Overview
Quezon National Park is a unique location in the Philippines where one can fully appreciate the grandeur of nature, as it features a wide variety of landscape and terrain that serve as homes to an amazing assortment of plants and animals, some of which cannot be found elsewhere in the world.
Quezon National Park has an area of about 9,830,765 hectares. It has an intricate system of caves, waterfalls, springs, creeks, gorges, and ravines against a quaint backdrop of lush greenery. Local folks say that the park is full of flora and fauna from butterflies to birds and monkeys tugging along their young, while crossing the street. Trees are so tall and huge that the zigzag road is relatively dark. The park is also the site of Pinagbanderahan, a place where the Filipino Revolutionaries planted the Philippine flag in their fight against the Spanish colonizers. It can be reached by walking for about one hour from the road to the top of a ridge.
Attractions of the park
- Mount Mirado
- Flora and Fauna
- Bantakay Falls in Brgy. Sta. Catalina
- Bantakay Caves
- Cueva Santa
- Nilubugan Cave
Activities that can be done in the area
- Trekking
- Bird Watching
- Exploring
Fauna
The park is known for its virgin forest teeming with numerous wildlife, with several only endemic to the Philippines. Some of the animals observed to inhabit the park are monitor lizards, monkeys, deer, wild pig, parrots, doves, pigeon, jungle fowl (manok labuyo), yellow bittern, cinnamon bittern, Buff-banded Rail, Barred Rail, White-browed Crake, Marsh Sandpiper, Long-toed Stint, Swinhoe's Snipe, Striated Grassbird, Rufous Hornbill, Luzon Hornbill, Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon, Guaiabero, Colasisi, Blackish Cuckooshrike, Flaming Sunbird and Flowerpecker.
Protected area
The park was first established as a national park on October 25, 1934 with Proclamation no. 740. The park has a total area of 535.08 hectares (1,322.2 acres) and was named as a Quezon National Park. The park was enlarged to 983 hectares (2,430 acres) with Proclamation no. 594 on August 5, 1940. After the implementation of the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) in 1992, the park was reclassified as a protected landscape. The park was reestablished as Quezon Protected Landscape on June 2, 2003 by Proclamation No. 394, with a smaller area of 938 hectares (2,320 acres).
Historical Part
The highest point of the park at 366 m (1,201 ft) is Mount Mirador. During the Philippine Revolution, the Philippine flag was raised on the mountain signifying the conquer of the region. The American and Japanese flags were also hoisted on the mountain during their colonization, and in 1946 when the Philippine flag was raised there again after the country gained independence. Also called Mount Pinagbanderahan, literally meaning "where the flag was hoisted", the mountain is easily accessible via a stairway, which takes about an hour or so to climb. The summit is a vantage point for viewing nearby mountains like Mount Banahaw, the island provinces of Marinduque or Mindoro and the major towns of Quezon.
Location
The Park is located in Western municipalities of Atimonan, Pagbilao and Padre Burgos.
How to get there
From Manila you can reach Quezon Province by bus your destination.
Here is the list of terminals where you can find buses with trips to Lucena Quezon.
- EDSA-Kamuning
- Cubao
- Buendia-Taft
- EDSA-Pasay
Ride a bus from the stations above to Lucena, Quezon. Get off at the Lucena Grand Terminal. From there, jeepneys are available with trips to the various attractions. Travel time will take around four hours.