WEATHER: Hot and 31C
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing the tiny Tarsier-they were SO
cute
BUMMER OF THE DAY: It was the longest day tour EVER=15.5
hours
WORD OF THE DAY: Prony the Python
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 90km
I had a full day tour to Bohol today and it better be
worth it with a 4am pick-up. I had the
agency in Manila phone me yesterday on the phone they gave me, to reconfirm
that they had reconfirmed with the tour company in Cebu the pickup time and
checked that everything was okay. It is
a nice touch and nice to know that they have the finger on the pulse. So with the alarm going off at 3.30am-I
showered and changed and was in the lobby at 3.55am. I checked with reception about my take away
breakfast, which was on its way up and I sat and waited for my transfer….and
waited…..and waited…and waited…. It was
4.30am and I was about to get reception to make a call for me when my guy
walked in through the door. I couldn’t
hold my tongue and said that he was supposed to be here at 4am and he said no,
4.30am and when we got into the van he showed me his piece of paper that said
4.30am. Well my piece of paper says 4am,
but I am not going to shoot the messenger, it’s not like he was late, he was
just told a different time. Well the
comedy of errors continued when we arrived at the port 10 minutes later, making
it 4.40am for a 6am ferry departure. I
really don’t think I needed to be collected from the hotel till at least 5am if
not a little later, so I now had 1 hour and 20 minutes to sit at the ferry
terminal. I was dropped at the front
gate (car wasn’t allowed in) and then was told I would be picked up at 8pm
tonight. Ummmm where do I go, is the piece of paper with my confirmation all I
need? I am lucky that I am a switched on
traveler and I am not afraid to ask people for directions. So I made my way to the first ‘official’
ticket window I could see which was across the carpark and into the building
and didn’t I feel like a dorky tourist with my ‘take away’ breakfast box in one
hand a lost look on my face. But I asked,
and was told to keep going through to the next room. I felt a little wary, it was a working dock,
it wasn’t well lit and there were a few characters floating around. So I followed the directions to another desk
further in and they pointed me to the check-in counter that wasn’t even OPEN
yet, that’s how early I was! I only had
to wait till 5am and the counter opened and I stood in line and got my boarding
pass and followed the crowds into the waiting room. I used this opportunity to get rid of my
stupid breakfast box but I do have to say it’s the best one I have ever had,
ever. There was a can of pineapple juice
in there, a bottle of water, scrambled eggs, 2 sausages, 2 pastries and some
rice. Now THAT is a breakfast
box!!!
The ferry started boarding at 5.40am. I was in no rush as we had seat numbers
allocated to us, but I could see a sign that said Tagbilaran, so I knew I was
getting on the right ferry. The gang
plank down to the boat was so steep that I nearly needed some help getting
down, but I made it and as my seat was near the door, I could see that just
about everyone needed help getting down that thing. My seat was in the first row where everyone
had to walk to get to their seats and I was in the middle of the boat-no
window. So when the doors closed for
departure, it wasn’t a full ferry so I moved to a seat that had a window, it
had less leg room and after I had squeezed in the window had been tinted, oh I
rekon around 50 years ago and then people have tried to pick some of it off and
you officially couldn’t see too much out of the damn thing. Oh well, I couldn’t take pictures, but I
could see a little. As it worked out
pretty much the second I put in my earphones, I fell asleep with the slight
rock of the boat and woke up 20 minutes before arriving in Bohol. That was a great way to kill 2 hours!!! We arrived into Bohol at 8.30am and my guide
was waiting there for me with my name on a sign. So I have a diver today Mark and my guides
name is Deboy. I’m not sure what it is,
but the second we got to the car, Deboy was firing questions at me, and I just
don’t like it. Our first stop was at the
Sandugo Monument. The Sandugo was a blood compact,
performed in the island of Bohol between the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatunathe
chieftain of Bohol on March 16, 1565, to seal their friendship as part of the
tribal tradition. This is considered as the first treaty of friendship between the Spaniards
and Filipinos. "Sandugo" is a Visayan word which means "one
blood". The Sandugo is depicted in both the provincial
flag and the official seal of the government in Bohol. It also features the image of the blood
compact. The top of the seal explains the history behind the Sandugo event that occurred in Bohol, the
fleet and the location where the Spaniards anchored and the place where the
treaty was conducted which was dated on March 16, 1565.
