What are the land forms in visayas?

Answer 1

Due to its proximity to the Pacific, these two big islands in the eastern Visayas are known regions most prone to typhoons. While sailing west to Ladrones Islands, Magellan, the portuguese navigator who first set foot in the country, accidentally landed in the southern coast of Samar. Until now no one can explain what exactly caused his landing. His arrival was rather presumed the first trans-pacific voyage in history.

Leyte played an important role during the 2nd world war- witnessing the dramatic return of General Macarthur to fulfill his promise to save the struggling Filipinos from the hands of the Japanese invaders. On the 20th of October 1944, the shore of Leyte witnessed his corps historic landing.

An island filled with natural beauty normally attracts investors on tourism but Samar and Leyte moved far from the list of most visited regions. Sights of potential development were planned but the lack of facilities, technical access and discouraging rumors of rebellion in potential areas prevented these from happening. Only adventure travelers with experiences on remote explorations bravely moved in to the almost inaccessible interiors particularly of Samar. Negative but turned out beneficial for keeping its hidden beauty from being unreasonably exploited.

The massive winds of the Pacific make surfing a worthwhile activity in rugged Coastlines of these two islands. Unfortunately, the rumors of military activity and poor transportation have discouraged travelers particularly surfers from exploring more of its surfing sites.

Few years had passed, a few road constructions have been developed and locals have realized the advantage of having tourists around. Visitors were soon accepted and locals have learned the benefits they bring in. The island's appeal came back and surfers rediscovered the stunning breaks along the coastlines of Samar and Leyte.

Some who cannot afford liveaboards get satisfied with hiring boats to transport them from one coast to another. While those who can, take their chances during brighter seasons. Slightly visited until this time, the islands remained untouched and far from being destructed by influx of tourists.

Visiting the interiors of the islands for other adventure trips might discourage inexperienced explorers, however, alternate options vary depending what activities are prefered to do. Samar has less developed infrastractures than Leyte. Thus, be aware of inaccessability in most of its districts.

To get there, buses from Manila such as Philtranco and BLTB have routes bounded for Samar and Leyte. A regular trip passes through Bicol, crossing the sea via ferry from the port of Matnog, Sorsogon, stopping by Allen, Samar and if bounded farther south, it continues through the Scenic San Juanico Bridge to leyte and to its places of destination. Major airlines have regular flights from Manila to Tacloban while Asian Spirit airline flies to Catarman. There are boats operating from Cebu bounded for Calbayog (Samar) and Supercat boats have regular routes to Biliran, Ormoc, and Maasin (Leyte).

Geographic Description: Samar

Samar is the east central part of the Philippines, the third largest (after Luzon and Mindanao). Belonging to the Visayas group, Samar has an area of 13,080 sq/km. It lies between the Samar and Philippine seas and is separated from the Bicol Peninsula (northwest of Luzon) by the San Bernardino Strait. A bridge across San Juanico Strait connects Samar with Leyte to the southwest. Unlike other islands in the Visayas that are characterized with high mountains, Samar's landforms are low but exceedingly hilly, with heights ranging from 500 to 1000 feet, culminating in Mt. Capotoan, which measures 846 m. Lowlands are restricted to a coastal border and to small rivers running in plain patterns, floodplains and deltas.

Catarman is the chief town on the northern coast, Catbalogan is the island's commercial center, and the city of Calbayog are important western coastal ports and fishing centers.

Samar Map

Leyte Map

Cebu City and its Paradise Islands

Cebu City is the 2nd busiest city in the Philippines. It had been an important trading district for Chinese, Arabs and Malay traders even before the discovery of the Philippines. Despite its multifaceted evolution, Cebu remained the center of commerce in the Visayas, and until this time progressively gathering foreign businesses to build up its economy to greater extent. From guitar making, to dried fruit and fruit juice manufacturing, Cebu proved itself to be the center of trade in the south. The export processing zone at Mactan Island helped to feed Cebu's demanding growth including its neighboring islands.

The city closely resembles with Manila but without the presence of dense traffic. Massive establishments, malls, big hotels, well developed resorts and large universities are gearing up the daily activities of Cebu's fast urban life. Its vast sea port terminal provides easier access to neighboring islands both from Visayas and Mindanao. It has a big ferry terminal that easily moves residents of Bohol and Leyte in and out of Cebu.

If you are on a business trip who are looking for alternate places to go in the city, Cebu is a destination for cheap bargains; such as shell crafts, acoustic Guitars and handicrafts. Many restaurants offer variaties of dishes with seafood as the most popular. And nightlife ranges from intense discos to loud sing along bars and live bands. No matter where you are in Cebu, the city always has something to offer its wandering visitors.

