The Banaue Rice Terraces of the Philippines have been said to be like the 8th wonder of the world. They were carved from the hillside by the tribes people of Ifugao about 2,000-3,000 years ago. The tribes people did this with their bare hands and crude implements, without using machinery to level the steps where they plant their rice, which is what makes this wonder so attractive, aside from the fact that the rice terraces are still used today.
This is considered to be one of the greatest engineering feats of mankind, because if each one were connected end to end, then they would reach halfway across the globe or be 10 times as long as the Great Wall of China. It was not until only 13 years ago (1995) that the Banaue Rice Terraces were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Approximately during the ministry of Jesus Christ on earth (over 2000 years ago), the native people of Ifugao began carving the terraces of the mountains using merely their bare hands and sticks from the trees in the forests. The terraces were carved mainly to provide an area of land suitable for planting rice which is the staple food of most Filipinos whether breakfast, lunch or dinner, rice is always served and eaten with the main dish.
The rice terraces are like stepping stones stretching towards the sky, where some of them reach almost 5,000 feet in altitude and cover about 4,000 square miles of land. They are now beginning to show signs that they are eroding, and some of them need maintenance, while the Ifugaos’ new generation is migrating to nearby cities in search of better opportunities.
Even though it is about 8 or 9 hours from Manila in a car, the Banaue rice terraces are known to be one of the most spectacular places to see in the Philippines. They have transformed the Cordillera mountains of barren stone into ledges that are fit to grow rice.
The rainforests above the mountains act as a natural irrigation system used to water the rice plants. The terraces are 7 hours of travel by car (50 miles) from Baguio city, the summer capital of the Philippines.