Itinerary for 2: Mt. Apo via Kidapawan - Kidapawan

This is not a suggested itinerary but merely a guide for you to have an idea of what to expect and how much money you need to prepare if you want to climb Mt. Apo and DIY it (do-it-yourself) instead of joining group/packaged tours.

Before the climb:

• Secure a medical certificate.
• Fill out the application form. You can download it here. It is best if you already have it upon reaching the Kidapawan Tourism Center.
• Contact Ms. Gillian Rey at 0999-995-7891 (Tourism Center officer) and let her know your climb dates and other details.
• Train. Jog. Hydrate. Prepare your gear accordingly.

Arrival at Davao City:

• Take a taxi from the airport to Gaisano Mall (roughly 20-30 minutes away).
• The vans bound to Kidapawan are just across the mall. Fare is P150/person. Travel time is around 2-3 hours. You can also take a bus from Ecoland Bus Station near SM City.
• Tell the driver to drop you off at the Kidapawan Tourism Center. Submit your requirements, pay the climb permit P500/person.
• The Tourism Center will assign a guide for you for P800/day and if you want to hire a porter, it is P300/day. 1 guide is to 6 persons exclusive of food.
• Our guide made a list of the supplies that we needed to buy. They lent us their butane tanks and we just paid for a refill instead of buying new ones. The market is just across the Tourism Center and our guide went ahead to buy everything while we were undergoing the orientation.
• We wanted to start early for our climb the next day so we went to Lake Agko and spent the night there. It is just a 10 - minute walk to the jump off. To go there, take a habal habal (45 minutes), good for 2 persons + bags for P250/one way. Of course, your guide and porter will come along with you at the same time so you need to pay for their transportation as well.

 

• Entrance fee for overnighters is P35/person. Your guides are free of charge. We rented a cottage for P250/night and just pitched our tents instead of renting a room for P600/night. No need to worry about your guides as they are flexible enough to sleep anywhere.
• Our guides prepared, pre-cooked and packed our food for the next morning.
• If you have things that you won't need during the climb, you can leave them at the guard house and just tip the guard and tell him that you will check in again when you descend. Make sure your bags have padlocks.

Post climb: 

• We only spent a night in Lake Venado and descended on the same day of our summit assault. We arrived before dusk at Lake Agko where we spent the night again. The next morning, we took a habal habal and asked the driver to drop us off at Overland Bus Terminal where we took a van back to Davao City. We weren't able to get our climb certificates and just gave money to our guide to have them shipped to Manila.

Personal notes:

• If you plan to do a 2d/1night climb, arriving early at Davao City is a must since you need to allot some travel time to Kidapawan and to Lake Agko. In our case, we arrived in Davao City at 6 in the morning and were already in Kidapawan by 10AM  and arrived in Lake Agko at 4:30PM. It can be taxing but it is better if you can rest well before the day of the climb.
• Food in Davao is dirt cheap. 3 viands, 2 cups of rice and 2 bananas for just P89. What say you?
• Bring your own cook set and stove. I'm not sure if all of the guides have their own stoves but 2 is better than 1 to prepare the food faster and you at least have a back up in case one fails.
• Lake Agko has sari-sari stores outside and a store inside where you can buy supplies as well but expect that it is double the price. They also have frozen meats you can buy and have them cook the way you want it. We had Tinolang Manok on our last night and paid P255 with 3 cups of rice enough to fill the 4 of us.
• Restrooms in Lake Agko are not well maintained and water comes from a natural source so prepare to shiver when taking a shower. (it deserves a separate post)
• Make sure to try the grilled banana-q in Lake Agko. Souvenirs like mugs, key chains, t-shirts etc are also available.
• Since you are already in Davao, allot a few more days to go around the city or take a side trip to Samal Island.

Here is our summarized itinerary and expenses:

I hope this helps you plan your climb and if you have any other questions, feel free to comment below. :)

Hasta luego!