Lake Balinsasayao is one of three

crater lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...

s rising above sea level located within the

Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park is a natural park in the Philippines surrounding Lake Balinsasayao and Lake Danao in the province of Negros Oriental, west of Dumaguete. It covers an area of , with heights ranging from . The park is locat ...

, an protected area covering the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Sibulan, and San Jose in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Negros Oriental Negros Oriental ( ceb, Sidlakang Negros; tl, Silangang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Oriental, is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Dumaguete. It occupies the southeaste ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Etymology

The name of Lake Balinsasayao is the Spanish transcription of Cebuano ''balinsasayaw'' meaning "

swiftlet Swiftlets are birds contained within the four genus, genera ''Aerodramus'', ''Hydrochous'', ''Schoutedenapus'' and ''Collocalia''. They form the Collocaliini tribe (biology), tribe within the Swift (bird), swift family Apodidae. The group contain ...

." The name of its "twin", Lake Danao, is derived from Cebuano ''danaw'' meaning "lake."

History

Lake Balinsasayao, Lake Danao, and Lake Kabalin-an are part of Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park, a protected area totaling created on 21 November 2000 by virtue of ''Proclamation No. 414'' signed by former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Joseph Estrada Joseph Ejercito Estrada, (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor. He served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, the 9th vice presi ...

. It lies within the

, Sibulan, and San Jose in the

Geography

The lakes are situated northwest of a narrow mountain ridge, in a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

formed by four mountains: Mount Mahungot to the south, Mount Kalbasan to the north, Mount Balinsasayao to the east and Guintabon Dome to the west. A normal fault separates Lakes Balinsasayao and Danao while and another fault, the Amlan, is about west of Danao. Four geologic faults also intersect the southern edge of Lake Danao, whose water level is lower than that of Balinsasayao.

Flora and fauna

As a protected natural park home to an expansive

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

and

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

, Balinsasayao Twin Lakes National Park is one of the major tourist attractions in

. The lake has a rich fish fauna and the surrounding

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = f ...

forests are rich in bird life. However, invasive fish species such as

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

, common carp,

mudfish Mudfish most commonly refers to all species of ''Neochanna'', native to New Zealand and south-eastern Australia. Mudfish may also refer to: Fish * Bowfin (''Amia calva''), North America * ''Channa'' or snakehead, a genus of predatory fish in Asi ...

, shrimp,

mosquito fish The western Mosquitofish (''Gambusia affinis'') is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its generic name, ''Gambusia'', or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, the east ...

and

milkfish The milkfish (''Chanos chanos'') is the sole living species in the family Chanidae. However, there are at least five extinct genera from the Cretaceous. The repeating scientific name ( tautonym) is from Greek ( ‘mouth’). The species has man ...

have been introduced in the lake.

Tourism

The

Department of Environment and Natural Resources The Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( fil, Kagawaran ng Kapaligiran at Likas na Yaman, DENR or KKLY) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for governing and supervising the exploration, developmen ...

(DENR) through the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) manages tourist activities in the natural park. The bureau allows, sightseeing, mountain trekking, camping, birdwatching, paddle boating in Lake Balinsasayao. The natural park has a concrete view deck, umbrella cottages, a restaurant, a souvenir shop, restrooms, and a visitor center.

Conservation

Conserving the natural park's flora and fauna is a continuing struggle as surrounding forests are exploited for timber and charcoal production. The uncontrolled cutting of timber by

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...

farmers or ''kaingineros'' is reducing the inflow of water to the lakes and causing a fall in water levels. Also, since the lakes are situated near Energy Development Corporation (EDC)'s Southern Negros Geothermal Field in

, the forest surrounding the lakes are under threat from constant geothermal drilling. A co-management plan for geothermal preservation has been drafted by the DENR-PENRO, EDC, and the local governments of

and Sibulan.

References

External links

*
Presidential Proclamation No. 414, s. of 2000

The Twin Lakes of Negros

Protected Areas of the Philippines
{{Lakes of the Philippines Balinsasayao Balinsasayao Landforms of Negros Oriental Tourist attractions in Negros Oriental