Kandungaw Peak or some spelled it as Candongao Peak is located in between the mountain range of Dalaguete, Cebu and Badian which some claimed it as part of Badian, Cebu, but this Peak have been maintained and manage by the Dalaguete Tourism Office. It is recognized to be the monolith peak in Maloray, Dalaguete, Cebu. It stands more than 900 MASL and recognized as the second highest Peak in Cebu, next to the well known and stunning Osmeña Peak. The challenging trek is what pulls in our fervor for something adventurous. Truly, the trail going to the Peak it will only take about 30 minutes to 1 hour of trek to reach the Peak depending on the pacingWhen you stand at the summit of Kandungaw Peak, you’ll be seeing the mountain that looks like being naturally sliced and drops down, which creates a beautiful cliff and a perfect spot for your death-defying poses. It also grants you a stunning vista of green jagged hills like the one in Osmeña Peak and Casino Peak.
Kandungaw Peak is actually from the root word “dungaw” which is a Cebuano term means “To look down”. According to our
guide, Kandungaw Peak was used to be the hiding spot of the Cebuano’s during the Japanese regime in the Philippines. From the Peak, they’re attempting to look down if there are Japanese coming so they can hide. The hidden cave under the Peak is where they hide and also where they assemble. The cave was also the place where they can cook their food and they make sure that they only cook their food once a day because the smoke of the fire could be an idea to the Japanese people that someone is hiding in that place. They make sure that only when it’s nearly dark, that’s the time when they can cook. It was really quite interesting story.
The foremost challenge that welcome during my climb to Kandungaw Peak from the jump off area is the man made concrete stairs, which is more than 200 plus stairs, I forgot the exact number of the stairs, but not more than 220 stairs. Just imagine how tiring it was. Anyhow, the 200 plus stairs is quite challenging as I was breathing laboriously during my climb.
