A visit to one of the couple of Tarsier sanctuaries is also a standard inclusion in most visitors’ itineraries to Bohol. Tarsiers are small, monkey-like nocturnal mammals with huge eyes. Today, they are found only in selected countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. The sanctuaries in Bohol are apparently well known, in part because of their successful conservation efforts to protect the mammal.
I had mixed feelings after the visit though. Firstly, the particular sanctuary we visited was pretty crowded, much like our visit to the Chocolate Hills just before it. Secondly, there were villagers performing traditional dance and music right beside the sanctuary, which made us wonder whether this might disturb these nocturnal tarsiers. A couple of reviews on Google also complained that these sanctuaries are unethical.
That said, I got the sense that the sanctuary’s management was indeed trying to protect these mammals while still allowing the public access to see them. The trees that the tarsiers were resting in were all roped off to keep visitors at a bit of a distance — rest assured though, you can still see the tarsiers clearly enough. Each open enclosure had a keeper who made sure visitors behaved, and even assisted visitors in taking pictures of the tarsiers if they wished. I noticed that the park keepers were taking extreme close-ups of the tarsiers, but the animals themselves did not seem to mind or notice. Either they were sleeping — with eyes still wide open, mind you — or they might simply be less sensitive during the daytime and not reacting to it.
The sanctuary we visited was pretty small, and on the afternoon we visited there were just five tarsiers about.
All said, if you’re curious about these very tame and lovely animals and want to see them — and don’t mind the likely crowds — these sanctuaries are an option. If not, I don’t think you’d be missing out on too much anyway.
We next continued on to the Bilar Man-Made Forest!