Destinations / Top wonders of the world you did not know about / Banaue Rice Terraces in Philippines

  Banaue Rice Terraces are at least 2,000 years old and were carved on the mountain slopes by the ancestors of today's residents. Filipinos call this place "the eighth wonder of the world", a term not exaggerated at all, taking into account that everything was done with a minimum of equipment and machinery, for the most part was built manually. Situated at an altitude of about 1500 meters, the rice terraces cover an area of 10,360 square kilometers and are still irrigated by an ingenious system that was built in antiquity. The terraces follow the contours of the mountain slopes of the Philippine Cordilleras, preserving the natural landscape of exceptional beauty. They say that if all the steps of the terraces would be united, their length would equal half the length of the equator. Locals use them even today to plant rice and vegetables, and building works and maintenance of the terraces are held every year due to strong erosion. They grow rice on the same terraces in the same way their ancestors did millennia ago. Recently, in the mountains around Banaue there was discovered gold, however, the local communities have not allowed to develop gold-bearing strata, remaining faithful to traditional rice farming. Banaue Rice Terraces have been included in UNESCO patrimony in 1995.

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Maps of Banaue Rice Terraces in Philippines