We then drove for 20 minutes and stopped at the Church of
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Baclayon. It is
considered to be one of the oldest churches in the Philippines.
It is also one of the best persevered Jesuit build churches in the region; although
in the 19th century, the Augustinian Recollects added a modern facade and a number of
stone buildings that now surround the church. The first Spanish missionaries or
doctrineros in the region, Fr. Juan de Torres and Fr. Gabriel Sanchez, first
settled in Baclayon in 1595. Shortly after their arrival, a visita was erected
on the spot. Although Baclayon was the first seat of the Spanish Jesuit missionaries,
fear of Moro mauraders soon forced them to move their headquarters more inland,
to Loboc.
Only in 1717, Baclayon became a parish, and construction of a new church
commenced. Some 200 native forced laborers constructed the church from coral
stones, which they took from the sea, cut into square blocks, and piled on to
each other. They used bamboo to move and lift the stones in position, and used
the white of a million eggs as to cement them together. The current building
was completed in 1727. The church obtained a large bell in 1835. In the
Baclayon church is a dungeon, which was used to punish natives who violated the
rules of the Roman Catholic Church. We
visited the museum next to the church which was the old convent and now houses
a small museum with centuries-old religious relics, artifacts and other
antiquities, dating back to the 16th century. Included in the collection are an
ivory statue of the crucified Christ looking towards heaven; a statue of the
Blessed Virgin, said to be presented by Queen Catherine of Aragon; relics of
St. Ignatius of Loyola, old gold embroidered ecclesiastical vestments, books
with carabao skin covers, and librettos of church music written in Latin on sheep
skins. Here you can also find the cuadro paintings made by the Filipino painter
Liberato Gatchalian in 1859. It was
pretty interesting, and trust me I have seen some churches in my travels.
The highlight of the day for me was a visit to see the
Philippine Tarsier. It is an endangered species of tarsier endemic to the Philippines. It is found in the southeastern part of the
archipelago, particularly in the islands of Bohol, Samar,Leyte and Mindanao. We visited the Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella. Despite the protection status of the
Philippine tarsier, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has
granted special limited permits for this display of the Philippine tarsier in
Loboc. Here, tourists can see the Philippine tarsier up close and personal and
take pictures, but are not allowed to touch them as they live in their natural
environment. There are 10 Tarsiers they
have at the moment, they are free to come and go as they please even though
there is a fence surrounding the ‘compound’ as such.
It is a
member of the approximately 45 million year old family Tarsiidae. Its elongated "tarsus," or ankle bone, which
gives the tarsier its name, allows it to jump at least three meters from tree
to tree without having to touch the ground.
The Philippine tarsier is not a large animal; it measures only about 85
to 160 millimeters in height, making it one of the smallest primates. The
mass for males is between 80–160 g usually lighter for females. The average adult is about the size of a
human fist and will fit very comfortably in the human hand. In comparison with his body size, the eyes of
the tarsier are enormous. In volume, the capacity of the bony eye orbits, or
eye sockets, is larger than that of the brain case, and also larger than its
stomach. The eyes are disproportionately large, having the largest eye-to-body
size ratio of all mammals. These huge eyes provide this nocturnal animal with
excellent night vision.
The
Philippine tarsier's habitat includes tropical rainforest with dense vegetation and trees that offer it protection like tall grasses, bushes and bamboo shoots. It prefers dense, low-level
vegetation in secondary forests, with perching sites averaging 2 meters above
the ground. Early studies showed that
the Philippine tarsier has a home range of 1 to 2 hectares, but more recent research shows that
home ranges averaged 6.45 hectares for males and 2.45 hectares for females
allowing for a density of 16 male and 41 female tarsiers per 100 ha. Research findings also show that while both
male and female tarsiers are solitary animals, they cross each other's paths
under the cover of nightfall as they hunt for prey. They travel up to one and a
half kilometers across the forest and the optimal area is more than six
hectares. The Philippine tarsier is amberous. Primarily insectivorous,
its diet consists of live insects and it has also been observed to feed on
spiders, small crustaceans, and small vertebrates such as small lizards and
birds. The Philippine tarsier is
a shy nocturnal animal that leads a mostly hidden
life, asleep during the day and only active to look for food during the night.
