Davao City - where to go, hang out, discover and learn

Hey guys! Welcome to my blog post about my trip to Davao City. Its my 2nd time here and I’m very thankful that I got invited by the TPB to be part of the 5 days tour in Davao City and also attend and cover the Kadayawan Festival.

I have three blog post for my Kadayawan festival series, so this is my Part 1 and its all about the must see, must go to, and must visit place here in Davao City. This blog post is a good resource for your travel and also a guide to you if you are going to Davao for the first time.

There are a lot of places to visit and if you aren’t sure yet where to go, then check out my list below and see how we enjoyed the visit and also stay here in Davao.

Sharing here our plane trip via Cebu Pacific Air, its a almost 2 hour flight from Manila to Davao International Airport. Air fare to Davao cost at the lowest rate PHP 2.8k if you fly via Cebu Pacifc Air, the most expensive fare sometimes go up to PHP 5k, depends on the schedule and flight.

DAVAO MUSEUM aka Museo Dabawenyo

We tour around Davao City with a tour guide accredited by the Department of Tourism, our tour guide Mr. Jojo Engbino was assigned to us for the 5 day tour and he first brought us here in Davao Museum.

If you want to learn the history and culture of Davao, then this museum is a must visit and first to be included in your itinerary.

Learn about the 11 tribes of Davao City. These are the tribes that are honored because of their cultural and heritage contribution in Davao.

The museum have a life size manequin and diorama to showcase the traditional clothing and the culture of each tribe.

They also have miniature homes of the 11 tribes. Here you see that some of the homes are made for land and also sea.

Learn also about the early leaders of Davao and how it is like similar to the events in Mactan. If Mactan has their Lapu Lapu, but here in Davao they have their own Lapu Lapu that defended the land against foreign invaders.

We also learned that Davao played a major role during the World War. Davao was occupied by the Japanese and the life here was so different compare to the events in Manila and in other islands. If Luzon was the main battleground for the war, here in Davao, the Japanese and the Davao people were living in harmony.

Photos of then and now Mayors of Davao City. We also learned about the root of the Duterte clan.

Duterte clan’s furniture and vintage items are also on exhibit here at Museo Dabawenyo

At the other room they turned it into a contemporary art gallery featuring modern artist of Davao. You can view the artworks and also buy it to support the artist and the museum.

View this 360 Degrees photo for a virtual tour inside one of the room of Museo Dabawenyo

There’s a lot of information here at Museo Dabawenyo and I realized that Davao is not just a fruit capital or Durian capital of the Philippines, but also it has rich historical events that needed to be absorbed by fellow Filipino.

Btw, the Pres. Duterte mural artwork on the wall was created on the spot by a young Japanese artist, the artist visited Davao and just did a one of a kind artwork which was donated here at the musuem.

Museo Dabawenyo

Andres Bonifacio Rotunda, Poblacion District, Davao City, Davao del Sur

Tel Nos: (082) 222 6011

Google Maps location: https://goo.gl/maps/zd9C5qWvCj42

KADAYAWAN TRIBAL VILLAGE

Kadayawan Tribal Village is a must visit!!! For me, this is one of my favorite spot to visit and I want to go back here again if ever I will be in Davao. Get to know the 12 tribes of Davao, you can visit their replica homes and also the people here are really from the 12 tribes. Some of they stayed here for good because the place is already a tourist spot and people come here to learn more about their culture and way of life in the mountains and near the sea.

Kadayawan Tribal Village can be visited anytime just go to Magsaysay Park, and its best to come here before lunch time, so that you can meet the tribe members and you can buy some of their products and see what’s cooking for lunch.

Here are the 11 tribes of Davao

Lumad

1. Bagobo-Klata

2. Ata

3. Obu-Manuvu

4. Matigsalug

5. Bagobo-Tagabawa

Moro

6. Sama

7. Maranao

8. Kagan

9. Iranun

10. Maguindanaon

11. Tausug

Visitors and tourist are invited to interact with the tribe member, you can ask question and also let them teach you how to play an instrument, do a traditional dance, and also you can buy some of the local dishes they prepared.

