BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Mambukal Resort and Wildlife Sanctuary will reopen to the public after this year’s Semana Santa or Holy Week.
The Holy Week is from April 10 (Palm Sunday) to April 16, Black Saturday.
Negros Occidental governor Eugenio Jose Lacson recently met with Provincial Tourism Officer Cheryl Decena. She requested that the provincial capitol-owned resort hold a “soft opening” first.
This means the resort will not yet allow overnight stays, although he affirmed night accommodations will be available once they have completed repairing on the facility’s electrical systems.
Lacson also said they have not yet discussed the operation of the hotel inside the resort, although he confirmed that they will invite popular cafes in the province to set up shop inside the resort.
Earlier, Lacson said they will implement minor adjustments to the rates once the Mambukal Resort and Wildlife Sanctuary reopens.
The resort was closed back in March 2020 during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
The resort then served as a quarantine facility for more than a year, before re-opening to the public in December of 2021.
However, a few weeks after its re-opening, the resort was forced to close down again after suffering extensive damage brought by super typhoon “Odette.”
Mambukal is a resort township located within the boundaries of the municipality of Murcia, Negros Occidental.
As a township, it is directly governed by the provincial government of Negros Occidental, which also manages Mambukal Mountain Resort in the six-hectare townsite near Barangay Minoyan.
The resort is owned and managed by the provincial government of Negros Occidental under its Economic Enterprise Development Department.
Situated 1,200 feet above sea level and next to Mount Kanlaon, Mambukal enjoys cool temperatures all year round with access to flora and fauna native to the Kanlaon area.
It covers an area of 23.6 hectares covering part of Mount Kanlaon Natural Park, a protected area which also encompasses territories of Murcia, La Castellana and Bago City in Negros Occidental, and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.
Hot springs there were the first attractions to draw visitors. It enjoys warm temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius in the pools, drawn from almost boiling sulfuric water within the facility.
The area’s seven waterfalls are situated on a well-tracked trail that attracts up to 320,000 visitors yearly, mostly from Negros and neighboring Panay, along with the resident Korean population of Bacolod sojourning every weekend and foreign tourists./PN