During the day, it sleeps in dark hollows close to the ground, near the trunks
of trees and shrubs deep in the impenetrable bushes and forests. They only
become active at night, and even then, with their much better sight and amazing
ability to maneuver around trees, are very well able to avoid humans. It is arboreal and is a vertical clinger and leaper, habitually clinging vertically to
trees and is capable of leaping from branch to branch.
The
Philippine Tarsier is solitary. However, it is found to have either
monogamous or polygamous mating system where for one night they will meet to
mate and then they go their separate ways again for another 12 months. The Philippine tarsier's pregnancy or gestation period lasts about 6 months. Mating season
begins in April to May. The female gives
birth to one offspring per gestation. The infant is born with a lot of hair and
born with its eyes open. The females carry their infants in their mouth. A new
born can already cling to branches and in less than a month after birth, it can
start leaping. The
Philippine tarsier reproduces poorly in captivity. There is no known negative impact of the
Philippine tarsier on humans, just as long as it is in its native environment.
However, when kept as pets, there is a possibility that the species may spread
worms and other parasites to their human owners. Tarsiers used to be kept as pets or sold for
trade, although their survival in captivity is erratic due to their need for
live insects upon which to feed. The tarsier
does not do well in captivity. Its life expectancy is shortened from anywhere
from 2 years (if taken from the wild) to 12 years, as compared to the 24 years
the tarsier can live to in the wild. The tarsier can develop sore eyes, which
is an indication of a poor diet. Also the lighting usually used in captivity
can cause long lasting damage to the eyes.
Another reason why the tarsier does not do well in captivity is its
tendency to “commit suicide”. Because the tarsier can be described as shy and
nervous many activities associated with captivity (such as camera flashes,
being touched and being in an enclosure) stress the Philippine Tarsier. This
leads to the tarsier hitting its head against “objects” which kills it because
of the thin skull.
For the
past 45 million years, tarsiers have inhabited rainforests around the world,
but now they only exist on a few islands in the Philippines, Borneo and
Indonesia. In Bohol, the
Philippine tarsier was a common sight in the southern part of the island until the
1960s. Since then, the number has dwindled to as few as an estimated 1000 still
left in the wild. Once protected by the
humid rainforests and mist-shrouded hills, these mysterious primates struggle
to survive as their home is cleared for crop growing. Due to the quickly growing human population, which causes
more and more forests to be converted to farmland, housing areas and roads, the
place where the Philippine tarsier can live its secluded life is disappearing.
So when we arrived there was a guide that was to take us
around the one-hectare netted enclosure that is the home of ten tarsiers. These
tarsiers are for both public viewing and study. The tarsiers are free to leave
the enclosure to hunt and roam within the larger area of the Sanctuary. The great thing for us is they must track the
little fellas each morning so when the visitors come they know exactly where to
take us to observe these little guys. It
was like when we trekked with the gorillas in Rwanda, but on a smaller scale. So it didn’t take long for us to walk along a
dry mud path, through a few tree fronds and there was our first little
tarsier. They were so cute and at first
look with his eyes open he looked like a little Gremlin and then when they got sleepy
and started to close his eyes he looked like Yoda from Star Wars. I was literally standing 1.5m away from him
and he was not worried at scared or skittish at all with our presence. He heard a noise of some sort (not from us)
and I got a first-hand view of his head doing the 180 degree turn, with his big
boogly eyes looking around. Seriously
you just want to reach and touch them, if though you never would ever. We then moved onto a female tarsier and her
baby and there wasn’t much size difference between them and then we saw one
more male tarsier further in the sanctuary, so we didn’t do too bad seeing 4
out of the 10 possibilities. Really,
during the day they are so adorable.
Once we were out of the netted enclosure, I watched a 10 minute video on
the critter and at night time when they are roaming looking for food they are a
lot scarier than what they are during the day!
They are starting to sound more and more like Gremlins. But what a highlight and I wasn’t disappointed.
