NAGSASA (NAZASA) COVE, SAN ANTONIO ZAMBALES
Rainforest Aetas and rocky beaches
In the 1980s, the mountain slopes around Nagsasa Cove were covered with tropical rainforest and inhabited by Aeta people, as they were for hundreds of years. The shoreline was mostly rocky, with short patches of beach here and there. Some distance beyond the shore (as indicated in old maps of the cove) was a rich coral reef, prolific with all kinds of fish and marine life. There was logging, but not on a large scale. Hard assemblage struggled to survive on the slopes: low-growing wiry grasses, sparse clumps of tall grasses and Japanese bamboo, and isolated trees that lined up in thin galleries along the upper gullies.
Aeta families strive to make a living Aeta families came down to the Nagsasa valley and coast, eking out new livelihoods when their mountain forest was no more. They gathered and sold charcoal of which there was plenty—whatever remained of their old forest. Others became piece-rate reforestation laborers, paid by the DENR for each narra, mahogany, or dagang tree they planted. Some of them fished along the shore with homemade spears. Others made bamboo handicrafts to be sold as souvenirs to tourists.
Casuarina trees …show more content…
Most travelogues talk of the mysterious appearance and prolific growth of pine trees along the whole stretch of the Anawangin and Nagsasa beaches after the Pinatubo eruption.
They are not real pine trees, but agojo of the Casuarina family. Agojo is strikingly similar to pine, especially in the needle-like leaves. But it is a flowering tree and a hardwood, while pine is a conifer and softwood. Agojo and many other Casuarina species thrive in seashore conditions – poor soils, brackish water, strong winds. They reproduce fast and are now considered invasive species in some countries. These agojo traits probably explain the “pine trees that suddenly appeared” in Nagsasa and other nearby
coves.
TOPOGRAPHIC MAP
References: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/258541/lifestyle/travel/the-secrets-of-nagsasa-cove http://ialman.livejournal.com/187682.html
http://biyaherongbarat.com/2013/05/13/nagsasa-cove-zambales-first-step-towards-the-unkown/