Tourism in Cebu expanded since the migration of huge businesses in the island. Mactan Island, now clogged with resorts targets mainly upscale visitors. These resorts filled with luxurious amenities even reconstructed their beaches to make it look more appealingly natural. Such pampering that pushed other towns further down for being discovered.This, however, didn't take the pride of some established towns in the South. They possess white sand beaches and great dive sites incomparably better than those of Mactan's. Moalboal, fairly is famous for its exquisite dive sites and low-budget but more welcoming resorts, while the island of Badian sprang up for its world-class beach resorts and water-sports activities.

Off the northern coast of Cebu are the coated sugar-like white sand beach islands of Bantayan and Malapascua. They are unquestionably best destinations for a slow summer holiday in the Visayas. Malapascua and Bantayan were recently appreciated for its unrivaled white sand beaches, crystal clear seawater, and its rustic atmosphere. Bantayan Island is a long been discovered paradise, but is able to preserve its natural beauty and remoteness. It is located 18 km off the northwest coast of Cebu with three municipalities of mostly home to undiscovered achingly beautiful white sand beaches.

The other island is called Malapascua. It is a small island of not more than 6 sq. km. with bays covered with strips of white sand beaches, and home to several rustic but very pleasing resorts built with restaurants and bars. Not just an unpretentious hideaway for those who simply want to get themselves away from the bustling life in the city, this place also is an ultimate diving destination.

If traveling alone, motor biking is the cheapest rather more exciting alternative to discover these hideaways. Cebu is a big island thus renting a vehicle can be costly. As transport facilities are well organized in Cebu, it is also not a bad idea to experience commuting in most provinces of the island. Vehicles bounded for all towns have their own terminals in and out of the city.

For island destinations, major sea transportations operate in all ports of Cebu. Malapascua can be reached three hours by land from cebu to Maya, and 45 mins boat trip to the island.

The Secrets of Panay Island

Panay, an island located westernmost of the Central Visayas of the Philippines, surrounded by the Sibuyan, Visayan, and Sulu Seas; the Guimaras strait to the southeast separates it from Negros. Virtually triangular in shape, it measures 11,515 sq/km. A rugged and almost unpopulated coastline range parallels its western coastline. Between the range and a hilly eastern portion, a dense population of farmers inhabits the plains about 155 km from the northern to the southern coasts. A wide lowland on the southest is formed by the details of Jalaud, Jaro and Sibalom rivers. Panay's major inhabitants are the Hiligaynon or Ilongo and the nomadic Negritos in the mountainous areas. Its large cities are Roxas and Iloilo City.

The wide island of Panay was originally inhabited by Negritos or locally called Ati tribe. Their disappearance was due to an innocent agreement they made with the sultan of Borneo back in 1250 to give up their land in exchange of a hat and gold necklace. Ati-atihan of Kalibo commemorates the Negritos traditional dances and rituals held during the handover of their land.

Early in the 13th century, Marikudo, a native chieftain, sold the coastal shores and lowlands to 10 Bornean Datus who escaped from the repression of Sri Vishayan Empire. One of them named Paiburong received the area Irong-Irong, which is now called Iloilo City, meaning nose-like, as its wide river mouth in the narrow Guimaras Strait appears like a snout.

The island lived peacefully until the arrival of Juan Miguel de Legazpi in 1566 that discovered and developed more towns. Inside Iloilo, he established a government in the town of Ogtong (Oton) and later moved to Arevalo. Finally in 1667, the capital was moved in Iloilo for safety reasons. The river mouth area provided better shield against raids by Muslims, Dutch and English pirates than the open shores further south.

Nowadays Iloilo stands out from other cities of Panay for having a rich cultural heritage displayed through their festivals, well designed handicrafts, ancestral mansions and old churches.

Not long ago, Boracay was inhabited by a tribe called Negritos. Since the invasion of tourism, their existence was swept away along with the islands pure environment by the inevitable transformation of the island to a prime tourist destination. Merchants from around the country invaded the once simple trading business of Boracay. Numbers of establishments jammed along the shores of the island's extensive white-sand beaches. This massive clogging of resorts and restaurants never really hurt the attraction of foreign tourists. The island stayed naturally beautiful although blended with bright flashes of lights and lively music at night. The island continously attracts visitors not only for its natural beauty commonly seen by day but as well for its active nightlife. Contrary to what was expected, Boracay in fact made its way to most privileged tropical hideaways in Asia.

