Our next destination for the Bohol Countryside tour was the Tarsier Sanctuary. While I thought that this was owned by the government, it was disproved by Kuya Tata, our driver, who informed us otherwise. It is a privately-owned entity. Quite like a business, I must say.
We entered this forest-like property on our own, following a trail that was leading to the tarsiers. Here and there were signs reminding us to keep our voices down, since the tarsiers were sound asleep at this time of the day. Yes, they are nocturnal species!
We reached the first station, where I saw this tiny creature dozing off at the tree’s branch. There’s a guide who informed us of some fun facts about tarsiers – one of which was that they are the smallest primates in the world, then pointed us to the next station.
We followed the path leading to the next tarsier, then was given the short rehearsed spiel that the staff should give. We continued this for about thirty minutes, walking along the slippery trail (there were handrails), to find the next gem. Occasionally, some of the staff woke the tarsiers up – lucky for us, but poor tarsiers. I was fortunate to capture their big brown eyes!
On the last station, you can have your photo taken as though you were holding the tarsier (I forgot to tell you that you cannot hold the tarsier, as they get stressed out and kill themselves). Of course, this comes with a price, since the staff were the only ones who can take the photo. Not for me, I guess. 😛
We met Kuya Tata back at the parking lot and proceeded to have lunch at the Loboc River via the downstream cruise. More on this on my next post.
Happy travels!
Ah they are soooo sweet!!