The Enthralling Tiny Islands of Batanes

By Eugene Alvin Villar (seav) – English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=244924

Batanes is an archipelago province in the Philippines situated in the Cagayan Valley region. It is the northernmost province in the country, and also the smallest, both in population and land area. Its capital is Basco located in the island of Batan.

The island group is located approximately 162 kilometres (101 mi) north of the Luzon mainland and about 190 kilometres (120 miles) south of Taiwan, separated from the Babuyan Islands of Cagayan Province by the Balintang Channel, and from Taiwan by the Bashi Channel. The entire province is listed in the UNESCO tentative list for inscription in the World Heritage List.

Photo from: https://www.madmonkeyhostels.com/h2o_blog/backpackers-guide-batanes-islands-philippines/

Almost one-half of Batanes is hills and mountains. Batan Island is generally mountainous on the north and southeast. It has a basin in the interior. Itbayat Island slopes gradually to the west, being mountainous and hilly along its northern, eastern coast. As for Sabtang, mountains cover the central part, making the island slope outward to the coast.

The islands are situated between the vast expanse of the waters of Bashi Channel and Balintang Channel, where the Pacific Ocean merges with the China Sea. The area is a sea lane between the Philippines and Japan, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is rich with marine resources, including the rarest sea corals in the world.

BATANES

Photo from: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3461639

The terrain of the province, while picturesque at almost every turn, has limited the potential for expansion of agriculture in an already very small province.

Photo from: http://www.pinsdaddy.com/mahatao-philippines_R2Q8YArKmeWEHcqmlUdpQC2k8HWrVSuUvezw5imqSxM/

An extensive survey of the ecology of Batanes provided the scientific basis for confirming the need for a national park in Batanes protecting the Batanes protected landscapes and seascapes, proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, submitted on 15 August 1993. An effort is underway to declare the whole province, along with the sugar central sites in Negros, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by the end of 2020.

^{Photo from: http://www.thehappytrip.com/2017/03/batanes-travel-guide/}