The Beautiful BOHOL

Bohol already had contact with other civilizations even before the discovery of the Philippines. This was evident in the remains of people found in Anda Peninsula indicating the use of gold, jewelry and death masks, buried their dead in wood coffins and "enhanced" their women's appearance by flattening and shaping their skulls.

Trade between Chinese began in as early as 5th Century, bringing wares and porcelain goods for their return to their mainland. Boholanos served as distributors, taking the Chinese goods as far as the Mollucas to barter with honey, spices and other items. This practice made Boholanos reasonably stable than other islands.

Panglao Island is said to be connected with the mainland through stilts in the shallow harbor of the strait. According to legend, Portuguese sailors demolished the town and abducted one of the queens, pushing Sultan Sikatuna to move his people to Bool, an area just outside Tagbilaran City. Other sultans moved its people to Mindanao.

When Legazpi arrived in the island, he signed a peace treaty with Sultan Sikatuna, contrary to how he took other places. Sikatuna's friendly acceptance resulted to a peaceful agreement. Legazpi was impressed of the native's lenient character and but his attention focused more on Bohol's established economy.

The treaty between the two leaders was recognized for 45 years. Sikatuna's baptismal just before his death caused a serious conflict with other Muslims. Despite their conversion to Catholicism, however, Boholanos never really submit to friar's abuses. That's enough reason for Dagohoy's successful revolt in 1744. For 85 years Bohol stayed an independent region under the Spaniards but diminished its importance as a trading center.

In contrary to the island's open acceptance with the Spanish, Bohol was not easily suppressed by the occupation of the Americans. They succeeded on keeping their independence even with the strong forces of the Japanese. They printed their own money and have supplied their own people with abundant produce of livelihood without the help of other islands.

Since 1945 Bohol remained a peaceful island with inhabitants used to independent living and equality between each other. Even when the Spanish left the Philippines, people who acquired possessions on lands never took power over low class farmers. Having equal relationship among each other kept their island one of the safest places in the Philippines.

Points of Interest

Panglao Island- Panglao's other attractions aside from diving are its white sand beaches, humble sights of tiny bars made out of bamboos and nipa located along the shore, and well developed beach resorts. Some shell dealers and backyard jewelry makers can also be of great interest to visit. These jewelers are expert in transforming silver coins into lovely rings and bracelets.

Hinagdanan Cave- can be easily reached inside Dauis Panglao, this laddered cave has an ascending steps to a cavern with an underground pond oftenly visited by local kids for diving and swimming.

Barrio Cancatac, Corella- a place considered to be the breeding center of the shy, delicate Tarsier- the tiniest primate ever to exist nowadays. They are naturally nocturnal creatures so it is best to visit them at night time.

Baclayon Church- Located in Baclayon, this church is known to be the oldest stone church in the Philippines built in 1595. The interior is beautifully decorated with original gold leaf paint.

Chocolate Hills- When viewed from a far, they look like scattered pieces of chocolates on dry season. Whatever they may look like, green or brown, mythical or real, these pieces of closely scattered landforms are just so lovely to witness.

River Safari- From Loboc town, some boats have trips along Loay river that can take you to Busay Falls. Watching thick surrounding flora and farms along the way is worth experiencing after a hectic day. The trip ends up at Busay Falls which is perfect for a refreshing swim. On the way back (if the timing is right), sunset sneaks in beautifully into the river.

CAVING in Bohol- Caves in Bohol are mostly accessible with climbing equipments and climbing expertise. It is highly advised not to proceed without proper orientation by local caver organizations.

Carmolaon 2 in Jagna Town- is considered the deepest cave in Bohol, has 144m below ground level.

Caves in Batuan Town- can be reached through trekking over rocky terrains. Camping is recommended to explore all the caves. One has waterfall that creates noticeable vibrations underground.

Antequerra Cave- known as a snake pit, this cave inside Antequerra Town is an isolated home of phytons. If you are interested in snake watching this place is a good spot.

Francisco Dagohoy Cave- noted a hiding refuge of the famous Boholano hero during the Spanish period; this cave has an underwater path heading to a dry ground where Dagohoy seeks refuge from the Spaniards. It is located 5 km away from Barangay Magtanghoy inside Danao Town.

Answer 2

The Visayas region in the Philippines consists of diverse landforms, including mountains (e.g., Mount Canlaon in Negros Island, Mount Madjaas in Panay Island), plateaus (e.g., Central Panay Mountain Range), plains (e.g., Samar Plains in Samar Island), and coastal areas with beaches and coral reefs (e.g., Apo Island in Negros Oriental). The Visayas also has volcanic islands (e.g., Camiguin Island and Taal Volcano) and limestone karst formations (e.g., Chocolate Hills in Bohol).