Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Panglao Beach



 Panglao Island is one the main tourist destinations on the Philippines. Talking about Panglao most of the people immediately think about "Alona Beach". Similar to Boracay you can find an amazing white beach and crystal clear water. Unfortunately also like Boracay this place has lost lots of its former beauty. Every season more and more restaurants and bars are opened and the beach gets pretty crowded during the high season. Still the diving around the island is one of the best of the Philippines. Especially Balicasag Island is really worth diving at. If you can avoid to go there in the very high season Alona Beach is still a beautiful place.




Tarsiers 









Tarsiers have never formed successful breeding colonies in captivity. This may be partly due to their special feeding requirements.
A sanctuary near the town of Corella, on the Philippine island of Bohol, is having some success restoring tarsier populations. The Philippines Tarsier Foundation (PTFI) has developed a large, semiwild enclosure known as the Tarsier Research and Development Center. Carlito Pizarras, also known as the "Tarsier man", founded this sanctuary where visitors can watch tarsiers up close in the wild (naturally without touching them). As of 2011, the sanctuary was taken care of by him and his brother. The trees in the sanctuary are populated with nocturnal insects that make up the tarsier's diet.
The conservation status of all tarsiers is vulnerable to extinction. Tarsiers are a conservation dependent species meaning that they need to have more and improved management of protected habitats or they will definitely become extinct in the future.

Chocolate Hills



The most famous and signature tourist attraction of Bohol, it is a prime tourist destination in the Philippines.The national government has chosen the Chocolate Hills as one of its "flagship tourist destinations".
Of the 1,247 hills, two have been developed into resorts for tourism.The original resort is located in Carmen, Bohol located in Barangay Buenos Aires, only a few minutes drive from downtown Carmen. The resort in Carmen is called Chocolate Hills Complex. The more recent one in Sagbayan is called Sagbayan Peak.

 The Chocolate Hills are probably Bohol's most famous tourist attraction. They look like giant mole hills and remind us of the hills in a small child's drawing. Most people who first see pictures of this landscape can hardly believe that these hills are not a man-made artifact. However, this idea is quickly abandoned, as the effort would surely surpass the construction of the pyramids in Egypt. The chocolate hills consist of are no less than 1268 hills (some claim this to be the exact number). They are very uniform in shape and mostly between 30 and 50 meters high. They are covered with grass, which, at the end of the dry season, turns chocolate brown. From this color, the hills derive their name. At other times, the hills are green, and the association may be a bit difficult to make.
  However, up to this day, even geologists have not reached consensus on how they where formed. The most commonly accept theory is that they are the weathered formations of a kind of marine limestone on top of a impermeable layer of clay. If you climb the 214 steps to the top of the observation hill near the complex, you can read this explanation on a bronze plaque.
 

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Bohol Island


 



Bohol is a first income class island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of 4,117.26 square kilometres (1,589.68 sq mi) and a coastline 261 kilometres (162 mi) long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines. To the west of Bohol is Cebu, to the northeast is the island of Leyte and to the south, across the Bohol Sea is Mindanao.

                                                                                          
    
 The province is a popular tourist destination with its beaches and resorts. The Chocolate Hills, numerous mounds of limestone formations, is the most popular attraction. The formations can be seen by land (climbing the highest point) or by air with ultralight airplane tours. Panglao Island, located just southwest of Tagbilaran City, is famous for its diving locations and routinely listed as one of the top ten diving locations in the world. Numerous tourist resorts dot the southern beaches and cater to divers from around the world. The Philippine Tarsier, considered the second-smallest primate in the world, is indigenous to the island.

( I don't own the pictures.)