After more than an hour of hiking through sticky mud and light rain, the amphitheater-shaped terraces of Barangay Batad in Banaue finally came into view.

The Batad Rice Terraces is said to be the most beautiful of the five UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ifugao, scoring points against its other counterparts in Banaue, Hungduan and Kiangan. Although I’m not one to compare, I’d have to agree that Batad’s raw beauty is just breathtaking.

Enclosed by a circular wall of mountains, the rice terraces of Batad forms an amphitheater-like shape that’s simply a beauty to behold. A small village cradled at the heart of the terraces, part of the minimal indication of human settlement in the terraces, actually makes the view more surreal. Beyond it, the walls soar into giant steps of green that seems to reach for the heavens.

We arrived just in time for the Ahitulu Rituals, it was the start of harvest season in Batad. Three huge pigs were tied down and the elders of the village led by their Mumbaki were chanting, drinking rice wines and dancing. The rites last for hours and since we were pressed for time, we were given permission to witness the harvesting of rice at the terraces of Batad even before the ritual ended.

Before the trek down to the green paddies, we were offered tapuy served on coconut shells. It was said that one must always accept such offerings as declining so means disrespect for the locals. Good thing I like wine and gladly drank from the bowl.

With warm tapuy streaking down my gullet, we proceeded with our march towards the harvest. The hike was even harder than the previous trek to the viewpoint. The path was narrower, more precarious and much more slippery.
We wound through the walls of the mountains with the view of the terraces on our right. The sight was so amazing it was easy to lose your concentration on the trek, trip and fall down the ravine. I held off taking photos for a bit for safety’s sake.

Half an hour later, we finally arrived at the harvest site. The harvesting has already ended but we really didn’t mind. If the view from the view deck was already breathtaking, the view from where we were standing then was even more beautiful.

The vista sweeps from the towering mountains on our left, swiftly glides down into the bowl of Batad and rises and falls again into the slopes of the green mountains. The misty clouds roll by, completely blocking our view for some minutes before again revealing the beauty of the terraces in the next.

During our hike towards the mountain farmlands, we met a few local harvesters. Most of them gamely stopped and posed for our cameras and one even took the time to chat with us. He relates how the grains they were reaping were mostly being made into wines and not for rice. It was more practical to do this he says as tapuy or rice wines generally fetch a higher price than mountain rice.

Our reverie was disrupted by the heavens which again decided to shell us with rain and we took this to be a sign for us to go back to the village. With our eyes already satiated from the generous view of the Batad Rice Terraces, it was our rumbling stomach’s turn to get full.

Batad Rice Terraces
Address: Barangay Batad, Banaue, Ifugao

Batad Saddle Point
GPS Coordinates: 16.923123,121.126751
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Batad Rice Terraces
GPS Coordinates: 16.93519,121.134911
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THE IFUGAO HERITAGE WARRIOR CARAVAN RUN IS A FIVE-DAY FAMILIARIZATION TOUR OF THE IFUAGO ORGANIZED BY PHILTOA.