Mount Hamiguitan

UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 2014 A Forest Of Century Old Trees That Never Grew Taller Than A Person · San Isidro, Davao Oriental

NEAR THE TOP OF HAMIGUITAN THERE IS A FOREST WHERE NOTHING GROWS TALLER THAN A PERSON, AND THE TREES IN IT ARE CENTURIES OLD. The soil is ultramafic - heavy in metals, poor in everything a plant wants - and the result is a PYGMY FOREST of gnarled, bonsai-like trees stunted for life, growing on ground that would kill most species outright. AROUND THEM ARE PITCHER PLANTS FOUND NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH, several named for this mountain. UNESCO INSCRIBED IT IN 2014 and it remains one of the least-visited World Heritage Sites in the Philippines, partly because it is in Davao Oriental and partly because ACCESS TO THE PYGMY FOREST ITSELF IS TIGHTLY RESTRICTED - permits, quotas and guides, with research and conservation taking precedence over sightseeing. THE VISITOR CENTRE AND THE LOWER TRAILS ARE WHAT MOST PEOPLE SEE, and that is by design. The climb itself is two to three days on steep, saturated, root-laced trail.

Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, Davao Oriental, San Isidro, Davao Oriental, Philippines

HAMIGUITAN IS IN SAN ISIDRO, DAVAO ORIENTAL, roughly THREE TO FOUR HOURS FROM DAVAO CITY by road via Mati. THE VISITOR CENTRE AND MUSEUM keep daytime hours with a fee and are where most visits begin and end. CLIMBING TO THE PYGMY FOREST REQUIRES A PERMIT, REGISTRATION AND ACCREDITED GUIDES, with DAILY NUMBERS CAPPED and applications made in advance through the protected-area office - RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION TAKE PRECEDENCE and permits are refused when they need to be. THE CLIMB IS TWO TO THREE DAYS with camps and is genuinely hard, on steep, wet, root-laced trail. THE LOWER TRAILS AND THE SANCTUARY GROUNDS are open to ordinary visitors. THE DRY WINDOW IS ROUGHLY MARCH TO MAY. Davao Oriental sits outside the main typhoon belt but the range is wet year round.

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