The Apayao River

A River Through The Emptiest Province In Luzon, With A Cave You Enter By Boat And Dam Proposals Its Communities Have Fought · Luna, Apayao

APAYAO IS THE LEAST DENSELY POPULATED PROVINCE IN LUZON - forest, river and very few people, at the top of the Cordillera where it falls away toward the Cagayan Valley. THE APAYAO-ABULUG RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT and is the province's spine: villages sit on it, boats work it, and LUSSOK CAVE IS ENTERED FROM THE WATER, a chamber system with the river running through it that you reach by boat and then wade. THE ISNAG PEOPLE LIVE HERE and their villages along the river are the province. THERE IS ALMOST NO TOURISM AND NO INFRASTRUCTURE FOR IT. AND THERE IS A FIGHT: LARGE HYDROPOWER DAM PROPOSALS ON THIS RIVER HAVE BEEN OPPOSED BY COMMUNITIES ALONG IT FOR YEARS, on the grounds of displacement and the loss of the valley - the same argument that has played out across the Cordillera since the Chico River dams were stopped in the 1980s. Ask about it here and people will tell you exactly what they think, at length.

Apayao River and Lussok Cave, Luna, Apayao, Luna, Apayao, Philippines

APAYAO IS REACHED BY ROAD FROM TUGUEGARAO OR LAOAG, long journeys either way, with LUNA AND KABUGAO the main towns - THERE IS NO AIRPORT AND NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT WORTH THE NAME beyond jeepneys and vans. THERE IS NO GATE ANYWHERE. LUSSOK CAVE IS REACHED BY BOAT ON THE RIVER and then on foot and by wading; LOCAL GUIDES AND BOATMEN ARE ESSENTIAL and are arranged in the barangay or through the municipal office. RIVER LEVEL GOVERNS EVERYTHING - too high after rain and the cave is not entered, too low and the boats do not run. ACCOMMODATION IS BASIC LODGING AND HOMESTAYS. CARRY CASH; there is minimal banking. THE WET SEASON, ROUGHLY JUNE TO OCTOBER, brings landslides on the Cordillera roads and high water on the river.

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