Mount Apo is a potentially active volcano located on the island of Mindanao, 40 kilometres northeast of Davao City. The word "apo" in the local language means "ancestor". It is the highest point of the island and the entire country at 2954 metres. Geologically, the volcano consists of the ancient crater Pettil McKinley crater and the young Apo stratovolcano. In its 500 metre diameter crater is a small lake. The date of Apo's last eruption is unknown.
Today, the volcano is one of the most popular destinations for rock climbers and mountaineers - the easiest way to the summit takes about 2 days, the most difficult - from 7 to 9 days. And the first conqueror of Apo was Joaquin Rahal, the Spanish Governor of Davao, who climbed the mountain on 10 October 1880. On the way to the the summit, tourists will pass Lake Venado, one of the highest lakes in the country, an ancient crater and solfataras - fumaroles from which sulphur gases burst out.
The entire mountain is included in Mount Apo National Park, where on an area of 55 thousand hectares can be found evergreen dipterocarp forests with rare and endemic plant species. The park was created in 1936, and in 2004 two buffer zones with an area of 2.5 and 6.5 thousand hectares were included in it. In 2009, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources applied to include Mount Apo Park as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site as a center of endemism in Mindanao. In the park, three characteristic forest formations can be distinguished - floodplain tropical rain forest, mid-mountain forest and high-mountain forest, each of which differs in species composition. Birds alone Mount Apo is home to 272 species of birds, 111 of which are endemic. Here you can also meet the largest eagle in the world - the Philippine eagle, which is considered the national symbol of the Philippines.
