Wawa Dam: Mountain treck for fresh air and organic fruits

Posted On January 18, 2009

A few days ago I set off on my own adventure to see what was at the end of General Luna street after San Mateo all the way to Montalban, now renamed Rodriguez.  At the end of the road you hit the mountain and go up and end up in Wawa dam.  There is a parking fee of 20 pesos under some nice shady trees in front of the Montalban tourism office.  The small community begins here with people doing their own business, not tourist minded at all.

So I read from trolling the internet that Wawa dam was constructed by the Americans in 1909 and used to supply water to Metro Manila.  But in 1965, maybe from pollution, the government closed wawa dam; is this true?  Can anyone confirm this?

So today, the Wawa dam area is a government reserve.  It is clean mountain-lake provincial life, a stone’s throw away from the city where I live.  If you walk further on the foot path for 5 hours you can reach the Dumagat, a native tribe who has lived in the deep mountains for many generations.  I hear from the residents the Dumagat go down some once or twice a week to trade with the towns people.

What reliable produce can be found in Wawa dam?

They make sacks of charcoal.

I like their organic, mountain papayas which are dense / very heavy for their size and they taste sweet and fantastically hydrating, like the papayas we had in the organic farm in Palawan.  The wawa people pick their papayas ripe.

I like their organic mountain bananas which they call espaniola.  I thought they looked like lagkitan, but they are bigger.  They taste like lagkitan though.

I had the wrong information about getting fish, as I chatted with one of the store owners who said they had tilapia, carp and sometimes eels from their lake.  I went with my children this Saturday morning along with 2 nannies and a styrofoam chest expecting to buy fresh wild lake fish and found none!  I asked the other people of wawa and they said there was no regular schedule for fish catches.

My kids had a great time.  They didn’t get tired going up and down the mountain.  Good thing my wife didn’t come with us because the mountain is not safety approved by any agency.  There are no safety gears, no railings, treacherous cliffs all the way up or down.  Safe enough as whole communities go up and down the mountain with little children… but not safe enough for spoiled urban critters.

If you go around YouTube there are many young people going up and down wawa dam having a glorious time communing with nature.  It is such an easy and cheap excursion to venture into for those of us who do not like the trappings of modern life.  Wawa dam is for those of us who want real nature, without the safety nets.  No police, no lifeguards, no security guards, no restuarants, nothing resembling urban life.

Pictures of our Wawa Dam trip!