A tribe member of Bagobo dances with the gong music and we learned that the dance and music of different tribes can jive into one, means that the beat and dance style can blend or jam together.

Members of the Matigsalog tribe play some music using a bamboo with guitar string.

Home of the Matigsalog tribe. If you noticed their house are big and always in elevated mode. The Lumad make large houses on stilt, its a way to protect them from wild animals and also not to get cold on the ground at night and while sleeping.

Matigsalog kids dancing while playing a bamboo string instrument

Tagabawa kids dancing with the music and vocal songs of their tribe.

Bagobo tribe member now preparing food for lunch. They did cooking demo of “Linotlot na manok”, they cooked the chicken meat mixed with lots of veggies, coconut and spices and cooked on fire while inside a large bamboo . The taste of Linotlot reminds me of a chicken binakol but added with spice chilli flavor.

At the other side of the park, you will find the homes of the Moro tribe. They are colorful and also have large flag displays.

Same thing here, you get to interact with the Moro tribe member, taste their cooking and also buy some of their products. In some of the tribe homes, you can also borrow some of their dress, you can try it on for a photo op souvenir.

The blogger media team from Manila photo op in one of the Tausug house. Also with us is sir Jojo, our tour guide here in Davao.

If you are in Magsaysay Park dont forget to have a photo op here at the monument and also fo the Budots budots dance, we learned that Pres. Duterte danced the Budots with the locals during his campaign period for Presidential election.

Kadayawan Tribal Village in Ramon Magsaysay Park

5 R Magsaysay, Poblacion District, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur

Google Maps direction: https://goo.gl/maps/aJBhCuQeBZD2

MALAGOS GARDEN RESORT

Here in Manila, we got a chance to try those yummy dark chocolates aka Malagos chocolates and we only get to try it if someone who travelled from Davao brought some pasalubong for us. And one of the most recommended pasalubong is a bar of Malagos chocolate.

Later on we also discovered that the main chocolate producer in Davao is also a tourist spot, where you can hang around with nature, eat delicious food, meet the farm animals and birds and also make your own Malagos chocolate.

Going to Malagos Garden Resort will take you around an hour of travel if you are coming from the main city. Its recommended that you reserve at least half a day, so that you can stay longer and explore more at Malagos Garden Resort.

You can come here if you want to tour around, I think the entrance fee is PHP 100 only.
But if you want with lunch buffet, you can get a ticket for both at PHP 650.

Inside Malagos Garden Resort, you can watch the scheduled bird and animal farm show. Kids will love the interactive meet and greet with the trained birds and also farm animals. Its a meet and greet, petty and feeding of rabbits, goats, ducks, parrots and snakes.

One of the best attraction here is the Malagos Bird Feeding Dome. I heard that this is the bigget feeding dome here in the Philippines. Visitors can come here to interact with lots of love birds and parakeets.

The love birds and parakeets are so domesticated, when you raise your hand in the air, the birds automatically fly to you and land on your hand. They do that because they thought you have food for them. You can ask the staff there to hand over you some bird feeds, but take note that there are schedules of feeding, there are times that the birds just finished eating their daily meals.

Malagos Garden Resort offers also cafe, resto and hotel with pool. Overnight stay per room cost around PHP3,900 and up.

Lots of fun attractions inside the Malagos Garden Resort, you can have photo op with these giantified furnitures, plants and flowers. There’s also an educational structure that teaches kids about science, there’s an eco park for some adventure, giant board games and beautiful nature park for you to relax with mother nature.

One of the best selling venues here is the Malagos Chocolate museum and chocolate making activity. For a price of PHP 450, you can enter the museum plus make your own Malagos Dark Chocolate. There’s a kitchen and chocolate making facility for you to try and be your own chef and then design your own dark chocolate made from Malagos.

This is one of the best eco park, just behind the chocolate museum. People can do picnic and also play around on the vast field with large trees. Ganda dito sa side na ito. Which is also a best area to fly your drone.

We super enjoyed our tour here and I super recommended that you visit Malagos Garden Resort here in Davao.

