REMAINS TO BE SEEN
You can go. You can’t. They’re open. They’re closed. You just need a negative PCR. You’ll have to quarantine on arrival in a hotel of the government’s choosing ... For a while there, keeping up with international border policies for leisure travel, especially after Omicron, felt a bit like The Amazing Race and Red Light, Green Light from Squid Game had a baby.
South Africans and our neighbours could all rightfully have a case of whiplash, as countries from the US to the UK, from Mauritius to the Seychelles, have opened, then closed, then opened again.
Late last month, the World Health Organisation called for global travel restrictions to be lifted or eased, saying they are economically damaging and “don’t provide added value” in the fight against Covid-19.
The UN’s World Tourism Organisation agreed, saying what our President Cyril Ramaphosa said back in 2021: travel bans are ineffective in stopping the spread.
And so, happy days again, the opening trend continues with places from Bali to Thailand, from Zimbabwe to Scotland, lightening up on their entry rules.
Denmark is now open to vaccinated or recovered SA travellers, and SA is also among 150 no-visa-required countries whose nationals can from this week head for the Philippines. For the first time in almost two years, the southeast-Asian nation, made up of roughly 7,000 islands and islets in the western Pacific, will from February 10 accept vaccinated visitors who have also tested negative before arrival, without making them quarantine in government-designated centres.
Pictured here is one of the archipelago’s unique attractions: a scene from a town in the northern Mountain Province on Luzon island, about 415km from Manila. Tucked in the Cordillera mountains and almost always shrouded in mist, the town is beloved for its mountain valleys, rice fields, caves, waterfalls and for retaining much of its indigenous culture.
Its famous Hanging Coffins stem from a tradition of the local Igorot tribe, who for 2,000 years have buried their most revered members of society not in the ground but in coffins nailed to cliff faces or cave walls. Though it’s dying out in modern times, the tradition stems from a belief that placing the bodies high up brings them closer to their ancestral spirits.
They are also placed under overhangs to protect them from the elements.
Eventually the coffins deteriorate and fall from their precarious positions, though some are said to be well over a century old.
To stand a chance of winning R500, tell us the name of the town on Luzon island where you will find the Hanging Coffins. E-mail your answer to travelquiz@sundaytimes.co.za before noon on Tuesday, February 8. Last week’s winner is Renee Carlson. The correct answer was Knysna.