#697 Taal Volcano, Philippines

www.flickr.com by Jet Alvarado

In the Philippines, volcanoes are really nothing new, no big deal. Whether it's the infamous and destructive Pinatubo eruption in the early 90s, the picture perfect cone of Mt. Mayon towering over the city of Legazpi at the southern end of Luzon Island, the Mt. Makiling that every Manila student has climbed at one time or another, or the cutely named Hibok-Hibok in Camiguin province. Wikipedia lists 25 active volcanoes and 339 inactive ones. Like Indonesia, New Zealand, the Aleutian Islands, Guatemala and Ecuador -- it epitomizes the Pacific's Ring of Fire. Despite this commonality, Taal volcano is one of the most unique I've ever seen in the world, because it is the relic of a massive volcanic explosion (the mountain could have been 18,000 feet high) of one of the biggest volcanoes in the world. This formed a caldera lake (Lake Taal, aka Lake Bonbon in historical texts, 3m above sea level, 172m deep, 15-30km wide, formed between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago) with little Volcano Island in the middle (5km long, 23 square kilometers), with a little lake in the middle of that, and another little volcano in the middle of that. And the lakes are on different levels and breathe, incredibly. The recent explosions originate from Volcano Island, but are simply the surface level of the massive activity happening below.

www.taalvolcano.org - Volcano Island with Mt. Macolod in the background as viewed from Tagatay Ridge

Unfortunately, my own photos are printed and stacked under our family home, and they mostly consist of the views from the ridge town on the caldera cliffs, Tagaytay so probably not all that impressive anyway, but I have tried to collect some of the most awe-inspiring ones I could find -- what a spectacular place.

www.geog.ucsb.edu

During the recorded history since 1572, more than 33 eruptions have been recorded and 6 major eruptions have claimed several fatalities from pyroclastic flows and tsunamis in the lake (1572, 1591, 1605-1611, 1707, 1709, 1715-16, 1729, 1749, 1754 was a 200 day eruption, 1790, 1808, 1874 killed all the livestock on the island, 1878, 1904, 1965, etc, etc). One of the most famous was in 1911, which killed 1334 people. It has been dormant since 1977, despite increases in activity in 1991, 2003, 2007, 2009 and 2011 showing hot pools, earthquakes, mud flows/geysirs and a raised lake level. The lake is home to species such as the freshwater sardine (the only one in the world) and the Taal Lake Seasnake as well as endemic blue green algae, diatom, ostracod, sponge, reptile and fish.

taaltours.blogspot.com

From Wikipedia: "The crater lake on Volcano island is the largest lake on an island in a lake on an island in the world."
Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taal_Volcano

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetjpg/5841397111/

http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5026/

http://www.taalvolcano.org/

http://www.taalvolcano.net/

http://www.tagaytay.com/taalvolcano.htm

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/taal.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_volcanoes_in_the_Philippines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inactive_volcanoes_in_the_Philippines

#818 Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines

One of the most magnificent things I've ever seen is the human engineering of the Asian rice terraces. These are not unique to the Philippines and are found in Indonesia, China, Nepal, India, etc, but the first ones I ever saw we're in the mountains of Luzon. What I think is so amazing is that humans have turned an inhospitable, steep-hilled environment, and made it productive an habitable. The artistic flow and symmetry and the repetition are magnificent. Walking the narrow paths between terraces is lovely and climbing the steps watching someone carry a load of firewood, water, plants or some other product, gives new respect for your knees! Apologies that these aren't my photos... I went there in 1993 or 1994 so haven't even looked at them in at least 15 years!

Tripadvisor.com

www.8thingstodo.com

#862 Corregidor Island, Philippines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Corregidor_1941.jpg

At the entrance to Manila Bay is a strategic island shaped like a tadpole, that has been fortified by everyone who has controlled the Philippines: first the Spanish, intermittently Chinese pirates, Dutch sailors (1647), and British soldiers (1762), then the Americans, ending with the Japanese during World War II, before they lost the war.  

Surrender of US troops at Malinta tunnel in May 1942
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MalintaSurrender.jpeg

Approximately 6km long, it was named because it translates as "to correct" because Spanish used it as a customs port for "correcting" documents. Later, it was known as Fort Mills by the Americans, and had several facilities for officers, a 1 mile long barrack for soldiers, a small airfield, as well as the all important lighthouse from 1853 onwards. It was incredibly important for both losing and gaining the Philippines to the Japanese invaders during World War II with brutal battles May 1942 and January 1945 respectively, being the losing battle when the Japanese blocked Bataan from supplying them with food and fresh water and one of the first to be liberated. It was very heavily bombarded and its ruins remain a memorial to the many that died during the war, with several memorials to Filipino and American solders and a Japanese Garden of Peace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malinta_tunnel_diagram.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malinta_Tunnel.JPG

One of the most fascinating military constructions was the Malinta tunnel, under the almost 600m high volcanic peak (Filipino scientists believe that despite erupting last around a million years ago, it could still be an active volcano). This was, impressively, the temporary location for the government of the Philippines (Dec 1941-Feb 1942), and it was outside this tunnet that Manuel L. Quezon and his Vice President Sergio Osmena were inaugurated for their second term as leaders of the Philippines Commonwealth. General Douglas MacArthur also made it his headquarters after much of the Philippines was controlled by the Japanese.

The ruins of the mile-long military barracks.

If ever a military base has been respectfully converted -- this is it. It is a peaceful, historical museum of an island now, with beautiful greenery and few visitors, the circular guns no longer used and the roads only for tourists.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corregidor_Island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malinta_Tunnel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mills

#902 Boracay, Philippines

Idyllic, beautiful Boracay, the pride of Philippine beaches for decades, and a truly well-deserved reputation for spectacular gorgeousness! It's an island in the Visayas, and not so easy to get to considering the nearest airport is a banca boat and van/bus ride away. But of course, it's been years since I went and am sure the infrastructure is improved since 2001! What more to say about a picture-perfect, motorbikable, wanderable island in the warm Pacific Ocean with diving and snorkelling and suntanning?

 

Apologies, once again, for the poor quality scans of film photos. All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine crisp white sand beaches, turquoise oceans and tranquility and you're there, anyway.