Banaue Rice Terraces
Banaue Rice Terraces
The Banaue Rice Terraces are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the Batad indigenous people. It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipments, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 feet) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of the mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system located from the rainforests above the mountains.
The Banaue terraces are part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, ancient sprawling man-made structures dating from 2,000 to 6,000 years old. They are found in the provinces of Mountain Province and Ifugao, and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Locals to this day still tend to the rice and vegetables on the terraces, although more and more younger Ifugaos do not find farming appealing, often opting for the more lucrative hospitality industry generated by the Rice Terraces. The result is the gradual erosion of the characteristic "steps", which need constant reconstruction and care.
Dubbed as the "Eight Wonder of the World," the Banaue Rice Terraces start from the base of the mountain range and reach up to several thousand feet high. It is said that their length, put end to end, would encircle half of the globe. Made 2,000 years ago, these rice terraces manifest the engineering skill and ingenuity of the sturdy Ifugaos. Streams and springs found in the mountains were tapped and channeled into irrigation canals that run downhill through the rice terraces.
The Banaue Rice Terraces are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the Batad indigenous people. It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipments, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 feet) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of the mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system located from the rainforests above the mountains.
The Banaue terraces are part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, ancient sprawling man-made structures dating from 2,000 to 6,000 years old. They are found in the provinces of Mountain Province and Ifugao, and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Locals to this day still tend to the rice and vegetables on the terraces, although more and more younger Ifugaos do not find farming appealing, often opting for the more lucrative hospitality industry generated by the Rice Terraces. The result is the gradual erosion of the characteristic "steps", which need constant reconstruction and care.
Dubbed as the "Eight Wonder of the World," the Banaue Rice Terraces start from the base of the mountain range and reach up to several thousand feet high. It is said that their length, put end to end, would encircle half of the globe. Made 2,000 years ago, these rice terraces manifest the engineering skill and ingenuity of the sturdy Ifugaos. Streams and springs found in the mountains were tapped and channeled into irrigation canals that run downhill through the rice terraces.
