Qualla: Central Panay Mountain Range

Central Panay Mountain Range: Introduction

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Iloilo Wanderer, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every river on Panay Island begins in the same place. The Panay River, 169 kilometers long and the island's greatest watercourse, starts in these mountains. So does the Jalaur at 141 kilometers, the Aklan at 97, and dozens of others that branch through four provinces before reaching the sea. The Central Panay Mountain Range is the hydrological engine of western Visayas -- a north-south wall of peaks stretching from the vicinity of Ibajay in Aklan to the southern tip of Antique near Anini-y. At its summit, Mount Madja-as rises to 2,117 meters, the highest point on the island. Below the mossy forests and cloud cover, a world of waterfalls, rice terraces, caves, and endangered species unfolds across terrain that most visitors to the Philippines never see.

Image: Iloilo Wanderer | CC BY-SA 4.0

Central Panay Mountain Range: A Mountain for Every Province

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sibylle Dreyer, Public domain. The range occupies the eastern portions of Antique, western Iloilo, western Capiz, and western Aklan -- effectively claiming territory in every province on the island. Mount Madja-as anchors the system at 2,117 meters, followed by Mount Nangtud at 2,074 meters and E.B.J Peak at 1...

Image: Sibylle Dreyer | Public domain

Central Panay Mountain Range: The Terraces Time Built

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peter Martin, CC BY 2.0. Tucked into the mountain slopes are clusters of rice terraces -- the largest and oldest in the Visayas. The Antique Rice Terraces, as they are collectively known, include systems at San Remigio, Laua-an, Tibiao, Valderrama, and Barbaza, among others. Unlike the famous Banaue terr...

Image: Peter Martin | CC BY 2.0

Central Panay Mountain Range: Where Giant Flowers Bloom

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bernardo Arellano III, CC BY 3.0. The forests of the Central Panay Mountain Range harbor species found nowhere else on Earth. Most dramatic among them is Rafflesia speciosa, a globally endangered parasitic flower that produces blooms up to 80 centimeters across -- one of the largest flowers in the world. It has n...

Image: Bernardo Arellano III | CC BY 3.0

Central Panay Mountain Range: Water Falling Everywhere

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rodel L. Bartolome Jr., CC BY-SA 4.0. The mountain range hosts an extraordinary concentration of waterfalls, with over forty named cascades scattered across its drainages. Tarugan Falls and Nadsadjan Falls in Igbaras, Bugtong Bato Falls in Tibiao, Bolinao Falls in Valderrama -- the list reads like a catalog of gravit...

Image: Rodel L. Bartolome Jr. | CC BY-SA 4.0