Philippines

To be honest, I nearly didn't bother. The night before my foray into the uplands of Luzon, the second-largest island in the Philippines, I stop over in a village at the foot of the Cordillera Central ranges. I'm the guest of an old friend, who's just built a bungalow in this forest clearing with the money she earned working as a housemaid abroad. Amid the shacks, it stands out like a sore thumb - as do I; this is a place that doesn't see many visitors. A crowd that wouldn't disgrace a second-division football match surrounds me as I outline my idea.

The plan, I tell them, is to head for the remote tribal heartlands and meet a few of the 6.5 million people from 40 indigenous groups that still follow a traditional lifestyle on this archipelago of 7,107 islands. This is the cue for the curiosity on the faces of my hosts to cloud into concern. No, they haven't actually been to these places, but still... don't I realise the natives are "uncivilised"? Aren't I worried about getting kidnapped? Haven't I heard about the headhunters?

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