Malagos Garden Resort

Calinan-Baguio-Cadalian Road, Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur

(082) 221 1545

Google Maps direction: https://goo.gl/maps/pX6rCzmHeHJ2

D’ BONE COLLECTOR MUSEUM

I was surprised when I found out that there’s such a museum all about bones here in Davao. For me this is also a must visit because its a very unique museum that you can only visit here in the Philippines.

D’ Bone Collector Museum is not just a museum by a bone collector. The museum features the skeletal bones of animals, they also showcased the extinct kind and the endangered kind of animals. Its not about bone collecting, but its a way to educate the people and especially kids, that these animals are dying and losing their home because of over development near the mountains, illegal logging, mining and forest destruction.

Sad to know that some mountain cats and monkeys die in the mountain or sometimes they come down to the city just to look for food and home, and they die whenever they are hit by a car or accidentally landed in a populated area with humans.

I’m amazed that this museum is owned and operated by one man, a foreigner and now lives in Davao City. He is the one who did the lecture to use as soon as we entered the museum.

Im super impressed with the display. If ever there;s an award for the hidden gems of Davao, then I will include this in my list.

Each animal bones were donated and each has its own story. Some animals die because of old age and in captivity, while others died while being rescued and others died when they ate human trash which they mistaken it as food.

So we learned here that human trash also played a really bad effect to land and water animals.

One of my fave big birds - the Cassowary is also featured here. My last view of a live Cassowary was in Island Cove’s zoo (now closed) . They resembled similar to a Velociraptor dinosaur.

The bone museum has three floors of animal bones, rock collection and also stuffed animals.

My first time to see a Megalodon shartk tooth. OMG! That thing is huge!!!

Dolphins who died because of human trash at sea.

Behind me are a collection of different jaws of sharks. The bigget jaw on the middle is from a Great White Shark.

D’ Bone Collector Museum sometimes make a diorama - here’s a skeleton of a chicken who landed in a swampy area infested with crocodiles. Just Imagine what will be the story next.

Entrance fee is only PHP 80 for kids and PHP100 for adults. I highly recommended that you visit the museum and also support the financial maintenance of the museum. I want this museum to stay forever and if ever there's a company that want to sponsor the operation of the museum, then pls do contact them for inquiries.

D' Bone Collector Museum

San Pedro St, Poblacion District, Davao City, Davao del Sur

0919 624 0744

Google Maps direction: https://goo.gl/maps/sGXEonYgLD92

CENTRAL 911 HEADQUARTERS

We learned that Davao City got the first 911 emergency hotline and also a team that can do fast response when there’s accident, fire and calamities. The Central 911 of Davao operates 24/7 and they are equipped with modern and best technology and updated vehicles that can be used for rescue and response.

Here we spotted the new 911 ambulance. Its a Bus ambulance that can transport injured people to the hospital. I heard that it can carry up to 15 patients in one event.

Take note that this big ambulance is the 1st here in the Philippines.
Wow. Davao always get the awesome things..

There’s a bunk bed on inside that can be used to transport injured people.

Feel free to visit Central 911 and learn how awesome are the people who volunteered to save lives.

Central 911

Talomo, Davao City, Davao del Sur

Google Maps direction: https://goo.gl/maps/RGLa2NAninu

DUTERTE RESIDENCE

I didn’t expected that this village was turned into a tourist spot and the attraction here is that you can drop by to see our President’s humble abode. I think Pres. Duterte’s fans and supporters are frequently visiting his home just to get a glimpse of him or get a chance to meet him.

The entire village is heavily guarded by the army and police. Taking of photos are allowed, but taking of videos are not allowed here, Just follow the rules so that you won’t get evicted right away from the place.

Pres. Duterte still comes here to rest and relax. Its great to see Davao’s former Mayor and now President of the Philippines living in a very simple life.

You can have a photo op here with a carton photo of Pres. Duterte. I heard that the one living next door is his son Baste Duterte.

Residence of President Rodrigo Duterte
Dona Luisa. Poblacion District, Davao City, Davao del Sur

Google Maps direction: https://goo.gl/maps/cMVnxM3ySgm

That’s the end of my part 1 of my Kadayawan blog post series. Up next.. Its all about FOOD, RESTAURANT, DINING PLACES and CHEAP EATS in Davao.

Stay tuned and see you at the next blogging adventure!