Mango Camp: Adventure and Leisure Farm

I had a chance to join my new team on a team-building event last week at Mango Camp Adventure and Leisure Farm in Zambales. It was two days of tiring yet fun-filled activities all within the confines of the 1,500sqm campsite, set against the mountain ranges of Mt. Pinatubo. This recreational site has been featured a couple of times on different TV shows like ABS-CBN’s Trip na Trip, GMA’s Kay Susan Tayo, Lovely Day and another travel show on Studio 23.

First impressions

We arrived at the resort at 9 in the morning (around 3hours travel from Manila). Greeted by Mr. Laurenz Francisco the overall manager of the resort who briefly showed us the amenities, activities that we can do and some of their rules. It was a farm turned into an activity area somewhere in the middle of Cabangan, Zambales. Looking around it was like a play ground for grown ups, where one can have fun and get to know new people through group activities.

An alternative stress relief

Relaxation is not a luxury that we can take in this event as there are 10 activities lined up for the first day alone. We’ve been divided into 4 groups which has to go through different group activities where we had to work with each other to achieve a common goal - to win. Though tiring, this made us forget our very stressful work and just have some fun. My body felt like I need to rest for days, but I was emotionally refreshed.

What do Mango Camp have to offer

Wall climbing facility

32ft wall climbing facility that can make every inch of your body ache. Our first exercise was, each team will have 2 representatives has to climb this wall and timed. Thankfully I wasn’t the one chosen as I was too busy taking pictures of everyone.

An ATV track

Feel your need for speed with their all terrain vehicles, don’t push them too hard though as you might find yourself hanging for your life in mid-air! Some of their ATVs are insanely fast, the first ATV was very disappointing as it was like a motorcycle loaded with two carabaos. The next day i tried two other ATVs, one has manual transmission and another one is insanely fast! A friend was doing wheelies with this ATV while I was had fun drifting in the sandy terrain.

Paint ball field

Experience being in an actual war zone inside their paint ball field. I might say this is the highlight of this trip, we had to wear two layers of protective clothing which at first i thought is unnecessary (it’s only paint balls anyway). But when we get into the field those who have been hit looks like they are hit with rubber bullets lol. I wasn’t hit as I was too busy behind the cover but I’ve ran out bullets :-(. They told us we have 20 bullets each I’ve only fired around 10 rounds :-((.

An obstacle course

Where one can experience being in a military boot camp. Thankfully we don’t have enough time to go through this course, if we did most of us might have been carried inside the bus the next day due to fatigue.

A large pavilion

For different functions like videoke, eating and drinking sessions. This is where we spent most of our time at night as it is not allowed to drink or smoke inside the cottages.

Air conditioned cottages

That can house as many as 17 guests each.

A swimming pool

Where you can relax and take a dip after a very tiring day.

How about the food?

We had a total of five meals, the food is not that bad but its certainly not great. They have a lot to improve in this area, they should’ve prepared all of Zambales’ best cuisines but served us with very typical food which doesn’t satisfy my taste buds.

We had these meals as far as I can remember:

Our first meal which is lunch we had Kare-kare, Tilapia wrapped in banana leaves
Pancit for merienda
Pork Liempo, Sinigang, and Tinolang Manok for dinner, military style where we had to eat with our bare hands with our food lined up in a long table on top of banana leaves.
Beef tapa, omelet, tocino and hotdogs plus Suman with chocolate for breakfast

Overall, I had a great time in Mango Camp as I was able to get to know my new team mates and had fun inside the camp. I felt like a kid in there, just spending the whole day playing and snapping pictures. I had a chance to have a little conversation with Mr. Laurenz as he noticed me busily looking around snapping pictures. He asked me if taking pictures is my hobby and I said yes and I will use these pictures to feature their camp on our blog. As we leave the camp, Mr. Laurenz and the owner of the facility bid us goodbye. For more information you can visit their website at http://mangocampadventure.com/home

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