The latest reason to visit Masungi Georeserve? A snail the size of an ant

Filled with well-designed rope structures and hiking pathways, Masungi Georeserve rewards you with a panoramic view of Rizal province’s unique rock formations, vast caves and lush forests.

And it is here, in a nature park an hour-and-a-half’s drive away from Metro Manila, that the Hypselostoma latispira masungiensis was recently discovered.

Barely visible to the untrained eye, the new subspecies of microsnail measures about 5mm, or the size of a worker ant.

It was first spotted in 2017 by scientists from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños.

Harold Lipae, Angelique Estabillo, Ian Kendrich Fontanilla and Emmanuel Ryan de Chavez had initially thought it belonged to the same species as the microsnails found in Baguio City.

But they recently determined that the Masungi snail is bigger and has five apertural teeth inside its shell, compared to its Baguio cousin, which has four.

The Masungi microsnail can be found attached to the park’s limestone boulders, feeding on lichens and other vegetation, and you could probably encounter it when you take a hike around the park.

The park formally reopened on November 25, coinciding with the launch of a new feature, the Legacy Trail, for hikers who wants to immerse themselves into forest conservation activities.

Guests are required to pre-book their reservations at the park’s website and groups will be limited to five to eight persons to observe minimum health protocols, reports Philippine News Agency.

“The Masungi Georeserve Foundation also allotted pre-designated, spaced-out areas at the end of the trail to allow a safe dining experience for guests,” it said.

According to the report, for eight months since the pandemic lockdowns, Masungi Georeserve did not layoff any of its local employees, most of whom are from the Dumagat tribe.

“With almost eight months of zero tourism activity, the foundation had to spend around PHP2 million a month from its resources to maintain the conservation efforts and sustain its almost 100 workers and park rangers,” it said.

On January 25, 2021, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation and partners’ efforts to protect and restore the Upper Marikina Watershed from large-scale threats such as quarrying, land trafficking, and timber poaching won first place at the inaugural Water ChangeMaker Awards, out of 350 nominees worldwide.

The prestigious award was presented at the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 headlined by Bill Gates, Pope Francis, Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau, Joko Widodo, and other world leaders.

“Our winner is a youth-led movement from the Philippines, the Masungi Georeserve story, an inspiring campaign for watershed restoration and reforestation led by the next generation of water changemakers,” Global Water Partnership Chair Howard Bamsey announced at the Water Anchoring Event of the Climate Adaptation Summit on January 25, 2021.

“It is heartening to see the youthful idealism, hard work, and unwavering bravery of our team recognized especially through a most challenging time. Masungi and our restoration projects are under threat by destructive interests. It is a battle between conservation or extraction, between restoration or the plunder of our forests, and between the future we want and the future we are being forced to accept.,” Ann Dumaliang, project manager at the Masungi Georeserve Foundation, says.

“We continue to urge our leaders to make the right decisions for the Filipino people. We also continue to engage and dialogue with different sectors, governments, local communities, and indigenous groups to join this movement and make a stand,” she adds.