Backpacking Philippines: Southern Leyte's Agas-agas Bridge Beckons Bungee Jumping, Extreme Sports

Southern Leyte's Agas-agas Bridge Beckons Bungee Jumping, Extreme Sports

An engineer and avid fan of megastructures, Tutubi was able to cross San Juanico Bridge, the longest bridge in the country connecting the islands of Samar and Leyte, even in the middle of heavy rains.

This time, he went off to check for himself the newly-opened bridge in Leyte Island in the town of Sogod. This he did by canceling an earlier planned trip to Sohoton Cave in Basey, Samar across Leyte Gulf.

Agas-agas Bridge from one end of the viaduct. Note the bahay kubo (native huts) below to add scale

The two piers supporting the bridge with a height of 292 feet visible on this photo. The platform on the sides of the bridge made available another bungee jumping in the Philippines' Eastern Visayas region

Recently inaugurated by PGMA, Agas-agas bridge was constructed to address the safety issues of frequent landslides and erosion in the area particularly during heavy rains and typhoons. I was funded by the Japanese government through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) fund and construction supervised by Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. of Japan.

a "side view" of the bridge taken from the old dangerous road it replaced

The tallest Bridge in the Philippines lies at kilometer 1007 marker and only habal-habal (motorcycle taxis) are available as public transportation from Mahaplag, Leyte or Sogod, Southern Leyte

With huge potential as an adventure tourism destination, made a part of the 350 meter long viaduct is a platform specifically for bungee jumping enthusiasts. Aficionados of other extreme sports like paramotor, downhill skateboarding zipline and rapelling are also expected to visit the Philippines highest bridge.

DPWH Agas-agas Bridge Field Office with ample parking space for possible adventurers to park their vehicles

(right picture: the two huts in the green valley below the bridge with a small waterfall in view, part of the Leyte Mountain Trail)

Tutubi wasn't able to see or experience any extreme sports at Agas-agas but on his return to Dulag, Leyte that he realized that he was able to set foot on the province of Southern Leyte.

How to get there:

Don't even think of commuting to Agas-agas bridge for for there's no public transportation that pass by the route except the hardy habal-habal. Mahaplag is a town of Southern Leyte and can be reached after about two hours travel from Tacloban City, about 70 kilometers away via zig-zag roads cutting through the beautiful landscapes of the so-called Leyte Mountain Trail. The bridge is located at the kilometer 1007 marker.

Related Posts:

The Longest Bridge of the Philippines

Labels: Adventure Tourism, Bridges, Eastern Visayas, Southern Leyte

posted by GingGoy @ 9:09 PM,

18 Comments:

At Sep 24, 2009, 1:02:00 AM, carlotta1924 said...: more new roads equals more tourism. it's about time. :)

i so can't wait to bungee jump there! hehe
At Sep 25, 2009, 10:48:00 AM, Filipino Social Network said...: mahilig po kayo sa photobucket
At Sep 26, 2009, 9:52:00 AM, GingGoy said...: carlotta, hope next time there's bungee jumping packages or gear rentals so I can actulally bungee jump or flying fox/zipline :P

Filipino Social Network, my apologies. i didn't notice the problem for I don't have much time to blog due to my busy schedules. I intend to do a makeover for this blog but it seems i have to do it earlier than planned :(
At Sep 26, 2009, 10:20:00 PM, bw said...: that's a pretty high and well constructed bridge but I'd be wary of bungee jumping that high without water on the ground ! :)
At Sep 29, 2009, 10:41:00 PM, Joemill said...: Wow! I wanna go there! I'm actually from Matalom, Leyte. That's not very far. :)
At Oct 2, 2009, 2:21:00 AM, den said...: Nakadaan ako don the day after ng inauguration. Wala nga lang pictures, nalaman ko kasing bagong construct yong tulay nong nakalagpas na ang bus na sinasakyan ko. Dito ko na nalaman sa post mo na isa sya sa pinakamataas na tulay sa Pilipinas.
At Oct 2, 2009, 4:57:00 AM, Photo Cache said...: the construction of new bridge not only helps the locals but enables the tourists to visit the place.

love that shot with the two huts.
At Oct 14, 2009, 11:29:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Can somebody be kind enough to inform me how to get to Agas-agas and the cost of bungee jumping there?
At Oct 15, 2009, 11:27:00 AM, GingGoy said...: anonymous, the directions on how to get there is already posted above unless you're commuting i.e. use public transportation. either go to Sogod town proper then hire a habal-habal or a van straight from tacloban airport. no information yet on bungee jumping philippines packages and operators.
At Oct 23, 2009, 4:55:00 PM, Fred said...: Wow, I grew up here and it's ironic I heard about this new infrastructure through you. When I used to travel here, it used to be a headache because of the constant landslides when it rains. After so many years it's great there's a solution to it. Hope to check this place one of these days. Thanks.
At Oct 23, 2009, 5:37:00 PM, GingGoy said...: fred, you're welcome. i;m coming back to leyte in a few days/weeks for some unfinished business :P
At Dec 31, 2009, 3:08:00 PM, Anonymous said...: i would like to see the place,the agas agas bridge. why not make it a tourist destination by constructing 5 star hotels and other attractions for the tourists to stay?
At Jun 3, 2010, 4:21:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Hey! I really want to try bungee jumping! Is it really available there? If so, how much? My cousins live in Leyte and I was thinking, maybe we could go there! :D
At Jun 3, 2010, 11:31:00 AM, GingGoy said...: anonynous, i've heard some bungee jumping tours from tacloban tour operators offer the adventure but i've yet to make contact. i foresee another trip to leyte in the coming days :P
At Nov 12, 2011, 9:01:00 AM, Anonymous said...: any information on a bunggee jumping schedule at that bridge
At Jan 26, 2012, 11:11:00 AM, Fermin B. Manatad said...: Hello, thanks to this blogs of yours, just one correction, Mahaplag is not a Town of Southern Leyte because this agas-agas bridge is near in the border of leyte and southern leyte, which is also the border of Mahaplag and Sogod.
At Apr 1, 2012, 8:32:00 AM, Anonymous said...: we've been in agas agas last dec 2011, we asked about the bungee jumping, but they said they don't offer it anymore. So we just tried the zipline. Love it! i love leyte..
At May 29, 2012, 2:16:00 PM, Anonymous said...: just came back from leyte.

as of yesterday 28 may 2012, there's no bungee jumping activity on agas-agas bridge. there is an open air cable car (similar to the one danao, bohol and tagaytay) operational two weeks from now.

Southern Leyte's Agas-agas Bridge Beckons Bungee Jumping, Extreme Sports

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