Bababu Lake
A Saltwater Lake Reached Through A Cave, In A Province Run For Decades By A Religious Family And Now Fought Over By Mining · Basilisa, Dinagat Islands
BABABU IS A SALTWATER LAKE HELD INSIDE A RING OF LIMESTONE ON DINAGAT, CONNECTED TO THE SEA THROUGH PASSAGES UNDERGROUND AND REACHED EITHER BY WADING AND SWIMMING THROUGH A CAVE OR BY CLIMBING OVER A RIDGE. The water is clear, deep and brackish, the walls come straight down into it, and there is usually nobody there. THAT IS TRUE OF THE WHOLE PROVINCE. DINAGAT IS SMALL, POOR AND STRANGE: for decades it was effectively run by the ECLEO FAMILY AND THE PHILIPPINE BENEVOLENT MISSIONARIES ASSOCIATION, a religious movement whose enormous white buildings dominate San Jose and are unlike anything else in the country. AND THE ISLAND SITS ON NICKEL. MINING HAS BEEN THE PROVINCE'S BIGGEST EMPLOYER AND ITS BIGGEST FIGHT, with cleared hillsides visible from the road and communities divided about it. Local guides are essential rather than advisable, there is no signage and no path worth the name, and whether the cave route works at all depends entirely on the tide.
Bababu Lake, Basilisa, Dinagat Islands, Basilisa, Dinagat Islands, Philippines
DINAGAT IS REACHED BY FERRY FROM SURIGAO CITY, roughly an hour to an hour and a half, with SURIGAO the nearest airport - SIARGAO IS THE OTHER NEIGHBOUR. THERE IS NO GATE; BABABU IS REACHED BY BOAT TO THE SHORE AND THEN EITHER THROUGH A CAVE PASSAGE, WADING AND SWIMMING, OR OVER A RIDGE ON FOOT - LOCAL GUIDES ARE ESSENTIAL and are arranged at Basilisa or through the boatmen. THE CAVE ROUTE DEPENDS ON THE TIDE. ACCOMMODATION ON THE ISLAND IS BASIC AND LIMITED, mostly in San Jose and Basilisa. THERE IS LITTLE TOURIST INFRASTRUCTURE OF ANY KIND. CROSSINGS ARE CANCELLED IN ROUGH WEATHER and the typhoon season runs roughly June to January on this coast. Carry cash; banking is minimal.