Travel to Philippines: Banaue

Parts of Ifugao Province have been converted from forest to agricultural land.

Make default image size larger

We're about 125 miles north of Manila and on the rugged eastern slope of the Cordillera Central. This is the setting for the stepped terraces of Ifugao.

The best roads are poor, and the average one poorer still.

Jeepneys find their way around.

The town of Banaue, capital of Ifugao, is centrally located in the province and roughly halfway up the long slope of the Cordillera.

The buildings cluster around a bit of flat land occupied by many shops catering to tourists who have come to see the terraces.

From the commercial center out to the terraces.

The carver must know his customers.

Outside of the town, one can wander freely.

The landscape is of Balinese intensity.

The economics of rice are something else, and farmers make no money from rice: they are engaged in what they themselves call "sentimental agriculture."

The grain ripens.

Beautiful but labor-intensive bundles of grain.

The stub-end of a road? Not quite,...

The start of a very steep and long path to a remote village.