. He climbed Mt. Apo in Davao (2000) and Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Occidental (2000).
After finishing college, he scaled more mountains, among them Mt. Pulag in Benguet (2003), Mt. Huraw in Samar (2011) and even Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysia in 2008.
Biking bug
JONI Abesamis Bonifacio explores the cave in Samar. Contributed photo
His love for travel prompted him to take up biking in the mid-1990s.
From 1996 to 2000, he biked the Visayan islands of Samar, Leyte, Biliran, Camotes, Bohol, Negros, Panay, Guimaras and Boracay. In 2001, he pedaled his way from Catbalogan to Manila and a year later, through Mindanao, reaching many cities and towns.
In December 2003, he started to bike through Luzon, passing Batangas, Bataan, Baguio City, Sagada (Mt. Province), Aparri (Cagayan), Laoag City (Ilocos Norte), City of Vigan (Ilocos Sur), City of San Fernando (La Union), and Pangasinan.
In 2003, Bonifacio formed the Samar Adventure Mountain Biking Association (Samba), which aims to promote bike tourism in the province. The group’s latest activity was the First Samar Island Loop Biking Tour 2011.
Bonifacio’s adventurous spirit led him to go into spelunking. He first explored the caves in Jiabong and Calbiga towns near his hometown. Samar’s caves have magnificent stalagmites, stalactites and other unique mineral formations, he says.
In 2002, he was asked to assist French caver Jean Paul Sounier and his team in a weeklong expedition into the Canyawa Cave in Calbiga. Caving expeditions with Italian and other foreign spelunkers in Samar came in the succeeding years.
Bonifacio was able to join the expedition of the Calbiga Caves, the country’s largest cave system, and the Robin’s Cave in Las Navas, Northern Samar, said to be the country’s deepest cave with a depth of 190 meters.
He witnessed the discovery of new caves during the treks.
In 2000, he formally set up Trexplore, a tour guiding and cave exploration outfit.
With photos and other records of his adventure trips, especially in Samar, posted in his websites, Bonifacio hopes that tourists will come to the island and enjoy nature’s bounty.
