Living proof that the city of Canlaon has many things to offer outside the popular volcano is the Balete Tree in barangay Lumabao which has become the city’s main tourist attraction.
At over 1,328 years old as estimated by botanists at the Silliman University, Canlaon’s balete is the oldest recorded tree in the whole island, with hundreds of fireflies lighting it up at nights all year round.
It stands in the middle of rice and coffee plantations at the OISCA farm and would take 42 grown men to encircle its trunk with their hands outstretched. The tree serves as an ecosystem in itself for bats, lizards and insects.
Philippine folklore often tag balete trees as mysterious and enchanted by spirit dwellers, and this one is no exception.
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