Gerber Bear Grylls Survivor Series Ultimate Knife

Jojo Nanquil's Kanlaon Near Death Experience

THE DAY MT. KANLA-ON ALMOST SWALLOWED ME UP

Joseph A. Nanquil


Standing lofty above Negros Occidental , the majestic Mt. Kanla-on is the highest
Landmark in the entire Visayas and considered the 3rd most active volcano in the country.
Yes, lofty and majestic as it is, this volcano almost became my permanent graveyard last April, 2009.Its been more than a year now since our group, the ZAMBOANGA FEARLESS MOUNTAINEERING SOCIETY , or ZAFMOS for short, successfully conquered this 7,521 foot-high volcano after 2 days of torturous trek thru steep and slippery trails.

BEHOLD! When the day finally came that we came face to face with its fearsome yet awesome crater, it was like journeying to the depths of the earth. Staring blankly in perfect silence at the active crater neither gave us the creeps nor the chance to utter any expression at all. But reaching this soccer field-wide opening at the volcano’s peak didn’t came that easy. We were hovering between proceeding to the crater or turning back as thick fog engulfed the entire surrounding. In mountaineering, this is a very dangerous situation when you practically go on blindly, that is if you opted to defy the odds. But our common sense dictated us otherwise, so we patiently waited for the fog to clear up. And indeed it did!

Now came the moment of truth. Inching our way up the rather steep and slippery slope a few meters away from the crater, our heartbeat grew stronger, faster upon realizing that the summit was merely a few minutes away. With me leading the group as we raced towards the lofty peak, I was shouting at my co-mountaineers to hurry up .With my head turned backwards towards the group, I suddenly glanced forward just on time and merely one meter away from the very edge of the crater! Instinctively I simply dropped to my knees just as a speeding car screeched to a sudden stop and stared astonishingly at the majestic opening just a meter away!. I was just a few inches actually from my Fiery End had I FALLEN DOWN TO ITS SEEMINGLY BOTTOMLESS PIT! For a few seconds I just stood motionless unaware that the others have caught up with me and similarly staring at the crater. Little did they know that I almost ended up unseen forever from their sights had I not stopped on time at the last moment!

Well, after realizing what almost happened, but luckily did not, we spent the next hour clicking our digicams capturing lots of unforgettable moments atop VISAYAS’s highest mountain. We may never have the chance to go back to Kanla-on’s summit again, but one thing is sure, I will never forget that day for as long as I am still breathing earth’s oxygen .Those precious seconds that spelled the difference between Life and Death shall forever be etched in my memory with only the swirling fog and the crater as sole witnesses to my 2nd chance in life.

Caving in Latuan Zamboanga

The Journey to Mount Matutum

ZAFMOS PRACTICE CLIMB

Save the Ayala Watershed March

More than 10,000 people participated in the save the watershed march

in order to drammatize the city's opposition to the encroachment of mining at the Ayala Watershed Reserve. ZAFMOS , which is one of the organizations who signed in their strongest opposition to the local government of Zamboanga allowing mining in the watershed worked hand in hand with other concerned organizations to make this march possible.

ZAFMOS Participation in the Save the Watershed March

Here is a a reminder to all ZAFMOS members to be on time at the Grandstand area tomorrow before 7:00 a.m. Please wear a white t-shirt with our Zafmos Pith helmet and Khaki pants....looking forward to your participation.

Zafmos Joins Tree Planting with the Boy Scouts and Coca Cola

Members of the Zafmos group joined the tree planting activity of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and the Coca cola bottlers at the Abong Abong nature park in Pasonanca, last Sunday Feb. 21, 2010.

Save the Ayala watershed Rally on Feb. 24

To all ZAFMOS members and other allied mountaineering groups in the City of Zamboanga.... There will be a multi sectoral environmental rally on Feb. 24 in order to drum up our protest to the incursion of mining in our watershed in Ayala. As signatories and a stakeholder in this protest, all members of ZAFMOS are obliged to march in this rally, at the same time we would like to invite all mountaineering groups in the city of Zamboanga to unite with us in this fight to save our mountains from environmental destruction through the incursion of the Rigid Aggregates Mining Corporation. Assembly time will be at 7:00 a.m. at the Grand Stand Area at the Cawa cawa Boulevard. Please be there in our ZAFMOS type A uniform with pith helmets. Attn: Danny and Jonathan.... please bring our ZAFMOS banner

Environmental Rally on Feb. 24

Here is an announcement to all members of the Zamboanga Fearless Mountaineering Society. ZAFMOS will be joining several multisectoral groups, to include the religious, the different schools, farmer's organizations the industrial sector and the business sector in protesting the inaction of the local government to withdraw the "no opposition" resolution of the city council to mining in the Ayala watershed.

We are joing this as we are signatories and stakeholders to a manifesto against mining and the destruction of our watershed.

We urged all other mountaineering groups to please join us in this fight to protect our last remaining forest. Please check on this blogspot for any developments with regards to this activity.

We would also like to urged one and all to ask your respective work organizations to join us in this rally, as this is a fight to conserve our water source in the city of Zamboanga.

Support for St. Francis and Advocacy for the Watershed

We are issuing out this notice to all our loyal members of Zafmos to strongly support us in this campaign to save St. Francis Home for Orphans from the unjust take over by the local government of Mayor Celso Lobregat. As we are all volunteers in taking care of these 90 children, most of whom are street children without parent, we therefore ask all of you to be present in the City Council this coming January 28, 2010, in order to air our united protest against this.

This activity will be two pronged as members of the Silsillah dialogue movement and residents of the west coast will also be joing us in their advocacy to save our watershed. Something which we are passionate about in trying to preserve.

Please find time to join us

Preparations for the Mt. Matutum climb

This is a reminder to all members of ZAFMOS that each member should make their physical and financial preparations for the coming Mt. Matutum climb this coming holy week. We urged each and every one to submit to our treasurer, Mr. Jojo Nanquil our monthly contribution of P500, as part of our collection prior to the climb. this collection will help eliminate unnecessary financial hassle for this climb. As we are not soliciting any help from anyone at this time, we urged each member to please comply with this.