While preparing to do my column on that zipline adventure, I found out that the Philippines actually had several, and not just one, ziplines. After my column came out, I was surprised by the number of readers who wrote in. Most of the letters were from amused readers who apparently got quite a kick reading about me fluttering like diapers on a clothesline.

Em-em and other readers also mentioned ziplining places other than what I listed in my column, so I thought of doing an update. Before we get to that list though, I’ll do some anthropology.

My initial reaction, as readers wrote in about the zipline places, or their experiences of ziplining, was one of amazement. It’s not cheap to set up a zipline place, so the business people involved here must have studied the market, and figured it would pay off.

Adrenaline junkies

After thinking some more about ziplining, I figured that its popularity shouldn’t really be surprising. We Filipinos are risk-takers - no, let me be bolder and say we seek risks and enjoy them; in other words, we’re thrill-seekers. We seem to be adrenaline junkies, looking for activities with some risk, and enjoying the surge of adrenaline through our bodies as we engage in those extreme activities.

I don’t look at this thrill-seeking as a biological trait but as something cultural. Maybe it developed in the context of our ancestors’ lives as fishermen and as seafarers. With early boats, even a few kilometers out in the open sea was quite a feat.

But it could also have developed in other ecological contexts. Last month, the Inquirer had an article about ziplining of another kind in one of the Cordillera provinces. In response to their mountainous terrain, and the disastrous typhoons, people had improvised ziplines mainly to transport food. But the line was apparently used as well to transport patients who needed to be brought somewhere for medical care.

So maybe it’s a combination of our many different kinds of collective adventures, tied to survival, livelihood or just plain fun, that has made us so used to risks, even finding pleasure when taking the risks.

Let’s get on now to the list of ziplines I have uncovered, or learned about. I want to acknowledge Elpie Paras of Bukidnon who sent me the most comprehensive listing with lengths of the ziplines! Elpie says the Indian zipline I took was “crude", if not dangerous, and now that I’ve read more on local ziplines, I agree. The ones in the Philippines have you fitted with more harnesses, and most have you zipping around more like, according to Em-em, “Superman or Wonder Woman", meaning you stretch yourself out horizontally and zip down the cable like a bullet. In India, we were positioned vertically and told to bundle ourselves, pulling our knees up almost to a fetal position (but not feeling fetally safe).

Zipping through the islands

Let’s get to the zipline places in the Philippines.

The closest one to Manila is in Tagaytay. They have a website you can check: tagaytayzipline.com. Clark also has treetop ziplines, but the zipline outfit itself doesn’t seem to have a web so you have to go to clarksubicmarketing.com to look for the zipline place.

There’s one in Danao, Bohol, but I still haven’t been able to get more information except through a newspaper article. Google: “sui-slide Danao”.

Regarding the one in Camp Sabros, Digos, I found a good write-up in pasyalera.com, an intriguing website which lots of travel information.

Davao City apparently has three places: Project Challenge Talomo, Outland Adventure and Zip City, which makes me wonder again about my adventurism hypothesis. Living in Davao used to be living dangerously (and still is, to some extent, when you think about law-and-order vigilantes who wipe out people they suspect to be criminals).

Actually, the entire Mindanao, again maybe because it’s a frontier area, has more ziplines than anywhere else in the Philippines. There’s one in Mapawa Nature Park in Cagayan de Oro, and another in Camp Sabros Digos, Davao del Sur (informative write-up on a travel site, pasyalera.com).

Bukidnon has two, one in Waig Crystal Cave and the other, with which Elpie is connected, is Zipzone at Dahilayan Adventure Park in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon (09189250306). Elpie says they have 150m, 320m and 840m ziplines, the two longer ones being dual multi-rider lines, which means they can take two people. (I thought, that would make it even more appealing for Filipinos. We love risks, but prefer taking them with others.)

Elpie says they have Asia’s longest multirider dual lines. And hey, they also have whitewater rafting, but let me try that out first before writing about it. (Oops, what did I get myself into?)

You can also find Dahilayan on YouTube.com. Let me quote Elpie: “Just type ‘zipzone’ and you will see a lot of videos of our ziplines. For a perspective of the speed, type ‘zipzone flybys’ and for the ultimate ride, type ‘zipzone night riders,’ where we had guests fly in near pitch black conditions.” Hmm. . .

Talking about ultimate and extreme, you might want to consider Legazpi, Albay.

Edith Batalla, a tour operator, first e-mailed me to say they had two ziplines: Mayon Skyline Park and at the top of Lingyon Hill, near the city’s airport. By coincidence, just the day before her e-mail, I heard on a television show (I think it was “Sports Unlimited”) about ziplining in Misibis, a high-end resort very near Legazpi City. I asked Edith about this and she said the resort is on Cagraray Island and there is a cable car connecting the mainland to the island.

Edith is partial to the Lingyon Hill zipline, which she says will give you “a very beautiful view of Mayon Volcano and Albay Gulf.” Not only that, she’s offering an even greater adrenaline rush: visit now and take the zipline because this is a good time to look at Mayon, while it’s “on fire”! Maybe Edith can help you book. Check Emma’s Apartelle in Gogon district.

Ready?