PALINA GREENBELT ECOPARK

Palina Greenbelt Ecopark

A wide blue-gray river flowing into the horizon, bright green mangroves, and bamboo rafts turning almost golden in the sunlight greeted me and my travel companions as we crossed the bamboo bridge to Palina Greenbelt Ecopark in Roxas, Capiz.

And save for a gentle breeze, all was quiet. In fact, we were the only people that afternoon going on a river cruise across Palina River.

Quiet and idyllic Palina River

We hopped on a cabana, a bamboo raft with a nipa hut on it, and glided over Palina river for the next two hours. I say “glide” as our cabana was just pulled by a small pumpboat. Soft guitar strains and sweet melodies from two Capiz locals serenaded us as our cabana passed by more mangroves, as well as fish ponds and different fishing contraptions.

While the green mangroves and their equally green reflections were a welcome sight here as in many swamps and rivers, it was the different fishing contraptions, most I have seen for the first time, that struck me as unique.

The surambaw, a gigantic fishing contraption used by locals

Salvacion, a local and a Palina Greenbelt Ecopark staff, gamely told us about the different fishing equipment we saw along the cruise. Towering and majestic among them was the surambaw. (Coincidentally, one of the cabanas we saw upon entering the ecopark is named “surambaw.”) Made from metal and bamboo, it is designed to catch huge batches of fish, especially at night. The light from the surambaw attracts fishes to its net. Every 30 minutes or so, the net is hauled with the expectation of a big catch. Salvacion and her family operate a surambaw, and she said catching fish was still a challenge, even with the aid of the light.

This cabana has the same name as the largest fishing contraption in Palina.

This colorful toilet on our cabana caught my and my companions’ eyes too!

Eventually we found ourselves with only the calm sea in our horizon, before stilt houses and a green hill broke the seemingly continuous open water much later. It was one of the fishing communities in Roxas City. Fishing boats with brightly colored roofs were “parked” outside some of the houses.

Fishing community along Palina River

Occasionally, we passed by boats loaded with piles of timing, a cage made of net and wood. Salvacion explained to me that these were used to catch crabs. Timings were left several hours underwater before being retrieved, hopefully with some fresh crabs.

A boat loaded with timings, cages used to catch crabs