CNN Travel picks Bohol’s sites for dolphins, tarsiers

CEBU, Philippines -  Cable News Network International Travel online site has named dolphin watching adventure on the seas around Pamilacan Island off Baclayon town, and the tarsier sanctuary in Corella town—all in Bohol—among the seven wild adventure destinations in the country.

Two of the other selected destinations are in Cebu: the Olango mudflats (mass migration site of birds) and Malapascua (famous for thresher sharks). The rest are Samal island (with millions of bats abound); Davao (for the majestic Philippine eagle); and Donsol in Sorsogon (known for friendly whale sharks or butandings).

“There are many opportunities for dolphin watching in Philippine waters, but for year-round chances head to Pamilacan Island in Bohol. Whales can be seen from February to June too,” said Maida Pineda, writer for CNN Travel.

“Instead of earning a living as whale hunters, the community at Pamilacan Island has been offering whale-and dolphin-watching tours for the last five years. The playful dolphins often engage tourists in a game of tag, riding alongside your boat, repeatedly leaping above the water then plunging down into the depths again,” she said.

Pineda said of the tarsier: “At 8.5-16 centimeters in height, the Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) is a tough catch. This nocturnal animal also has excellent night vision, with huge eyes bulging out of its head, so wannabe wooers have their work cut out. Luckily, enterprising Filipinos display the tiny primate for tourists to photograph near the Loboc River. But it is even better to encounter them at the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary at the foothills of the forest in the town of Corella, Bohol where you can see them in their natural habitat. Tourists can view the tarsiers in a one-hectare netted enclosure, but which still allows the tarsiers to hunt and move around the rest of the sanctuary.”

Jojo Baritua, pioneer operator of the dolphin watching as ecotourism program, said, “this international recognition boosts the Province of Bohol’s marketing effort as well as make the people of the island proud of the new path that they are now undertaking as local natural guides and spotters in the eco-tourism program.”

Baritua manages the Bohol’s Dolphin Watching Tour, a social enterprise program of the Pamilacan Island Boat Operators and Spotters Association (PIBOSA).

The people of Pamilacan Island—a small island community which is part of the Baclayon town in Bohol—used to hunt dolphins, whales, whale sharks and manta ray as their main source of livelihood long time ago, until the national government stopped this activity to conserve these threatened marine animals. (FREEMAN)