PHILVOLCS Observatory and Mount Hibok-Hibok

Short Description

PHILVOLCS, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology permanently supervises the activity of Mount Hibok-Hibok. A trip to the observatory is very interesting. You may even go on a volcano trek.

Time and Distance

The road up to the PHILVOLCS observatory starts straight mid-town Mambajao and climbs about 2.5 km. It is all concrete. The visit of the observatory will take about one hour. For the Hibok-Hibok treck see below.

Equipment

Nothing. For the Hibok-Hibok trek see below.

What to see

You may visit the technical installation and the historical and scientific exposition. The staff welcomes you with pleasure and answers your questions with great knowledge.
Please find here after some information about Mount Hibok-Hibok and the other volcanoes:

Camiguin Island consists of four overlapping stratovolcanoes overlying older buried edifices.
Mount Mambajao forms the high point of Camiguin Island at 1552 m. It has a youthful morphology with summit and flank lava domes, one of which partially fills a crater breached to the NW, but has not had historical eruptions.
The eroded stratovolcanoes of Mount Butay and Mount Guinsiliban form the SE tip of the island and lie at one end of the NNW-SSE trending line of vents cutting across the island.
The Binoni cinder cone lies along the SE coast.
The youngest volcano, and the only historically active one, is Hibok-Hibok (also known as Catarman). It lies at the NW end of the island, about 6 km NW of Mount Mambajao. This andesitic-to-rhyolitic volcano contains several lava domes, including Mount Vulcan (also known as Old Volcano) on its NW flank. Major eruptions during 1871-75 and 1948-53 formed flank lava domes at Hibok-Hibok and produced pyroclastic flows that devastated coastal villages.

What to do

If you are in very good physical condition you may like to go up to the crater of Mount Hibok-Hibok. Do not overestimate your strength. because of the burning sun and the heath, this is not just a walk like you might do in the Alps. If you leave before dawn you may get up and down in one day. But you should not stress and think of two days. You will have to march and climb from 0 m to about 1300 m and come safely back.

Don't do the trip without a guide from the island. Ask for at your resort's reception desk. Don't do the trip in your beach slippers, but wear good trekking shoes. There will be no supply of food and water. So you will have to bring everything with you.