I think we may have been ahead of schedule as Mark has
been driving like Miss Daisy all morning and after the video Deboy asked if I
wanted to get on a ferry that left at 4.20pm rather than the 6pm ferry. With the journey time of 2.5 hours and I
still get to do the whole itinerary it was a resounding yes please. I think it goes to show how much faff time
they add to itineraries and generally by nature I am not a faffer. Our next stop before lunch was the Bohol Butterfly
Sanctuary. The great thing about this tour so far was every time we stopped
there was a local guide to take me around and explain things, it is nice to see
that the love is being shared and that me visiting is helping more than one person
and keeping people employed. So I got a
local ‘crew’ member from the sanctuary that not only showed me butterflies but they
also gave a lecture on how butterflies are being formed (metamorphosis), how
long do they live, difference between moth and
butterfly, difference between male and female butterflies and
many more information regarding butterflies. I have been to butterfly houses before, but
this one was done exceptionally well and I got to hold a real caterpillar and I
also got to hold the largest caterpillar that turns into the largest moth in
the world aka the Atlas Moth. I was so…yik
and ah and yick and ah but I held that massive green thing in my hand and then
for good measure she put another one on there!!
Why not they must have been 10cm long and as round as a fat
sausage. It was disgusting but cool all at
the same time. I then got to see some
butterflies that had just hatched out of their cocoons that morning. COOL.
From here we walked into the netted enclosure and here we found several
kinds of butterflies of different sizes and colors. As the butterflies have
been born in captivity they are pretty social things and didn’t mind getting
picked up and put in my hair for a photo and then popped on the face for good
measure and then on the shirt. They didn’t
try and flap away or anything. It was
amazing and THAT has never been done before.
About one-third of the 915 butterflies found in the Philippines are
endemic to the country. One of the
largest butterflies in the world and the largest in the Philippines, the Magellan Birdwing can be found here. The largest moth,
the Atlas moth,
can be found in the Philippines as well.
My ‘crew’ lady asked why I was travelling on my own and firstly I
thought what was the short answer to that and it was a very good question. It was a great stop and now it was time for
lunch.
Lunch was to be spent on a floating restaurant that
departs from the town of Loboc. We boarded the boat at 11.30am and our buffet
lunch was ready to be served. There were
several other groups on board and I was wondering where I would get seated and
I had a table to myself as my guide sat with the other guides for lunch. I was fine with this, but there were times
that he would see me taking a self -take photo and wouldn’t even offer to take
a photo, which I thought was poor form and there were several times through the
morning that he was on his mobile phone while I was waiting. That makes me mad. But the cruise was relaxing; the colour of
the water was a beautiful ‘Tiffany’ blue.
There were around another 5-7 floating restaurants on the water, but
they seemed to time them all that they didn’t all leave at the same time. We departed at 12 noon for the 1 hour cruise
down to the Busay Falls and back again. The
floor of the boat was made from bamboo and if you had something fine, like a
chain or a credit card it would have slipped through the cracks between the
bamboo sticks. I was wondering how much
weight you could put on them with me walking around taking photos? I decided to not risk it and walked on the
cross struts when I could. Imagine if I
feel through- now that would be embarrassing.
We had live music in the form of a guy singing with an electric guitar
and he was good, good enough to pass the time.
It was pure magic, the tall coconut trees over hanging the wide Loboc
River. Half way down the river we
stopped to see some local dancing and music of about 20 people, we tipped them
and then we turned around at the falls and then made our way back. It is so lush and green here and it was a great
way to spend lunch.
There were 2 more stops of the day before I had to get
back to the ferry terminal. Once was on
the itinerary and the other was an extra if I was interested in stopping off to
see the biggest python in captivity.
Deboy was making out that I would be holding the damn thing, and he told
me I have to face my fears, so I said okay we could stop to have a look at the
python on the way back to port. But I
could put that off a little longer as out next stop was The Chocolate Hills. They are an
unusual geological formation in Bohol. There
are at least 1,260 hills but there may be as many as 1,776 hills spread over an
area of more than 50 square kilometers. They
are covered in green grass that turns brown (like chocolate) during the dry season, hence the name. I was there in the wet season, so they were
beautiful and green, so it was hard to picture them brown, but what an amazing
sight all the same. They are featured in
the provincial flag and seal to symbolize the abundance of natural
attractions in the province. They
are in the Philippine Tourism Authority's list of tourist destinations in the
Philippines and they have been declared the country's third National Geological
Monument and proposed for inclusion in the UNESCO
World Heritage List. The
Chocolate Hills form a rolling terrain of haycock hills – mounds of a
generally conical and almost symmetrical shape.
Estimated to be from 1,268 to about 1,776 individual mounds, these
cone-shaped or dome-shaped hills are actually made of grass covered limestone. The domes vary in sizes from 30 to 50 meters high with
the largest being 120 meters in height. These unique mound-shaped hills are
scattered by the hundreds throughout the towns of Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan. During the
dry season, the grass-covered hills dry up and turn chocolate brown. This
transforms the area into seemingly endless rows of "chocolate kisses". The branded confection is the inspiration behind
the name, Chocolate Hills.
