Animal Planet

Yesterday I went for a hike in the Rajah Sikatuna National Park. This is an area in the interior of Bohol Island. To get there I took a 1.5h bus ride (to travel the 40km) to the village of Bilar. From there I hopped on a motorbike to reach the park entrance. Upon dropping me off, my driver pointed to a man in a worn out tshirt, shorts and flip flops standing beside the locked visitor information building. My driver told me "that's my cousin. He will take care of you." At this point my driver took off and the cousin started howling like a maniac. It was then that I started to become concerned, wondering what I had gotten myself into. Alone in an isolated forest with a man who was crying out for no apparent reason who did not appear to be associated with the national park.

Turns out he was howling to attract the monkeys and he does work for the park, he just isn't required to wear any sort of uniform. Pretty soon a troop of monkeys had descended on us and I was feeding them bananas.

He then guided me through a small area of the park. We saw a flying lemur sleeping in a tree, some frogs, lizards and just before stepping on it, my guide noticed a poisonous Philippines Cobra lying on our path (this is now my second close encounter with a poisonous snake in less than a week).

Towards the end of our hike we visited a cave with many bats hanging from the roof. It was quite creepy to look back at the entrance to the cave and see a bat's silhouette flying away. Even creepier was having one fly what seemed to be cms away from my face. While we were in the cave that it started to pour rain. Part of me thought it made more sense to wait out the rain where it was dry. And then more bats flew past me and I changed my mind. The thought of one of them flying into my head was more than enough to get me out of there.

While hiking around I found it amusing that it was only me, in my expensive hiking boots, who was slipping on the wet pathway, while my guide in his flip flops was constantly turning back to help me over the more treacherous areas. I'll say it was his experience and knowledge of the trails along with my usual clumsiness that made the difference.

Later that afternoon I went to visit the Tarsier Sanctuary. These are the smallest primates in the world - so small in fact that they are about the size of my palm. They can turn their heads 180 degrees in either direction and their eyes are proportionally 150x larger than humans'. The sanctuary was established to help protect these endangered animals, and also to give visitors a sustainable method of seeing these creatures. Sadly, in the past people would catch them and keep them in cages and then charge tourists to take photos with the tarsiers. In this setting, a tarsier will die within a year and risks being crushed by careless hands. Now, in the sanctuary, it is possible to guarantee a sighting of them in their natural environment, all while promoting their protection.

To give an idea of their size, my finger was pretty well right next to the tarsier.

To get to the sanctuary I took a jeepney, the Philippines' version of a city bus (or if you've been to east Africa, a better analogy is a dala dala). They are basically extended jeeps that cram as many people as possible into their backs. They first came about after WWII when locals started using US military jeeps left behind as a means of transporting people around. The basic shape stuck, although now with an extended rear area.

Many motorbike drivers were trying to insist that I needed them to drive me as the sanctuary was very far from the main road and the jeepney wouldn't bring me all the way in. I insisted that I was ok walking however far it was, especially considering that my return trip on the jeepney was about 1/5 the cost of a motobike ride. Also it turns out that the sanctuary was about 600m from the road, a distance I am perfectly capable of walking on my own (shocking, I know). However, after leaving the sanctuary I was starting to regret my decision. I had waited over an hour for a jeepney to arrive. The sun would be setting soon and I was starting to wonder if I would have to walk a few kilometers along the highway to the nearest town and hire someone to drive me back into the city from there. Had I hired a motorbike he would have waited for me at the centre while I went in. Luckily, my patience paid off and a jeepney finally arrived and brought me back problem free.

I've now moved on to Alona Beach and will be diving again tomorrow. Sadly, it's been pouring rain all day. But that won't matter too much tomorrow when I'm 20m below the surface!