DESERTED PLACE TURNED MASTERPIECE - LAKE BENSIS, TOLEDO CITY, CEBU

Lake Bensis also known as Lake Pingganon is definitely one of Toledo’s hidden gem. A secluded lake surrounded by vast expanse of mountains. The sight was being known to be a mining pit before but then stopped the operation. Time passed by, and the place turned out to be a blissful verdant lake. It’s like half man made and half natural- an ironic outcome of messing with nature. It was named before as Lake Pingganon because it was actually situated in Sitio Pingganon, Brgy. Sinsin, Cebu. But it is now well known as Lake Bensis because of it’s surrounding structure that look like benches (in Bisaya “Bensis”).

Beauty is subjective. But the way I see the lake, it brings so much natural beauty. I spent hours sitting and admiring the scenery in front of me. A perfect place to immerse yourself in the soothing vibe of the lake and activate your adrenaline from the adventure of the terrain going to the lake. Camp out, refresh your mind and enjoy the wonder of nature by visiting Lake Bensis. This neglected mining pit is now a haven for nature enthusiasts, photographers, campers, mountaineers and the like.

It was a sunny Saturday when we decided to have a day trip in Lake Bensis. Actually, we have planned this trip with my workmates a year ago but was postponed, moved and then cancelled commonly called "drawing".😓 In short, this is a long overdue bucketlist. And so, we took the risk to push the trip with just the two of us by the start of February. We set a sign that if there aint rain on weekdays, we pursue it on the following Saturday but due to rainy weather we got two weeks postponed trip. From the people we talked to who already visited the place, the best time to visit is a dried out road. Why? Because the track going to the lake is a rough, muddy and slippery road which can add adventure to the trip but really is seriously risky thinking you're away from the main road. The pictures below were some of the captured uneven surfaces of the road on a normal sunny day with no rain in a week. Can you imagine how would it be when it rains?😅

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HOW TO GET THERE?

Lake Bensis can be reached by several ways:

If you are commuting, you can ride a jeep or bus going to Tabunok Market and from there, ride a motorbike but before taking the ride, it’s recommended that the driver is from Pingganon area so that he would be familiar in the road and look for the bigger motorcycles since roads are bumpy as I’ve mentioned. Ride time is estimated 40 minutes from the market.

The other way to reach the lake is to hike. You can take whatever route you like since this can just be found in maps.

If you have private vehicle just like in our case, we just simply navigate Lake Bansis in waze. We passed on some bare trees which looked like an enchanted forest. It looks like what the typhoon left behind, the beauty after the chaos. It would be much beautiful if it bloom again. Soon.

IMPORTANT TIPS💡

If you’re using private utility, make sure that is road capable. Prepare yourself for the added adventure and it’s better to go there before the sun goes down especially if you are not familair with the place. If you’re planning to camp, prepare powerbanks since the place has no electricity. There is a small sari sari store near the lake and the caretaker offers to cook foods so no need to worry if you haven’t brought any foods. No entrance fee but there is a camping fee of 50 php ($1) for each tent. You can also grill and do campfire as long as you will not disturb other campers and locals. Remember, to control voices especially at night as a respect for the locals living beside the floating huts. Always keep safe since the lake is so deep and there's no lifeguard around. They said, no one reached the end of the lake so far. Also, leave no trace and be a responsible traveler.

OUR LAKE BENSIS EXPERIENCE

Before we reached Lake Bensis, we dropped by Biga Pit which is just 15 minutes away from the lake. Sometimes, waze really takes you to wrong directions. As we go nearer Biga Pit, the waze says we arrived and I can already sense that this is the viewing point I have seen on the internet but we can't even see the whole pit on that point. We think maybe the app just got wrong, so we go on a little more distance. Then the shaking part happened when we saw two smashed cars and come to a big hole which looks like a dead end. Suddenly, flashing in my mind the salvage incident near our hometown wherein murder victims were found inside burnt cars. Right there, I can already feel my heart trembling and questioned “What if someone is going to do the same to us?”. Not knowing the place really felt us anxious, we are far from houses and can't call help in the middle of nowhere. I felt very nervous that time especially that we were the only person in that remote place and thankfully there is a network connection in that area so I immediately navigate my waze back to Lake Bensis. We ended up having only these photos taken with shaking knees. Well, I am really an overthinker but better safe than sorry right? 😆. Looking back, that was a fun-crazy-nervous experience I can’t forget.

_{Biga Pit}

We reached lake bensis around 10:30 AM and to our surprise, we were the first ones to visit the place that day. We immediately headed to the sari-sari store and asked the caretaker if we could park our motorcycle nearby and she gladly said "yes" which added to our peace of mind.

Expect less of the place since this was recently ruined by the typhoon Odette. As what the caretaker told us that by the typhoon Odette was raging, the water of the lake rose up and overflowed which washed out all their belongings including their house.😌 It took a month before the water came back to it's original level. I cannot imagine what they went through.

There are parts of the lake that reminded me of the song "Leaves" by Ben and Ben with the lyrics - "Leaves will soon grow from the bareness of trees. And all will be all right in time." which perfectly relates to the current scenario of the place. Nevertheless, I still find the lake beautiful.

Lake Bensis is really a sight to behold to. It may not offer colorful-like-festivals but the lake will sweep you away with the tranquility and natural beauty it offers. The therapeutic mountain air, the still waters of the lake and the captivating sights can do wonders for my soul. Truly, the antidote to exhaustion, stress and anxiety isn’t rest. It’s NATURE!

We set up a tent and just rested there while we felt like owning the place for a moment before the other campers arrive.

We felt hungry and the caretaker cooked us pancit canton for only 20 php ($0.4) each and quenched our thirst through this souvenier from our company during our National Sales Convention.

THE FLOATING HUTS

The place offers a bambooo rafting for 400 php ($8) per hour, Tilapia Fishing for 150 php ($3) and Waterbike for 200 php ($4). You could also took a dip or swim at the lake for free. For a reasonable price, you can have your own floating huts on the lake that are equipped with table and bench good for 10 people , go tilapia fishing and grill it afterwards and strech your muscles through waterbiking. The water in the lake is such deep and I cannot see what's beneath my feet which is kinda creepy (no crocs so don't worry😃).

We would definitely come back here together with our friends and will convince them to push through our long overdue buckelist together. We would camp out, do bonfire while star gazing, talk about life and crack jokes to each other.
Take Note
And take NOTHING but pictures...
Kill NOTHING but time...
Leave NOTHING but footprints....How amazing would that be?