Eden Nature Park in Davao City

I am finally back to Davao City! Woohoooooo!

As they say, second time around is a charm! Indeed it is!

I hadn't had the chance to explore Davao the first time I was here. Back then I said to myself I will be back. Alas, this is the day!

This time my other half accompanied me for a two-day trip, yes it's quite a very short travel I know! I mean there are so many great things to do and see here. Davao has so much more to offer and two days wont be enough. Well, I can't be away for a long time. This is the only time I could squeeze some escapade into our busy lives for our ME TIME. I almost had to cancel this trip because of the sudden visit of my sister. However, she did told me to get out and enjoy this trip. Two days wont be that long!

Anyway, I diligently planned out our two day stay here in Davao and made sure that we get to know Davao more. Luckily, I had made early hotel bookings online through Zen Rooms. Though I have had a sad experience with it. Zen Rooms are online hotel booking agents, they do not have the actual physical hotels. So, we got lost somewhere! When we arrived here, we immediately had to check in so we could leave our bags before we set to our day activities. It took us like an hour finding the hotel, we even used google map and waze to find the exact location and it keep giving us a blank spot-- no buildings. We couldnt find it, even the taxi driver had helped asking around. We also asked a few people in the area but no Zen Rooms in the area. I think we circled the block like nth times! We had even thought we were scammed! Oh! Please this cant be happening.. I muttered to myself.

I began googling and reading up some reviews and finally found a photo of a familiar place, the Alu Hotel. I told my husband why is this hotel picture being shown here, so I thought, maybe the hotel is within a hotel??? And we went inside and asked the front desk.

Guess what??! We were actually booked in that hotel thru Zen Rooms. We were enligthened by the fact that Zen Rooms are only online booking agents and has been a partner agency of the Alu Hotel.. Oh boy! What a relief to finally know we were not scammed. We have no issues or complains of our rooms. We actually have a big nice room and the wifi is very fast.

I guess Zen Rooms must communicate or give the exact details as to which hotel one will be accommodated. I did checked my email, they had sent a message telling me that we will be at the Alu Hotel. The message was sent the night before our travel!! And I had booked the room like 3 weeks early. Guys, maybe you should inform future customers the name of the hotel the moment we finalized our booking and not the day or night before the actual travel. Lessone well learned!

But enough of that! I apologize I babbled too much, I got carried away.. hahaha..

Sooooooo our First Day!

We went to Eden Nature Park!!!

It is one of the well-sought places when in Davao. I wouldn't miss it this time around. Upon arrival at the airport, we just took a quick breakfast and headed our way directly to the park. It had cost us about Php 800.00 taxi.

Eden Nature Park is one of the most beautiful mountain resort and si situated in Brgy. Eden, Toril, Davao City. Yep! The name itself was adapted from the local name of the community. The mountain resort is more or less a 80 hectares of land. It was founded way back in 1971 where it was a logged over area, totally under timberland classification. With full interest, the private owner had transformed and revived the land back to life. They did a reforestration process and make the land fruitful and productive again. The resort is about 95% manmade and 5% natural. They had indeed patiently planted trees, fruits, herbs and vegetable which then are used in their restaurant. They serve fresh fruits and vegetables.

I think there are more pine trees in the area which gives off the cold feeling, feels like we were at Baguio. Some of the local folks even referred Eden as the little Baguio of Davao.

The resort has an entrance fee and you can either choose to go along with snacks or buffet lunch. You can also buy tickets online to avoid the walk-in lines. The park opens at 8:00am.

Ticket	Aadults	Kids 4-10 yrs old
Buffet Lunch	Php 600	Php 400
Plated Snacks	Php 300	Php 250

We did took the ticket with the buffet lunch cuz we intended to stay a bit longer. The buffet lunch is served between 11:30am - 2:00pm.

However, since we went over to the park very early we availed the Shuttle Tour Ride for only Php 150.00. Its a forty-five minutes to one hour guided ride over the resort and each shuttle is accompanied by a tour guide. It is a first come first serve basis. There are about tjree (3) pit stop during the ride for the guests to have time for pictorials. Our tour started exactly at 9:30am.

FLOWER GARDEN

This was our first stop. As the name implies, the area was full of flowers. The sunflowers had mainly caught my attention. I love taking pictures of the sunflower.

There is also a rainbow Amphitheater which is mainly used during large events especially weddings and concerts.

Tinubdan Village

It was a re-created village of the Indegenous People who once lived in the community. There they have statues of the IP people and their houses.

Lola's Garden

Our last stop was the glimpse of a simple life of any ordinary Lola (grandmother) who loves to plant vegetable especially the camote. En route was the view of the resort's ornamental nursery, fruit tree collection, hydroponic vegetable plantation and the herb garden. Mostly they planted lettuce, mangosteen, yellow dragon fruit and some herbs and spices.

After the shuttle ride, we walked around while waiting for the bell to rang for lunch. We went over a huge playground, the Vista Playground. I feel like the kid in me jump for joy 10x.. hahaha.. the park did accommodate both the children and adult (kid at heart).

We had a blast in the mini zip line! The line wasnt too high at all. It was really really really kid friendly kid safe zip line.. hahaha..Me and the hubs take turns in riding it.

Too bad, during the buffet lunch the sky had not ceased crying. It just rained all afternoon. We never had the chance to go over the Recreational Area where the real adult rides were located. I heard that the sky rides was great, its really conquering your fears!

Hmmmmmm. For sure this is not the first and last seen of Eden. I want more more more of ypu Eden... gotta come back!

I think and I firmly believe that I will be back ---- gotta see and ride them all. Probably, I'll come back and bring along more friends and family with me. The experience is more fun shared with your loved ones. Maybe next time we can book some overnight stay too. They do have lovely cottages for you and family.

And these are the rates for the rides:

Rides	Price
Skyrider	Php 150
Skycycle	Php 200
Skyrider-Skycycle Combo	Php 300
Skyswing	Php 200 (solo), Php 300 (tandem)
Skywheel	Php 200
Horseback Riding	Php 100

Soooooooooooooooo my Davao mini trip is far from over. I still have more stories and experiences to share to all of you. Please stay tune for more.

This is me signing off for now!

Zzzzźzzzzzzzzzzz!

Good night pips! 😉😚

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All pictures are mine and taken using my Smartphone Samsung A70.

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