The Dark Side of Kalanggaman Island

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.

Approaching Kalanggaman Island

The plan was to spend the night at the island with a borrowed tent and cold preserved food. We were expecting to sleep peacefully under the stars at the twin-sandbar Island and to wake up refreshed to a glorious sunrise. We were woefully wrong.

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.

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. 

A Peaceful Breakfast

With the sun finally up and the rats back in their dens, the island transformed back into a dreamlike paradise. The white sand glistened, the waves beckoned, the palm trees offered comfort and even though our clothes were laid out under the sun to dry, the previous night seemed no more than a bad dream. Darkness was an unimaginable thought amidst that magnificent scenery. But in case some form of darkness did exist, I am certain it was a very small price to pay.

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.

** There were concrete houses installed with solar panels at the south side of the island but these seemed to completely unused and were not offered publicly.