The Province of Bohol: A Country Side Tour

The province of Bohol is considered as the tenth largest island of the Philippines and is located in the Central Visayas region. Having said that, it is no wonder that this province holds some of the majestic tourist spot of the country. As for this blog post, I will be featuring a land tour to Bohol, often called as a country-side tour which can be done in a day. Yes, that is right, we were able to accomplished all the spots below in just a matter of day. The tour actually lasted for 8-9 hours.

How did we get there?
Due to some circumstances, we barely have no plans for our day 1 in Bohol. What we only know that day is we have to visit the famous tourist spots of the province. That's why we were so lucky when we met Kuya Bernie. We met Kuya Bernie outside Tagbilaran Airport. He offers different tours in Bohol and one of the tour he has is the Tagbilaran tour. He has a van for hire which can accommodate 5-7 persons. He also told us that he has another service which can hold up to 12 persons. What's nice about his tour is you can collaborate with him in terms of the places you want to visit. You can eliminate sites which you want to skip and replace it with another. As for our Tagbilaran City Tour, he only asks for 2,500 Pesos which includes a trip to our hotel in Panglao at the end of our tour. Note: entrance fees of each places are not included. Having said that, it is still pretty convenient and cheap than the other tours I saw oevr the internet. You may contact Kuya Bernie at 0999-929-8445.

Now, let the Bohol Country Side Tour begin!

The Chocolate Hills Complex

Our tour started at around 11:30am and the first spot in our list to visit is non other than the iconic Chocolate Hills. We decided to visit first the furthest spot which is the Chocolate Hills located in Carmen then revisit everything else once we get back and straight to our hotel in Panglao. As for the full details of our visit to Chocolate Hills Complex, kindly refer to this link: [click here]

Entrace fee is P50 per head.

The view deck of Chocolate Hills Complex

Time for some groupfie!

Simply Butterflies Conservation Center

Butterflies conservation center might sounds like a spot for children but believe me, you have to see it yourself as you'll surely enjoy it and at the same time learn a lot of things. At first, I was also hesitant to go here coz it screams children's field trip to me but I was wrong. Simply because I enjoyed the conservation center and learned a lot from a span of not more than 30 minutes of my visitation. Some of the things I've learned about butterflies/moths are:

1. Female species are larger than their male counterparts
2. The bigger the species the shorter their life span compared to the little one. It is because they exert more effort flapping their wings
3. In love making, males are in the bottom and they do it whole day... hmmm. Haha
4. The less appealing the pupa is, the more chance that the butterfly inside it is beautiful (in terms of look)
5. Butterflies can also do the "play dead" trick. This is their defense mechanism for prey. 

There is an entrance fee of P40 per head if you wish to visit the center. Over 60 species of butterflies and moths are found here and you can interact with them. You may ask your guide to get you one so you can have a closer look. Just be careful on handling them, ok? The conservation center wasn't that big and can be explored in 30 minutes.

Entrance of the conservation center

Butterflies here are free to fly everywhere they want

We found this one just resting on the stem

And you can actually interact with them!

Kuya Tikboy, our guide at the center

Group photo with Kuya Tikboy

Bilar Man Made Forest

Bilar Man-Made Forest was actually just a part of a bigger reforestation project which conceptualize decades ago which was initiated due to the alarming deforestation or kaingin in Bohol. Today, aside from its main purpose as a nature preservation, Bilar Man-Made Forest became a well-known tourist spot in Bohol because of its unexpected beauty. Who ever thought that this forest is not naturally created by nature hence it was by man? Honestly, I can't stop myself from admiring its beauty when I saw it in person despite already seeing it so many times in photos of my friends whose been here. It's 100x more beautiful seeing it personally than in photos. 

For the full story of my visit at Bilar Man-Made Forest, just [click here].

Photo op at Bilar Man Made Forest

Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary

Another popular tourist spot of the province is the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary which is located in Corella. Here, you'll have the chance to see up close the Philippine Tarsier in its natural habitat. Tarsier is one of the smallest primates in the world which only stands 3 to 6 inches. These little charmers have small bodies with big eyes. They are also nocturnal so tarsiers are more likely stationed to one branch during day time and are active during night time. 

Silence is maintained in the sanctuary as tarsiers are easily get stressed. Stress are not good to them as they tend to commit suicide. So reminders on keeping the place at peace are posted everywhere around the site. By the way, entrance fee is P60 per head.

Registration area

Please observe silence once you're in

The Philippine Tarsier, sleeping...

Sipatan Twin Hanging Bridge

The hanging bridge was built sometime after WWII. It's main purpose is to link Sitio Sipatan and Sitio Ilawad to transport goods across the Sevilla River. The bridge is 40 meters long and made of indigenous bamboo slats. The bridge has faced so many calamities and been destroyed too many times yet the local government here keeps on rebuilding the same bridge to preserve what's been there after so many years. As per the locals who maintains the bridge, this bamboo hanging bridge is stable and safe. The original rope suspension has been replaced with steel cables.

Aside from the bridge, there are also stalls at the end of the bridge which sells handicraft merchandise, refreshments booths and other souvenir items. There is also an entrance fee for those who wants to cross the bridge which costs P20 per head.

The twin bamboo hanging bridge

Thinking where should I go next?

Loboc Church (Saint Peter the Apostle Parish Church)

It was getting late when we finished our tour at Sipatan Twin Hanging Bridge, so instead of going to other spots in our list, we decided to head on Panglao where we arranged our accommodation (will have a separate blog for it). Along the way we passed along Loboc Church so I scream my heart out (yes this is just an exaggeration) and had a stop over.

Loboc Church was built centuries ago and was heavily devastated by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2013. Today, the church is being reconstructed and for the meantime, the locals built an alternative church right behind the original Loboc church.

The on-going reconstruction of Loboc Church

Side portion of the church

The alternative church built behind Loboc Church

After that, we then proceed to Panglao. Yet, before we proceed to our hotel, Kuya Bernie (our service driver that day) let us grab our dinner at Bohol Bee Farm (again, another blog post will be provided for this). Overall, we had a hassle free tour for Day 1. The weather was fair. All the people we met were nice and accommodating at the same time. It was indeed a perfect day! Come and visit bohol.

Breakdown of Expenses:
Van for Hire - 2,500 Pesos / 5 persons = 500 PhP per pax
Entrance fee at Chocolate Hills Complex - 50 PhP per pax
ATV at Chocolate Hills (for 30 mins) - 450 PhP per pax
Entrance fee at Butterfly Conservation Center - 40 PhP per pax
Entrance fee at Tarsier Sanctuary - 60 PhP per pax
Entrance fee at Twin Hanging Bridge - 20 PhP per pax
Food - **.**

Next posts will be about our tour in Panglao :)