Apayao

Apayao is a province in the Cordillera region of Luzon in the Philippines. One of the country's least-known provinces and the Cordillera's "Last Frontier", it has underrated natural and cultural attractions such as indigenous villages and unspoiled, jungle-covered mountains.

Apayao is divided into seven municipalities, all rural and sparsely populated, with each having a central town.

• 18.255121.0436111 Calanasan
• 17.808611121.2888892 Conner — fruit basket of Apayao
• 18.214722121.4186113 Flora
• 18.023889121.1833334 Kabugao — de jure provincial capital in the middle of the province
• 18.331111121.37255 Luna — the province's commercial hub and de facto provincial capital
• 18.235556121.3733336 Pudtol — the oldest existing town, having been the site of failed colonial outposts by the Spanish.
• 18.287222121.43757 Santa Marcela — known in Filipino pop culture for being the setting of a film by action star Fernando Poe Jr.

Apayao occupies 4,413.35 km² (1,704.00 sq mi) of land area, mostly mountainous and forested terrain. The capital in theory is Kabugao, but due to its isolated state, the provincial administration is in Luna, along the boundary with Cagayan province to the north. The province occupies some of the last remaining jungles of the Cordillera Mountains, and hosts some endemic species such as the national bird, the Philippine eagle.

The province is bounded on the south by Abra and Kalinga, on the west by Ilocos Norte, and to the north and east by Cagayan, which has a narrow coastal strip blocking access to the Babuyan Channel. It is bisected by the Apayao or Abulug River, which runs in a U-shaped loop around the province south from Calanasan before making a northeastward bend towards the Babuyan Channel in Cagayan, passing through an extension of the coastal plain that reaches into Luna, Santa Marcela, Pudtol and Flora.

Apayao has around 126,000 inhabitants. It is the least densely populated province in the Philippines, with only 29 people per square kilometer, mostly squeezed into the Apayao River valley in the northeast of the province in the minor conurbation formed by Luna, Flora, Santa Marcela and Pudtol. It is predominantly inhabited by the Isneg or the Itneg, an Igorot subgroup closely related to the Tingguians of neighboring Abra. They are then divided into various tribes and clans. There are also some Aeta tribes related to those in the Sierra Madre and Zambales mountains.

Long seen through the colonial era and much of the post-independence years as a “no-go zone” due to its reputation for being a hotbed of tribal warfare, headhunters and communist rebels, since the late 20th century, Apayao has seen an influx of predominantly Ilocano migrants who have mostly settled in Luna and other lowland areas in the northeastern part of the province.

Apayao's climate varies extensively. While the northeastern valleys can be hot in summer, the interior has a more temperate climate due to its altitude, but the dense jungle makes things more humid than in the rest of the Cordilleras.

Many visit the province during the dry season between March and May, where temperatures are at its highest but rainfall at its lowest. The rainy season is rather the same as with the rest of Luzon, but precipitation is somewhat higher, with the cool season from November to February also bringing in torrential rains. Heavy rain, especially those brought by typhoons, can cause seasonal road closures due to landslides and rockfalls.

Archeological evidence suggests that Apayao has long been settled as early as the prehistoric era. Throughout the 17th to 19th centuries, the Spaniards based in Cagayan Valley tried to subjugate Apayao with limited success. In retaliation, Isneg tribes raided lowland villages and beheaded residents in headhunting raids.

In the early 1900s, the Americans occupied Apayao and turned it into a subdistrict of the Mountain Province encompassing much of the Cordillera region in 1908.

In 1966, Apayao was merged with Kalinga subdistrict to became the province of Kalinga-Apayao. In the 1970s and 1980s, the area became a hotbed of rebellions led by the communist New People's Army and a Cordilleran separatist splinter group, the Cordillera People's Liberation Army (CPLA). At the same time, cronies of the Marcos dictatorship entered Apayao and were awarded logging concessions before proceeding to ravage large swathes of the province's forest until the 1990s, when they were finally driven out by the NPA and a belated effort by the government to stop large-scale deforestation.