There is a government owned
viewing station located in Carmen called the "Chocolate Hills
Complex". The Complex has a restaurant, hotel with
swimming pool and an observation deck.
This is where we climbed to the top to get a magnificent view of the
hills. The deck is 64m above the ground
and there were a total of 214 steps leading to the observation or view
deck. Deboy warned me prior to getting
here there were 214 steps and I had to conceal a laugh. Yeah I may not look fit pal but that will be
a walk in the park after my 1200 step at Sigiriya or the 22km I walked through
tea plantations, so 214 steps are nothing AND once we started the climb, it was
him puffing more than me-HA I say. Ha.
Once at the top we could view the landscape that was covered with more
than a thousand Chocolate Hills that offered a 360-degree panorama of the
surrounding area. It was magic up here,
my only concern was there seemed to be a storm brewing which adds colour and
definition to photos but there was some lightning that started to flash across
the sky and with a large antenna on the same hill as us, it was time for us to
move on back down to some safety.
Seriously the strikes were really not that far away from us and I am
glad that Deboy was holding the umbrella, not up of course but less metal for
me to carry the better I say!
So it was time for the 45 minute
drive back to town with a stop at the Reptile Park. I was seriously worried I was going to hold
this snake, like Pops did when we were at Sigiriya, but then when I saw the
python in the 3mx10m cage I knew that I wasn’t here to life the thing. My first reaction was NO WAY. This snake was MASSIVE. Seriously it was HUGE and the plan was to get
in the cage with it. The python’s name
is Prony. She is a female and is reputed
to have one of the longest 10m and heaviest 300 kg python in captivity. Prony is known to be the biggest python in
captivity ever. Named after its captor, the
python has caught the attention of many local and foreign tourists, not only
for its size but particularly on how it has been fed. Feeding is done during
full moon, so thank goodness I was there during the middle of the
month!!!! Anyway the plan was for me to
get in the large cage; it was the size of a small room and gets my photo taken
with her. She was all coiled up with her
massive head resting on herself in the middle of the coil. I was actually terrified and Deboy had to go
in first and stood next to her and she didn’t move an inch. I said I am not sure I could go in, and the
handler and Deboy both egging me on, telling me to conquer my own fear, I
decided they were right and I stood next to her, but behind her head so that
she couldn’t see me. Deboy had my camera
and told me to kneel down next to her, so I went on my knees, he took the
picture and then I was out of there.
We got back to the ferry terminal at 3.45pm. Deboy made sure I got my newly changed ticket
ok and walked me to the departures hall.
I had tipped Mark before I left the car and even though I wasn’t totally
happy with Deboy, the good in me tipped him the whole amount. So our ferry was supposed to leave at 4.20pm,
but was late in arriving in so I had some more time in the departure lounge. There were plenty of seats to choose from and
the chairs looked like they belonged next to a pool or on a beach, they
literally looked like sun chairs. At
least they were comfortable. I still hadn’t
seen many western tourists and even looking around the hall, there would have
been a handful out of the 200 people. I
knew I wasn’t going to get back to the hotel till about 7.30pm, so I bought
some siomai (small dumplings) and a bak pau (Indonesian) - pork in a dough type
thing and they are delicious. This would
do me for dinner and I could have a great big breakfast tomorrow morning. So we finally bordered the ferry at 4.45pm
and no flies on the ferry guys, once everyone was on board they closed up and
we were on our way. This ferry was just
about full and I was lucky that this time I was allocated a window AND we were
on a new ferry. There was a flat screen
TV, air vents and it was all shiny and new.
I couldn’t sleep, even though I had been up now for 14 hours. So I read my book, played solitaire and listened
to some tunes. It was a smooth ride and
when we got back to Cebu my morning’s driver was there with a sign with my name
and 30 minutes later I was back at the hotel.
I was knackered. It was a massive
day, it was good as it kept me busy and after trying to complete another blog
before bed, I just had to give up and turn in for the night. I have a free day tomorrow and I plan on
doing nothing, as the last 5 days have been insane and it will be nice to not
be somewhere for the day-oh besides breakfast, but I have until 10am to get
there.
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