NatGeo names Philippines' pink beach as one of world's best

IMAGE Aya Soria

(SPOT.ph) The Philippines' claim-to-fame is not only its white sand beaches. Believe it or not, our archipelago's coast has other colors too—from golden yellow to black, and even pink! This colored sand variety can be found in Great Santa Cruz Island off the southern coast of Zamboanga. It's most pink when seen via aerial view or from afar. This light reddish hue comes from crushed red corals (a.k.a. organ pipe corals) that blend with the white sand.

IMAGE Rojae Braga via National Geographic

With this amazing feature, National Geographic—an international magazine known for its topics on geography, history, and world culture—cited the Pink Beach of Zamboanga as one of the "21 Best Beaches in the World" in an article published on January 18. Other natural wonders that made it to the list are Playa del Amor in Mexico, which has an impressive rock ring formation; Shell Beach in Western Australia, which has countless white cockleshells; and Reynisfjara Beach in Iceland, which has ink black sand.

To get to Great Santa Cruz Island, you have to book a flight from Manila to Zamboanga City. From the airport, go to the City Tourism Office in Paseo del Mar, which is a seafront parkway along the city's shoreline. Charter a boat going to the island. Boat fee is at P1,000 plus an entrance fee of P100 and terminal fee of P5.