Bohol Tour Part 1 – Chocolate Hills and the Philippine Tarsier

I will start my series of island tour posts by featuring two of the most famous attractions of Bohol.

Chocolate Hills

I could still remember my fondness in reading legend stories when I was in my elementary. And one thing I could still recall was a story about a giant’s love for a beautiful barrio young lady. According to myth, the death of the lady made the giant cried for days and his tears dried up and formed thousand of hills. Of course it’s just a story, probably, how old folks then explained the creation of this nature’s wonder.

The Chocolate Hills can be seen in Carmen, about 55 kms from Tagbilaran City. To see this magnificent attraction, prepare an entrance fee of P10.00 per person and P15.00 parking fee. There is an overlooking deck available for viewing and picture taking, however, be prepared to take hundreds of steps before you reach the top. My tip, get yourself a bottle of water, hat, and lots of sunscreen especially if you’re touring the place on a morning or noon time. In my case, I get really dehydrated because I did not anticipate that it will be extremely hot up there.

Posing like the tourists in the picture below is common in the view deck. There are available photographers there and you can have a print copy of your picture for P100.

Like the Subterranean River in Palawan, Chocolate Hills is also currently nominated for the New 7 Wonders of Nature. I felt fortunate and proud again being able to see another nature’s formation in my country – 1,268 perfect cone-shaped hills. When I voted in the new 7 wonders of nature website last June, Chocolate Hills was still within top 7, but today after visiting the site again, I was surprised that it went down to rank #16. If you haven’t casted your votes for the New 7 Wonders, please do it now and support our Philippine entries.

Philippine Tarsier

The Philippine Tarsiers (Tarsier syrichta) are regarded as the oldest living mammal inhabiting earth. It’s very tiny, measuring only at about 4 to 6 inches in height. In fact, Tarsiers are also known as the smallest monkey or primate. Unfortunately, these cute species are now listed as endangered.

You can find Tarsiers in Loboc, around 24 kms from Tagbilaran and also in Corella, about 14 kms from the city. Just tell your tour driver to bring you to any of the Tarsier Center. There is no entrance fee to have a close encounter with tarsiers although I noticed that there are donation boxes available, maybe for the Tarsier Center’s maintenance.