One step at a time: the Makiling Botanical Garden edition

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Time has flown really fast. One of the days I realised this was when I went to the Makiling Botanic Garden six years after I was last there. I didn't go hiking back then; rather, my last walk there was 11 years ago!

I was happy that little seemed to change in this montane landmark. The bridge over the creek, the pavilion, the flowering plants, and the gigantic trees were still there. The only thing that changed in a major way, I think, was the closure of the raptors sanctuary high up in the clouds. I went there twice, years before it closed (thanks to a typhoon that destroyed the facility). 


For this trip up my memory lane, my lawyer friends were there. Actually, it was just supposed to be a tour of the UPLB campus; but what tour is complete without a hike on Mount Makiling's beautiful slopes, right? They were so unprepared; meanwhile, Krishna and I were ready while Daniel (who didn't planned on going with us) was also game for a quick walk in the forest. In this photo, the lawyers were still highly energised and ready to climb.


We saw many bugs, with me only being able to photograph a huge spider that Daniel spotted. The rest were butterflies and other flying insects which were too swift to be captured in an image.


There were a lot of flowers along the way too. There were some that had labels on the plants but many others weren't. I found it interesting that most of the flowers we saw along the concrete path were red... or maybe the reddish flowers were more noticeable because of the green background.







An hour into our ascent, we opted to start going down because our energies were flagging and (more importantly) the garden was closing soon. 


We enjoyed our short and unplanned walk up the Botanic Garden. We'll have to do a repeat before the summer ends.

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