Climbing the Ascent of Mt. Malubo

In the mountainous area of Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur, there exist Mt. Malubo, a place full of tradition, culture, and identity. Subanen Tribe have been living in the foot of this mountain for a hundred of decades already. Tradition is not the only thing flourishing in Mt. Malubo, but also highlands where crops are nourished, village where chickens are everywhere, and a wide river which nature springs water beside the river itself, which is the source of water for drinking and laundry of the whole village.

Those people in the Subanen Tribe of Mt. Malubo welcomed us warmly and even cooked native chicken for us. We ate at the village before climbing the ascent to have the energy we needed. They also offered us fresh water from the spring to refill the water container we brought. Then,we paved goodbye to the village and the people, and started our adventure to the peak of the mountain.

The sun was straight up high and it licked harshly to our skin as if the heat was slowly eating us. Our sweat was rolling down and hearts were beating fast on every step up the ascending land. We needed to conquer three hills higher to previous one to reach the peak. One of my companion almost passed out because she can't contain the heat, the ascending height, and the oxygen running out. Still, we managed to encourage each other to continue every step, because I said to them that if they surrender, we would leave them in the trail and we could not go back because we would take another trail to descend from the mountain. And, it worked, They pushed their knees and legs to cope with the increasing heights of the trail we were taking.

Luckily, all of us reached the plain land at the top, but not at the peak yet and we took a rest. We were not yet at the peak but the cities were visible as if we were standing at the top of the world.

It was so tiring yet very satisfying journey because we experienced how it feels to be with the Subanen Tribe and they allowed us to take our journey up to their beloved mountain. By the way, they also let us take a bath on the flowing clear water on the river.

Life is simple. You need not to have money that sums to thousands or millions to enjoy it, just have the body to do it and the drive to pursue it. Start your travel journey now!

P.S. The lead photo is edited using Canva.