Davao is the gateway to the southern Philippines, a hub of
commerce, industry and transportation (sea and air) in the southern
Mindanao region. Although as an urban metropolis Davao has little
to recommend it, the attraction of the city is its accessibility to
a beautiful surrounding rural landscape of hills and fertile
valleys, dominated by the massive 9,692ft (2,954m) Mount Apo, a
dormant volcano that is the Philippine's highest mountain peak.
Among the valleys live the ancestral tribes of the Philippines,
like the Bagobo, Manobo, Mandaya and Bilaan, with their rich and
colourful cultural heritage, ethnic art and handcrafts.
Davao is centre of the Philippines fruit and flower-growing
region, and an annual festival (the Kadawayan Festival) is held in
August to celebrate the bounty of the fields and the different
tribal cultures. The region is also home to the endangered
Philippine Eagle, and the rare Vanda Sanderiana orchid. Like the
rest of the Philippines, of course, the Mindanao region and its
many islands also offer thousands of tropical beaches and dive
sites, most accessible only by the most intrepid of adventure
travellers.
