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Manila,
Luzon
 Themes
Regions
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Information
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Luzon and the rice terraces
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The
eighth world miracle
Mountain terracing with the cultivation of rice varieties is practiced
throughout the whole region of Pacific Asia.
In the Philippines they have the most unique terraces! The Cordillera
terraces in Northern Luzon are said to be the most unique in the world.
Some people call these rice terraces the "stairways to Heaven", or "the
eighth world miracle".
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They terraces are so very unique that the Unesco (The United Nations Educational
Scientific and Cultural Organization) put these terraces on the 'World Heritage List
of
cultural landscapes'. Ifugao is one of the provinces on Luzon where even
on the steepest slopes terraces were build by the ancestors
with only primitive tools and bare hands, more than 2000 to 3000 years
ago. The slopes are sometimes slanting 70 degrees! |
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Tourism in the Bontoc region
The
indigenous mountain people are still living and working as it was
in the past. The irrigation system too, based on the efficient use of the mountains’ water
resources, is still the same. The landscapes in the regions of Bontoc
and Ifugao attract a lot of tourists. Not only the famous rice terraces,
but also the indigenous people with their still traditional
way of living, are main destinations for tourists when they make a trip
through the island.
Picture:
The
"eighth world miracle", ©
University of Hohenheim, Germany
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The
environment of the village of Batad, Ifugao province |
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Picture:
© J.Neele |
Picture:
© Marco
Luijten
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Batad
is one of the
idyllic villages in the province of Ifugao. The surrounding terraces of
the village look, as some say, as a 'tribune in a amphitheater'. The
mountain people still |
maintain the terraces and the walls of stones and loam, often 6 to 7
meters high, with their hands. Every part of the steep slopes is used.
Sometimes the surface of a rice-field on a terrace is only 10 square
meters. |
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Rice
terraces in detail
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Metro Manila |
Volcanoes on Luzon |
Rice terraces in
Northern Luzon |
Angeles
City and Subic bay |
Traffic
in
Metro
Manila
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Mountain
tribes on Luzon |
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Click
the pictures for more information!
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