Mount Pinatubo Travel Video Guide

Mount Pinatubo Travel Itinerary

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On April 2, 1991, people from the village of Patal Pinto on the lower slopes of Mount Pinatubo saw small explosions followed by steaming and the smell of rotten eggs coming from the upper slopes of the supposedly dormant volcano, whose last known eruption was 600 years ago. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) immediately installed portable seismometers near the mountain and began recording several hundred earthquakes a day. US Geological Survey personnel arrived in the area on April 23. All signals indicated that magma was rising within the volcano and that an eruption was likely. No-one knew quite how big it would be. On June 12, the first of several major explosions took place. The eruption was so violent that shockwaves could be felt in the Visayas. Nearly 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide gas were blasted into the atmosphere, causing red skies to appear for months after the eruption. A giant ash cloud rose 35km into the sky and red hot blasts seared the countryside. Ash paralyzed Manila, closing the airport for days and turning the capital's streets into an eerie grey post-apocalyptic landscape. Particles from the eruption landed as far away as the United States. By June 16, when the dust had settled, the top of the volcano was gone, replaced by a 2km-wide caldera containing a lake. Lava deposits had filled valleys, buildings had collapsed and 350 people were dead.

Pinatubo is quiet once again, except for tourist activity. Jeepneys from Clark to the foothills of Mount Pinatubo take around thirty minutes. It's a hard 1485-metre climb to the crater, through baking valleys of volcanic rock and ash, but you can always limit yourself to a walk through the surreal moonscape of the lower slopes. It takes two days and one night to get to the crater and back. Tour companies like Trent Transport (tel 045/332 1712) at 222 Field's Avenue, Clark, charge P3500 per person for a package that includes tents, food, guides and transport to the jumping-off point, about thirty minutes from Field's Avenue. One-day crater tours, using a four-wheel-drive vehicle to take you halfway, cost P2500. Trekking the lower slopes costs P650 for six hours with a guide. You can book similar tours at Swagman Travel (tel 045/322 2890), whose office is in the Clark City Terminal Building on Don Juico Avenue (near the bar area).

Alternatively, try Rusty at R&J Pinatubo Trek (tel 045/602 5231), licenced by the Philippine Department of Tourism. For P500 a day you can hire a Yamaha motorcycle from Trent Transport that will take you through the lahar fields on the lower slopes of the volcano. If you're in the market for something even more memorable, for US$85 per person (minimum two people) you can take an early morning crater flight in a small aircraft. Contact Swagman Travel for details .

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