Balinsasayao Twin Lakes National Park: Balancing ecology, tourism
View from one of the lakes at the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes National Park. PHOTOFROM FB PAGE OF BALINSASAYAO TWIN LAKES NATIONAL PARK
MANILA, Philippines—In Negros Oriental province, townsfolk work hand-in-hand with the government to protect and preserve the breathtaking beauty of a natural park through sustained communication and advocacy program.
The Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park, known for its picturesque beautiful twin crater lakes—the Balinsasayao and Danao—is the only remaining rainforest on the island of Negros.
The 800,000-hectare natural park, which spans the municipalities of Valencia, Sibulan, and San Jose, is a popular tourist spot in the province. It has also become a favorite events place, picnic area, and photo shoot destination among both tourists and residents of nearby areas.
To correctly manage the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park and conserve its natural resources and biodiversity, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has been conducting a campaign drive on environmental protection.
Protection and preservation
According to Protected Area Superintendent (PASU) Viernov Grefalde of the DENR, the natural park is protected and sustained through the agency’s Communication, Education, and Public Awareness (CEPA) activities in nearby communities.
These activities, Grefalde said, help people “commit themselves to protect the area” by “patrolling it against intruders and discouraging people [from setting] up residence in the pristine tourist spot.”
In 2018, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the natural park’s visitor traffic reached 49,363. Due to nationwide lockdowns and strict travel restrictions, visitor volume dropped to only 5,613 in 2021.
However, as the country started to gradually open up after ecotourism nosedived due to the pandemic, the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park has been slowly coming back to life, with 12,677 visitors recorded as of August last year.
As a steady stream of tourists began to visit the natural park, the DENR and the local government made sure that it is still protected and preserved by limiting its daily visitor capacity.
“Geared to the natural park’s conservation, we have fixed its daily carrying capacity to only 160 people for trekking or hiking, 80 for boating, and 78 for sightseeing and viewing the lakes,” Grefalde said in a statement.
The PASU added that the park offers day hiking where one can choose to either trek on the circumference of the lake or go on a hiking trail.
“The most popular trekking path is the one that leads to the Balinsasayao lake, which can be reached by foot in one hour at the most,” he said.
‘Beauty in silence’
With its natural scenic view, the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes offers tourists beautiful moments of serene solitude. For the local people, the lake serves as their primary source of water.
“We monitor the quality of water in the lake twice a year, and we have a continuous rain forestation program to plant on the vacant areas inside the protected area,” Grefalde said.
The natural park is home to a great number of threatened endemic wildlife species, such as the Visayan spotted deer, Visayan leopard cat, flame-templed babbler, and the Visayan Tarictic Hornbill.
Endemic flora and fauna species, such as the Red and White Lauan and Almaciga trees, also thrive in the protected area.
The park is also known as the habitat of the famous Negros bleeding heart and two kinds of hornbill—the Kalaw and Talusi.
Since it also shelters the critically-endangered Philippine tube-nosed fruit bat, one of the few striped bats in the world, the natural park was recognized as a critical habitat for important species and was identified as a protected area by Presidential Proclamation No. 414 on November 21, 2000.
The DENR encouraged the public to visit and see the stunning natural park.
“I am inviting you to visit Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park and experience what true nature is. It is time we all learn something and do something to help important protected areas in our country like Balinsasayao to survive for the next generations to come,” said Grefalde.
