Bohol’s nature lift: Tarsiers, chocolate hills, butterflies
With summer nearly over, a sightseeing trip to Bohol might do wonders for the family before classes resume.
Bohol offers white sand beaches, old churches, natural and perhaps man-made wonders.
A trip to neighboring towns Carmen, Batuan, Bilar, Loboc and Loay will be more than enough feast for the eyes of the visitors.
Carmen
Carmen town is famous for its 1,700 chocolate hills. The hills, which is scattered in over 50 kilometers of land, got its name from their color when their grass turned dry and brown during summer making them look like chocolate-colored hills.
For only P50 entrance fee, a visitor can climb 214 steps atop another hill to get a front seat view of these natural wonders.
There is also a large bell and a wishing well on top of the hill.
And for P10, a foot masseur can give a foot reflex massage for those tired feet after that long climb.
Several souvenir stores are also found in the area for those looking for souvenir buys.
Batuan
From Carmen, one can stop by the next town, Batuan, which offers tourists a man-made attraction – a privately owned ship house (Shiphaus).
Shiphaus, a house designed like a ship is owned by Capt. Gaudencio Dumapias, a seaman based in Manila. The shiphaus became popular after a national TV show featured it.
The place used to be a family rest house but because of its unusual design, which is ship-inspired, it has become a tourist attraction.
There are ship crews to assist the tourists in their tour from the bridge deck to the view deck where you can find different rooms also designed like cabins of ship officials from the ship captain to ship engineers.
You can enjoy shiphaus for only a P30 entrance fee.
Bilar
Next stop should be Simply Butterflies Conservation Center in Bilar town. For P40 entrance fee, you will gain knowledge about butterflies – the different species, their life cycle and you might even get lucky and have butterflies alight on you as you tour the center.
Loboc
Your visit in Bohol will never be complete, without a stopover in Loboc. It’s not only famous for its Loboc River and its river cruises or its Loboc Church, but also it’s home to one of the smallest primates – the tarsiers.
In barangay Bonbon at the Tarsier Conservation Area, for a P50 entrance fee you will see tarsiers up close.
There are 113 tarsiers spread throughout the 1.6-hectare conservation area open for public to appreciate.
Loay
If you still hadn’t have enough of exotic animals, you can go to the next town, Loay, where the Xzootic Animal Park is located.
The zoo houses different exotic animals such as a python, ostrich, iguana, monkeys and owls..
You can have your pictures taken holding these animals if you are brave enough.
Enjoy Xzootic Animal Park for only a P20 entrance fee. /Carine M. Asutilla, Correspondent
