Hoyop Hoyopan Cave, Albay

This is I think the first 360º virtual tour of the the Hoyop Hoyopan Cave. It is situated in Camalig, Albay and is privately owned by a local resident because it was under their land when it was discovered. It got its name from the local term “hoyop” which means blowing wind. It’s really windy and cooling in some parts of the cave especially if you are standing in one of the entrance, this is because the cave has cross-ventilation where by the wind passes thru one of the entrance opening and exits to the other end.

There are artificial lightings and wirings inside the cave which degrades its natural beauty and is often being complained by cave enthusiasts but I think its purpose is for the visitor’s safety. There are a lot of routes to take inside the cave but our tour guide took us to the common route which is only about 1 hour. The tour guides are very creative in showing us some figures, silhouettes and resemblances in the cave’s natural formations, you won’t visualize it until they show it to you. One of the two famous part of the cave is the Church dome because of the high dome-like ceiling of a typical church. The second famous part is the Dance Hall but the dance floor is actually man-made, and according to the tour guide there was a story that during the Martial-Law the cave was used for underground entertainment like ballroom dancing.

At the second entrance of the cave was an ancient cemetery where they discovered big clay vases with corpse inside. There are still some skeletal remains that are visible because they are already embedded in the cave walls. It’s a challenge taking photos for this virtual tour because of the very low-light condition I had to take long exposures and using flash does’nt give the best results. Over-all it was a great experience visiting this cave.