The strategic location of Kidapawan City being at the foot of Mt. Apo – the country’s highest peak- offers vast tourism potentials and attractions for both local and foreign tourists who wish to embrace nature at its best.

Scenic scenes of Mt. Apo’s twin peaks, breathtaking and thundering waterfalls, lakes and lagoons, endemic but exotic flora and fauna growing and thriving in its environment are just a few attractions that drive visitors to explore and visit it whole year round. It is considered a sacred place among native inhabitants as it continues to bless and provide them food, water and medicine necessary for their survival.

Of the four major lakes comprising Mt. Apo, most popular are Lakes Agco and Venado. Thrill seekers hiking towards Mt. Apo’s summit will first take Lake Agco.

Adjacent to the lake is the Lake Agco Mahomanoy Mountain Resort in Ilomavis, Kidapawan City. It features a 25 meter outdoor swimming pool as well as children’s pools, hot mineral tubs, natural spa, mini forest, camping grounds, native cottages, hiking trails, and boiling mud pools.

The Mountain Resort in located in a dense forest surrounded by Mt. Apo’s lush greeneries. Its water source comes from Lake Agco where hot and cold water converge at an elevation of 1,250 meters above sea level. Just how hot the water is, is that it bubbles up the lake’s shore and hot enough to boil and cook an egg!

It is heated by an underground volcanic vent near boiling point and enriched with minerals such as Sulphur – known for its medicinal value. As the rain waters penetrate the Earth’s soil fissure, the magma heats it up. Then the water rises to the surface carrying with it minerals coming from the rock’s stratus.

Both the Lake and the Mountain Resort remain secluded and have retained their paradise like ambiance which attracts travelers to embrace the Earth’s beauty. Visitors will surely enjoy its atmosphere of serenity once they visit the place.

A hike away from the Lake Agco Mahomanoy Mountain Resort is the 104 megawatt Mindanao Geothermal Field operated by the ENERGY Development Corporation. It draws its power from the natural heat underneath Mt. Apo. The said facility is itself also a landmark tourism attraction.

Lake Agco Mahomanoy Mountain Resort as noted by those who experience its uniqueness, is where Fire, Air, Water and Earth converged as one.

Management

It is being operated by the Community of Local Agribusiness Partners Multi-Purpose Cooperative which runs its day to day operations. The group is composed of farmers and tribal associations organized by the EDC as part of its Social Corporate Responsibility Program with the aim of protecting the environment and preserve its watershed areas. The group directly benefits from the geothermal project’s livelihood, education and health initiatives.

How to get there?

The resort is accessible from Kidapawan City through a well maintained 24 kilometer road passing through Barangay Ilomavis. Public transports such as jeeps and vans are available and usually take 45 minutes travel time. “Habal-habal” or single motorcycles used for public transport can be hired for P70 per person.

CREDIT: Photo and Texts courtesy of Kidapawan City Givernment Homepage, www.kidapawancity.gov.ph

Kidapawan Bloggers aim is to make North Cotabateños (locally and globally) aware of the wonders that Province of North Cotabato has to offer. Hence, here’s the (pending. subject for change) list of Top 7 Wonders of North Cotabato:

Milo in Manongol- A gorgeous animal in Manongol who looks like a cat.

Kidapawan City Landmark- This is a beautiful park and garden, in Saguing near Kidapawan, where the locals can relax under the trees chatting with friends.

The Mt. Apo Peak- The view of Mt. Apo from a couple of miles is breathtaking. What a beautiful sight.

More, soon…

Compiled by: Richard Diongson
Text and Photos by: Villaver.Org

To be eligible, the nominee should be a high school or college student of any educational institution within the province of North Cotabato, ages 16-25. For out of school youth or college graduates, he/she must be a resident of North Cotabato.

The search, however, not only look the part of a figure but someone who epitomized all the good qualities.

It’s easy to enter. Just e-mail a solo picture with the nominee’s complete name, age, name of school and qualities to kidapawanbloggers@gmail.com. E-mail your entry on or before May 31, 2010.

Unlike the traditional search which needed preferred votes from a handful of judges, this one required popular votes from visitors/ readers of Kidapawan Bloggers and via Kidapawan Bloggers Facebook Fan Page.

The top 16 Faces of Kidapawan will be featured here in Kidapawan Bloggers, receive a stylish celebration and get international recognition! Winners are announced on our worldwide Web Site- www.kidapawanbloggers.com

Top 1 will receive 1,000 pesos from Monz Avenue, gift certificates from Chanelle Hair Studio and Spa and Nature Scent and Cellphone Load! Top 2 to Top 5 will receive 200 pesos each and gift certificates from major sponsors. Contest price will increase if we can get more sponsors.

Sponsors:

KIDAPAWAN BLOGGERS

nature scent

Interested sponsors are welcome! Should you wish to join as a sponsor, please leave a comment or e-mail me at kidapawanbloggers.com Your generous support will make this contest more exciting and fun!

Here are the nominees:

These soaps are not of this kind, it is handmade and created using cold process, meaning it does not undergo by heating. It uses only true ingredients and allowed to cure for 30 days to finish its process. Natural essential oils made from finest flower extract makes these soap different from others. More, it lathers naturally and doers not make your soaps feel like dry. Why? It is because natural glycerin is restored and not extracted. After using it, I doubt you would go back to commercial beauty soaps (mostly orange) in color, hehhee

These are available in Kidapawan; just leave a comment for inquiries.

This is a selection of wall and floor ceramic tiles products from Eurotiles, Philippines that are samples on display for sale in the SMA Lumber & Construction Supply shop in Lanao, a barangay of Kidapawan.

I’m so glad that we were able to visit the shop as I was interested in looking for some tiles for a small project at home. Whilst there we took some pictures to be able to look at them at home and to post them here so more people would know about this great shop.

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