As I rode my little horse onwards to the top of Taal Volcano, it is not hard to be taken by the wonderful scenery around me. It is difficult to remember that I am on one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the Philippines. This island is aptly named Volcano Island. The island is the remnant of a monstrous explosion in the ancient past. It is theorized that the entire area from where Tagaytay now stand once formed one of the worlds largest volcanoes at that time. Huge volcanic eruptions starting from 100,000 years ago eliminated all of the original volcano and left only a massive caldera which is now Taal Lake.
Volcano Island is what remains of that massive volcano and it is still active, just biding its time. Along the way up Volcano Island, my guide, doing his job, pointed out steam emission coming from the ground proving that the volcano was still active. I didn’t expect to get to see these so close so I got off my horse and moved closer to the emissions. The steam was coming out of a small hole in the ground and when I held my hand to the steam it was hot but not scalding. I was also expecting a smell of sulphur in the emission but there was no such smell.
I’m not sure if this counts as a cone but Volcano Island itself is dotted with numerous cones. The hole with the steam emissions would be one of several I would see along the way. Realizing how interesting the walk to the top of the volcano was, I got off my horse and started walking towards the top. As we got higher and higher, the scenery just kept unfolding behind us. Horses carrying tourists would pass me by on the way to the top, but I was in no hurry. My guide just kept moving up the volcano. As I mentioned, there was no way to get lost here.
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