Wonderland in the Mountains: Campuestohan Highland Resort
by Danny Tariman
This was an amazing experience for my family! We never thought that in a far-away place, on a mountain overlooking a city, we can find an enchanting themed park: the Campuestohan Highland Resort. The resort about 800 meters above sea level, located in Talisay City, part of Metro Bacolod, in Negros Occidental.
This was not in my family trip’s itinerary. But my cousin who was guiding our tour spoke highly of this place that I was actually very expectant of what my family will see. And I wasn’t disappointed, the place has a refreshing mountain air, and divided into several themed parks.
We were welcomed at the main entrance by the real-looking windmill, with pavilion on both sides. The well-manicured lawns are dotted with various real-looking animals and icons. At the entrance itself, you might lost track of your time taking photos at every nook and cranny. Haha!
As we went further “inside” the park passing through an arched bridge, we saw this “Bonita” village. This area has Igloo-like cottages which are actually room-accommodations for guests preferring to stay overnight. I was observing closely the Igloo-like huts, it looks like real. The details are well done; looks to real!
Walking further, we came into the “Indian Village”. The huts in this area are teepees, an Indian typical house. The houses are built around an artificial bonfire. What I noticed is that even the tents which look like real, are actually concrete cottages. The “logs” in the bonfire place looks like real wood but are actually made of cement!
There is also a part with statues of the super-heroes or Avengers – Captain America, Hulk, Thor, and others. Near to this super-heroes is a kiddie park with swimming pool, kiddie rides, and a shoe-house.
At the water park, we were welcomed on the left by a “jaws-house” which entrance is the mouth of a shark, and on the right, an artificial wave and surf. Oh! We got some photo shoots here! The area has a large swimming pool. With a cool ambient highland temperature, I am almost sure the pool water is also cold. Haha! You’re correct, we didn’t swim.
A number of people are crowding at King Kong for photo shoots. It was kinda difficult to get a shot of your own. We didn’t climb to the ape’s hand for the usual King Kong movie poster shot. Also, this ape’s area sounds-off the growl of an ape every few minutes. We thought there was an ape coming near us.
There are plenty of rides and challenge walks: the usual zip-line, the sky-bike where you ride a bike and pedal it on a tight rope, a “rope-course” which is basically a challenging rope bridge, the hamster wheel (we saw a couple of teens trying this out; it seems difficult), and of course, kiddie rides like the carousel, mini train, and many more.
This themed mountain resort is really a fun place to go for a family adventure!
DANNY TARIMAN 