Cagua VolcanoCagua Volcano is a Registered Property, Province of Cagayan located at Gonzaga, Cagayan, Region II.
Cagua has a crater diameter of 1.5 kilometers and is classified as a stratovolcano. “A stratovolcano or composite volcano is formed over hundreds or thousands of years through multiple eruptions.” The eruptions build up the composite volcano, layer upon layer until it towers thousands of meters tall. Some layers were formed from lava; others were ash, rock and pyroclastic flows. This means that Cagua which stands at 1,133 meters can still grow taller every after an eruption. The Philippines only has five volcanoes with Permanent Danger Zones (Bulusan, Taal, Mayon, Kanlaon and Hibok-Hibok) and Cagua is not one of them. It has already erupted twice; the first one was in 1860 and the last one was in 1970.
There are 16 species of birds that are either threatened (4 species) or near threatened (12 species). This includes the Flame Breasted Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus marchei), Philippine Hawk Eagle Owl (Bubo philippinensis), Furtive Flycatcher (Ficedula disposita), and Rufus Hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax) locally known as “kalaw”. Among the birds, 14 species are confined only to Luzon Island.
A number of globally threatened, near-threatened and range-restricted species of mammals were also among those recorded. These include the Philippine pygmy fruit bat (Haplonycteris fischeri), Luzon pygmy fruit bat (Otopteropus cartilagonodus), Philippine warty pig (Sus philippinensis)in Figure I.7, Long-tailed macague(Macaca fascicularis), Philippine brown deer (Cervus marianus), Luzon montane forest mouse (Apomis datae), Luzon forest rat (Bullimus luzonicus), and the Northern Luzon Giant Cloud rat (Phloemys pallidus).
Moreover, there are thirty-eight (38) species, amphibians and reptiles, comprised of sixteen (16) species of frogs (including at least six (6) possibly undescribed species), eleven (11) lizards, one (1) turtle and ten (10) species of snake.
Among the economically important flora are Narra, Mayapis, White Lauan, Palusapis, Guijo, Apitong and Tindalo.
The said volcano is now open to the public and tourists who may want to go to the crater. This could be done by trekking for about 3 hours from the drop-off area. You may also experience falls, bird seeing and many more.