English: Traditional stilt houses with pyramid-shaped thatched roofs in the village of Bangaan (pronounced ‘bahn-GAH-ahn’) at the base of rice terraces. The area under the house is the living area while the house itself is used for sleeping and to store rice in the attic. The ladder is kept off the ground when not in use in order to keep rats from getting to the rice.

For two thousand years, the Ifugao ethnic group has created rice terraces on the steep slopes of the Cordillera Central mountain range in the north-central part of the northern island of Luzon. (Manila is in southern Luzon.) Communal effort is required to build and maintain the stone or earthwork walls that form terraced pond fields. They are fed by intricate irrigation systems which harness water from the forests of the mountain tops. Individual terraces are privately owned, however, in accordance with tribal law and ancestral rights. Pest control is natural using various herbs in conjunction with religious rituals. The rice is used to feed the community, not to sell.

The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

On Google Earth:

Bangaan 16°54'38.52"N, 121° 7'34.96"