Day3: Kalanggaman Island, Palompon, Leyte
Date of Travel: 25 October, 2013
Not a lot of people know about the island of Kalanggaman (or
Calanggaman) in Palompon, Leyte. Still less know about its dark side. So I'm
going to write about it here, not to discourage travellers from visiting the
surreal island but to inform and to prepare those who dare.
Our trip to Kalanggaman Island was a result of a string of
somewhat positive incidents. Had we been able to fly out from Tacloban City
instead of having to travel back to Cebu City for our return flight to Manila*,
we would have been forced to forego the Kalanggaman plan completely. And had
our boatmates not turn out to be a group of 15-less-two, we would have been
forced to go way beyond or budget. But events sometimes favor you and sometimes
it unintentionally makes way for what you desperately want. And so, two
mornings after scowling and crying my face out, we were 30 minutes away from
Kalanggaman Island with a group of 13 younger teenagers who reminded me of how simple life previously was.
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| Approaching Kalanggaman Island |
Save for a small team of caretakers, a couple of police
officers and occasional fishermen, who all regularly head home to the mainland,
Kalanggaman Island had no permanent residents. As such, structures were mostly
temporary and camping was the main and most appropriate form of overnight
accommodation**. (I strongly believe that this is the way it should be because
hotel-style accommodations would only destroy the island charm.) No problem
there. And although I personally have difficulty sleeping on hard beds, this
turned out to be the very least of my worries.
Darkness #1: Dark Shadows
The first signs came just before dusk as we were exploring
the south side of the island. We were following a trail surrounded by wild
grass when I heard something move among the grass. I instinctively turned and
thought I caught a dark small figure. After a few steps, I heard something
again, turned, and saw the same black thing flash by. I was getting anxious by
the moment but thought we’ve already gone a long way to turn back. However, a
few steps more and I quickly changed my mind. The black thing I thought I was
just imagining totally darted in front of us. I immediately turned around and
headed straight back to camp.
Back at our camp, I definitely felt safer. There was no
concealing grass around us, just sand and evenly spaced palm trees. This helped
me believe the dark figures won’t have any interest following us. But again, I
was so wrong.
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| Area surrounding our camp |
As we finished dinner and as the island slowly turned into
pitch black, I started hearing noises again. This time, I sensed it was
something moving in the sand. I feared it might be the same dark figures in the
grass earlier but I felt I need to find out for sure now. I could see the
shadows moving around, encircling our camp and knew none of those are going to
be good news. I beamed my flashlight at one of the moving shadows and saw it.
Big as a cat, round as a piglet, and black as night. It was a legitimate wild rat.
And it looked well-fed.
With my flashlight, I attempted to shoo them away but
although they did dodge the direct light, they seemed undaunted and determined.
There were around 10 of them watching us, darting from one spot to another but
still maintaining proximity. They could smell our food and they want it bad.
We kept our food inside layers of tightly-knotted plastic
and put it inside our tent while we kept our trash inside trash bags and put it
on top of several stacks of chairs. I was hoping these were enough to
discourage the rats, even spraying alcohol around to hide the smell, but I
guess they have already marked their target and knew exactly where
to get it.
Not long after I zipped up our tent and put away our light
source did the ripping and crunching of plastic begin. They have effortlessly climbed the
stack of chairs and are then tearing the trash bag open. After a few minutes,
it stopped and after a few more, I heard squeaks just outside our tent. They
were then after the food inside our tent which was only a few inches from me! I could sense them moving around and I
was really afraid they would find a way in so I tried rearranging our stuff,
keeping the tent as secure as possible and the plastic of food as concealed as
possible.
Darkness #2: Dark Rain
I didn’t know how long I kept awake, listening for any kind
of movement and speculating on what might be happening, but I must have managed
to fall asleep and I awoke in the middle
of the night to the sound of heavy rain. I laid there for a second processing
what was happening when I realized that water was dripping through the hole at
the center of the tent.
A mini-storm happened to pass through our little island and
our old and battered tent offers little protection. It was leaking everywhere.
It also doesn’t help that we were in the middle of the ocean, with the wind
freely blowing around and with no strong source of light.
When I got out of the damp tent, I surveyed the area to find
both the trash bag and the lurking rats gone, which was somewhat fortunate
because I had a new concern to focus on. After a sleepy struggle, we have
managed to pack up our food, clothes, and valuables and were then headed to the
caretaker’s hut to seek shelter. We were wet, cold, sleepless, and shelter-less
and thankfully the sleeping caretakers didn’t object to us barging in to their
base.
It was a few hours after midnight but with the uncomfortable
bed, my damp clothes, my exposed limbs, and the imminent threat of rats coming
too close (I could hear them squeak, I could hear them scamper nearby, and our
plastic of food was vulnerable on a table nearby), I was considering to keep
vigilant until sunrise. But the need for sleep came out stronger and after managing a comfortable enough position, I let myself fall asleep.
The Morning After
As soon as the first ray of sunshine hit the island, I woke
up and checked if everything was in order. Although I could still hear the
hurried footsteps of the rats, nothing seemed touched or damaged. I gathered
our stuff and went back to camp to assess last night's damage. Small shreds of
the trash bag as well as its former contents were scattered all over but most
of it was totally missing. Most of our stuff, clothes and gadgets, were damp
but nevertheless would be in good condition after some drying. Our tent was
still standing but it was a big mess and I just realized that it had a lot of
holes that the rats could have squeezed into.
Lacking sleep and exhausted, I felt like a survivor. I felt proud
I did not freak out over the unusually aggressive rats and the unforeseen
midnight rain.
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| A Peaceful Breakfast |
Footnotes:
* All these took place a week after a Magnitude 10
earthquake hit Bohol where our returning flight to Manila was originally set.
Because of the fortuitous event, Zest Air allowed Tagbilaran City departures to
be transferred to Cebu City instead, free of charge. We thought we could opt
for Tacloban City and only confirmed upon arriving at the city that Cebu City
was the only offered option.
