Lake Pandin is San Pablo's 'best kept secret' indeed

The first time I got to experience the beauty of Lake Pandin, I knew it's something I'd want to come back to over and over again. The whole time I was there, I kept asking myself why it took me so long to pay a visit. I've lived some 20 minutes from the place since I was a kid, but never got the chance to go there until last October. Since then, I have came back one more time and have recommended the place to several foreigner friends (Swiss and Japanese) who have enjoyed the place as much.

Lake Pandin is one of the seven lakes of San Pablo City in Laguna. Many refer to it as the “city’s best kept secret” and with good reason. Just a two hour drive from Manila, Lake Pandin is a picture of serenity, with the clear waters embraced by hundreds of trees. 

In the last seven years, the place has somewhat become a tourist destination, but never on a huge scale. Tourists would come here and there but I believe the place deserves more than what it is getting. That's why I thought of writing about it. The article I wrote about it is published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer today (February 15, 2013). If you get the chance, please grab a copy.

Some seven years ago, the wives of fishermen in the area, supported by local officials, formed a group to organize a “green water rafting tour.” Initially, the intent was to augment the income their respective husbands’ daily take home (which amounts to about P300 a day).

“Our husbands banded together and built the rafts (balsa) which we now use to ferry individuals along the lake,” Ate Evelyn, one of the women rafters there, said in Filipino.

On a good day, the women rafters earn as much as P400 each, though those days are rare. More often, they get to take home an average of P80 a day.

“Eventually, we realized how important a role we play in preserving the beauty of Lake Pandin. Everyone can go here and swim but at least we’re here to guard the place and make sure people aren’t leaving their trashes behind and that no one is destroying the surroundings,” Ate Evelyn told the Inquirer.

Lake Pandin is not only picturesque and ideal for swimming. It’s beaming with local fish such as tilapia, shrimp, mudfish, and catfish. Elsewhere in the surrounding of Lake Pandin, there are wild chickens and birds such as bakaw. There’s the occasional monkey that would show up once in a while.

Said to be “the most pristine” of San Pablo’s seven lakes, Lake Pandin has an area of 20.5 hectares and a maximum depth of 63 meters. Pandin has a sister lake, Lake Yambo, which travellers can visit as well as the two lakes are separated by only a narrow strip of land.

At the moment, the women rafters have eight rafts, which can fit up to 20 people each. It costs individuals P180 to avail of the green water raft tour, which includes hours of rafting and swimming in the lake.

There’s also an option to include lunch package for P360. Lunch includes inihaw na tilapia, ensaladang pako, ginataang hipon, banana as dessert, and fresh coconut as drinks.

“We’re here everyday, even during Christmas and New Year,” said Ate Evelyn. “We don’t want to turn away people though, of course, we appreciate if they’d give us a heads up,” she said.

Lake Pandin has built a reputation over the years as a quaint tourist attraction that is still devoid of commercial establishments. The only items you’d be able to take home as souvenirs are several handicrafts, made mostly of coconuts, as well as the leche flan and ube (3 for P100) that the women sell there.

What makes a visit at Lake Pandin even more meaningful is the feeling of camaraderie or bayanihan that everyone in the community displays. A visit at Lake Pandin is most certainly a more viable option than visiting man-made pools and resorts that dot the area.

Personally, there’s this gratifying feeling knowing it’s not the huge commercial tour operators that are having their pockets fed, but that travellers are actually helping out the locals improve their lives.

She said: “We’ve had many foreigner visitors here, from Russians to Japanese; from Swiss to Chinese. But we’ll be very happy to see more of our local brothers and sisters enjoy this marvellous beauty that we can all be proud of.”

For more information, call Tina at 09079952983.

Here are more photos taken by yours truly. Enjoy! :)

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