Green Chocolate Hills and Tiny Tarsiers

The boat trip to Tagbilaran, the capital of Bohol, was smooth and uneventful - apart from the aforementioned noisy rooster. Our hotel was a short tricycle ride away from the wharf and check-in was not a problem even though we were a day late. At least it meant that our room was ready and waiting even though it was only about 10:30am.

We had a crack at modifying our online booking for this motel before checking with reception about booking activities we were interested in. Through her we were able to book a place on an evening tour to see fireflies at Cortes a little north of town. She also assisted us in the bold move to hire a car tomorrow to take in the Tasier Sanctuary and the Chocolate Hills, and whatever else takes our fancy along the way.

Tagbilaran Cathedral all decked out for a wedding

By then it was time to look around the town and find some lunch. Apart from scoring some lunch we established that the information office is no longer where the Lonely Planet Guide said it was and the office for the kayak tours also mentioned in the guide had either been in what was now an office to let or the building site next door. No matter. We had a quick look at the Cathedral which was all decked out in flowers for the wedding that was evidently about to get underway.

Back at our hotel we quickly drafted an itinerary for Luzon to put to a firm which hires car + driver then went out again the check out the local museum that was just around the corner. It wasn't a big museum by any means but it was interesting enough, especially the samples of mollusc shells that can be found around Bohol.

Some of the mollusc shells in the museum

Some are highly prized and I am not surprised. A local supermarket was the next attraction as we stocked up on supplies for tomorrow.

We had time to put our feet up before tonight's outing to see the fireflies but this was somewhat taken over by the car+driver hire company's response that they do not hire out cars to go to the Sagada region because of "road condition and accident prone area". This necessitated a period of investigating various travel options.

Our final outing for the day was our trip to Cortes to join a 7:30pm tour to see the fireflies on the Abatan river. We hired a tricycle driver to take us and there and wait for us, since a jeepney would have taken too long in rush hour and a tricycle wouldn't want to go so far and risk having to come back empty. There were extra bookings for the tour that reduced the cost which was a bonus. At 7:30 we were loaded aboard our boat and headed out on the river. The tour itself lasted about 50 minutes during which we were treated to collections of fireflies in four different locations along the river. In each location hundreds of fireflies could be seen swarming around within the limited confines of a single tree. Apparently the numbers are only about 70% of the usual due to a recent storm with high winds that had dispersed many of the fireflies, so they must look ever more impressive when in full force. It was a little bit like seeing a cave full of glow worms where the worms are actually moving. They were pretty mesmerising to watch - and hard to photograph without a tripod!

Swarming fireflies

Once the trip was over our tricycle driver took us back into Tagbilaran. We hopped out at the Mall area and found ourselves some dinner before retiring to our hotel.

Next morning we sampled the complimentary breakfast before our rental car was delivered by a man from the rental agency. It seemed a little strange that there was absolutely zero paper work required - we were just handed a car key in exchange for some cash. I was concerned about what that meant for things like car insurance but I was assured that it was all taken care of.

The green Hills

So we took charge of our day's transport and ventured out into the Tagbilaran traffic, grateful that the early morning rain had stopped. It took about 90 minutes for us to drive carefully up to the the main viewpoint for the Chocolate Hills, though sadly the rain had returned by that time - and actually became heavier while we were there. The distinctive conical hills that dot the area are called the Chocolate Hills because during the dry season of December to May they are normally scorched brown. Yet here we were in January and the still very green hills were partly shrouded in mist and rain. Bumma! They were still very impressive though.

A baby bird-eating spider

We started on the drive back with the plan to see a few sights along the way. First stop was  a Butterfly Garden. As well as the obligatory butterflies they also had a large spider - which apparently was only a baby. When fully grown it eats birds! Stand back anyone with arachnophobia.

Our next stop was the Tarsier Conservation Centre. Here we were given a little talk about the cute but endangered tarsier. Small enough to fit in your hand, they are a primate but not a monkey. We walked through a large enclosed area of native jungle where we could see about six tarsiers. All were perched under little shelters set up in the trees to keep out the rain (umbrellas were provided for the humans who didn't have one).

Tarsier

With big bug eyes - which are attached directly to their skull so they are able to rotate their heads 180 degrees in each direction - they certainly did look cute.

Our next stop required a little diversion off the main road - to see the Sipatan Swinging Bridge. However it seems it might have fallen victim to last year's Typhoon Yolanda. It was certainly not looking too swinging today. From there we wanted to get to The Tarsier Sanctuary, which is between Corella and Sikatuna, but we were having trouble finding a turn off to get us to Sikatuna. We passed a couple of turn-offs that could have been one of the roads we wanted but there were zero road signs. Eventually we stopped at Baclayon to ask directions and were told that it was not possible to reach Sikatuna from anywhere on this side because all the connecting roads were still out of action after last year's typhoon. Instead we would have to go around via Tagbilaran. So that is what we did - actually driving right past our hotel in the process.

The not-so-swinging bridge

And so we eventually made it to the Tarsier Sanctary. Here there were about half a dozen tarsiers kept in a large natural environment. In their natural environment they are solitary animals that mark out and defend an area of about one hectare each. A guide took us into the sanctuary area to some places where she knew three of the tarsiers were currently sleeping (they are nocturnal). Although, as it turned out, one of them had moved since last she  had checked so we only actually found two of them. Both were curled up sleeping so we didn't actually get a good look at either of them. So as much as we appreciated the purity of the Sanctuary's work to preserve a truly natural habitat, we were glad to have visited the Conservation Centre where we had been able to get a closer look at the tarsiers.

Having completed all of our desired sightseeing we drove back to our hotel, where we parked the car for the rental agent to collect and went to enjoy a very late lunch. Or a slightly early dinner depending on how you look at it.

Meanwhile we had received an email that it might be possible to hire a car+driver after all to travel from Manila to the Cordellera area and back, so the evening was spent in exchanges of emails to try and put the details together before we arrive in Manila in just over 12 hours time. Our last week in the Philippines might just get back on track.