I was weighing my options during my last few hours in Kalibo in the province of Aklan. The past day has me scrambling in the town of Tangalan to view its seven-tiered Jawili Falls, its neighboring Jawili Beach, and its old church, the St. John Nepomucene Church or Jawili Church.

Earlier in the day, I strolled through Kalibo’s very own Bakhawan Eco-Park. I was tired, but still have enough energy not to waste my stay in the town famous for its Ati-Atihan Festival.

I walked along aimlessly around town. Just letting my two slow feet lead me to anywhere it might. I chanced upon Kalibo’s town plaza and found a cream-colored belfry complete with a weathervane jutting out from the trees just above the horizon.

Aha! A church! I’m not sure if it’s an old one, but I decided to check it out nonetheless.

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The rickety bamboo pathway creaked under my weight as my foot descended in stride. I was walking along at the massive Mangrove Forest in Kalibo, the Bakhawan Eco-Park, spending a day before my flight back to Manila at one of the most peaceful sanctuaries in the province of Aklan.

The Bakhawan Eco-Park, as it is officially called, is a sprawling 220-hectare mud flat that has been transformed into a mangrove haven by the Aklanons, NGOs (particularly Kalibo Save the Mangroves) and the local government.

Bakhawan is a local Visayan term for mangroves.

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