After Marcos was overthrown in 1986, the government of president Corazon Aquino reached a peace agreement with the CPLA, leading to Kalinga-Apayao's transfer from the Cagayan Valley Region to the Cordillera Administrative Region in 1988. In 1990, Apayao rejected autonomy for the Cordilleras in a referendum. Amid complaints by residents of Apayao that the provincial government in Tabuk was too distant, Kalinga-Apayao was dissolved into two separate provinces comprising its constituent halves following a referendum in 1995. Kabugao was proclaimed the capital of Apayao, though for logistical reasons, administrative offices were instead placed in Luna, an already thriving commercial hub. A second autonomy referendum for the Cordilleras in 1998 led to a pro-autonomy victory in the province, which was disregarded by the rest of the region rejecting the proposal.

In 2024, the entirety of Apayao was recognized by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve for its overwhelming concentration of wild plants and animals.

Historically an agricultural society, Apayao's economy was interrupted with the entry of commercial logging in the 1970s that introduced consumerism in the province but not much else and left deep scars on the environment after the loggers were driven out by the NPA and government restrictions. Even today, Apayao is ranked as one of the country's poorest provinces. Since the 21st century, Apayao has began to open up to tourism, although the province's geography, poor infrastructure and bouts of political instability make it challenging for large-scale tourist enterprises to take hold unlike in Baguio.

The native language is Isneg, which has various dialects per town. An alternative lingua franca is Ilocano, brought by lowland migrants who settled in the province, followed by Tagalog, Ibanag, Itawis and English.

Apayao is mainly accessed through roads from Cagayan and Kalinga. The nearest airport is in Tuguegarao, from where there are passenger vans towards various towns in Apayao, while bus services from Metro Manila and Laoag usually stop just outside of Apayao, in towns of Cagayan bordering the province such as Claveria, Tuao, Allacapan, Pamplona and Abulug, where a road in Junction Luna aka Junction Libertad leads towards Kabugao-Junction Luna Road, the main highway in Apayao leading to Luna, Pudtol and Kabugao. There are jeepneys to these towns from Junction Luna.

There are no road connections to Abra, while a road connects Calanasan with Solsona and onwards to Laoag in Ilocos Norte.

Public transportation to Apayao operates at an infrequent pace, which usually involves waiting for an indefinite period for your vehicle to fill up before it leaves the terminal.

The Kabugao-Junction Luna Road is the main thoroughfare in Apayao, connecting much of the province with Cagayan. One can get around the province by public transportation such as jeepney, bus, and passenger van. Tricycles and tuktuks are used within towns.

Due to infrequent services, it is better to take a 4WD or any vehicle suitable for mountain roads. Many attractions are accessible following extended hikes.

Tourism is still in its early stages in Apayao, with many waterfalls, mountains and caves still waiting to be discovered and identified even by the locals themselves. Nonetheless, there are already established landmarks such as Mount Sicapoo, a 2,361 metres (7,746 ft) peak in Calanasan bordering Ilocos Norte, caving and swimming in the Marag Valley of Luna, rafting and canoeing along the Apayao River and its tributary, the Ngagan River, and the Mataguisi Spanish church ruins in Pudtol. There is also a growing interest for cultural tourism.

Partake in cultural activities such as pounding rice, community dances and listening to the chants of the indigenous songs and epics.

Like the rest of the Cordilleras, Apayao cuisine is comprised of highland rice, starch vegetables, game, and smoked meats. There are more fish dishes than usual thanks to the Apayao River. A unique dish in the province is sinursur, in which freshwater fish is pounded into a vomit-looking mush and cooked with spices inside a bamboo tube over an open fire.

There are many fruit farms in Conner offering offering tourists the chance to harvest various fruits such as durian, rambutan and lanzones.

Rice and sugarcane wines are the native drink.

The bulk of tourist accommodation, including small and mid-size hotels, is in Luna and Pudtol. Most accommodation elsewhere consists of small inns, hostels or homestays.

Accidents and landslides are common along the mountain roads, with the danger compounded by low or nonexistent guard rails and fog. Ensure that your vehicle is in good condition.

Permits are required from local authorities to undertake most hikes or mountain climbing. The hiking season runs during the dry season from November to May. While Apayao is often known for its cool weather, do not underestimate the effects of heat and exhaustion while climbing, especially as many of the slopes are directly exposed to sunlight.

There may be a few NPA rebels hiding in the wilderness.

• Cagayan
• Kalinga