BATANG PLATEAU: A JUXTAPOSITION OF WORLD RENOWNED PLACES

BATANG PLATEAU: A JUXTAPOSITION OF WORLD RENOWNED PLACES

📌 Dilam, Calayan Island, Cagayan

Long unknown to the mass travelers and backpackers from all over the country including myself who constantly in search of the marvelous glories of the great outdoors, Brgy. Dilam, the northernmost part of the fantabulous island municipality of Calayan, Cagayan revealed to me a kingdom of immense pastoral meadows over undulating, rolling hills and terrains edged by aquarium seas teeming with life in the Babuyanes: the Batang Plateau.

One portion of Batang Plateau edged by a white sand beach and aquarium clear sea.

Located on the peninsular northeast end of Calayan Island hugging the unpredictable and treacherous Babuyan Channel, the Batang Plateau is an extensive land area of pasture having a relatively level surface raised sharply above adjacent land on at least one side. It is literally considered as "the edge of Dilam".

It was strange and hypnotizing standing on top of this grand mesa of grassland spattered with collosal stone blocks and boulders that amplify the serenity of the rustic and idyllic landscape. The windswept zenith of the plateau commands the 360-degree view of the entire Babuyan Group of Islands.

The northernmost part called "the edge of Dilam".

On the north, about less than 10 kilometers away is the bizarre, uninhabited island of Dipari (Panultan/Panuitan Island in Google Maps and internet) clearly visible from the plateau. The faint outline of Babuyan Claro volcano evokes mysticism from the northeast. On the southeast is the equally fascinating peak of Camiguin de Babuyanes volcano while due southwest lies the tectonic island of Dalupiri - a usual epicenter of geological tremors that occasionally barrage north Philippines - luckily most are feeble shocks no more than magnitude 4.

The sparsely peopled Calayan, while slowly embracing tourism development continue to awe and attract attention but still its rugged outskirts remain gloriously wild.

For me, the Batang Plateau in Dilam is a juxtaposition of the different features of world renowned places that makes it truly enchanting: the massive black rocks scattered on carpet greenery, some gigantic, remind me of the Easter Island statues (called Moai) of the long gone Rapa Nui tribe in Chile, South America; its vast green pastures spectacular with grazing cattles evoke the peaceful dreams of a fairytale in Switzerland or New Zealand; its rough coast resembles the tundras of Iceland or the Scandinavia; the body of water surrounding it is as ghastly as the Bermuda Triangle; its secluded green tropical vastness, with plants endemic only to the Babuyanes recalls parts of the rich Amazonian tropical rainforest; and just its sheer entirety mirrors Batanes' most iconic landscapes, the Vayang and Marlboro Rolling Hills.

Rocky terrains resembling Easter Island of South America.

Green and verdant pastures typical of Switzerland or New Zealand.

Batang Plateau evokes the tundra scenes of Iceland or Scandinavia.

The treacherous waters of the Babuyanes present fear like the Bermuda Triangle.

The richness of plant biodiversity reminds me of the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil.

Just the entire landscape almost mirrors that of Batanes.

Perhaps the most prominent part of Batang is the so called Bimmukel Rolling Hill, a point of perfectly rolling hamburger mound jutting out into the sea as a peninsula or a cape. "Bimmukel" is an Iluko word that means "rounded"; the landform speaks and lives up to its namesake.

The perfect shape of Bimmukel Hill.

There, it was unnerving to stand on top of a windswept littoral hill realizing that to witness the untamed shores and the stretch of white sandy beach in their most impressive form is also the fact that they will become vulnerable soon. If, for the next few years tourism industry in the far-flung wilderness of Calayan continue to dominate and bustle dramatically, the serenity of these wild coasts surrounding Batang may become exploited - if sustainable tourism is underestimated.

Dilam Inlet, as seen on top of Batang Plateau.

Absolutely, much of Calayan remains pristine as remoteness, weather and underdevelopment defend this realm from severe disturbance, over exploitation and possibly, abuse...

As the thunderous waves reach my ears, the force of wind touches my face, and the rasp of the green, green grass of Batang Plateau tickles my bare feet, I knew I was not the one to doubt both the beauty of the entire Calayan Group of Islands and the power of change that would soon might conquer this last ecological frontier of Cagayan.

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