To ensure effective management and protection of the Mount Purgatory Ecotourism site, members of the Association of Bokod Adventurers and Eco-guides (ABADEG) continue to undergo a series of capacity-building activities.
On February 5-6, the group embarked to the so-called shipwrecked capital- Subic, Zambales for a team-building activity and exposure to the good tour-guiding practices of the community.
First day was their team-building held at the Jungle Environmental Survival (JEST) Camp where they completed all stages of an obstacle course. The most thrilling part was when the group learned jungle survival skills- making fire and cooking food out of dried bamboo internode prior to their one night survival camp at the Subic-Olongapo Watershed. The participants also learned the healing wonders of some edible forest plants.
The next day, the group visited Zoobic Safari Park for observance of their tour-guiding strategies and customer relations.
Kenneth Tukli, Bokod Tourism Officer, said that the two-day activity wasn’t about the thrilling adventure. Instead, it had given them hints on how they could enhance Mount Purgatory eco-tourism activities.
“Our eco-tourism activities shouldn’t merely entertain our visitors. We need to inculcate in them the relation of our culture and our environment- at least by the end of every hike,” he enthused.
Meanwhile, earlier capacity-building activities implemented for the Bokod community as part of the Saving Mount Purgatory project included workshops for the development of ABADEG tour-guide script, and livelihood training for effective packaging and marketing of their local product.// IVAN P. LAYAG
