Coron has a lot of wonders to offer, from its hills to the beautiful natural sceneries from above the mountain, descending to the waters and its wedge-like spiky rock peaks and cliffs sitting on clear crystal seawaters, to the white powdery sand beach while some have been filled with pebbles shore and even below under to the history-riched shipwrecks, one can think that this would be it but there are more that Palawan has to offer.
To experience every single tour package, one has to stay here for a longer period, there are so several things to check out, not to mention that establishing friendship here with co-travelers could also mean another set of adventures to dive in. There are backpacker rooms available in town and socializing with other co-backpackers is certainly a must!
But for us, we have to look into what's our best option to fully emerge ourselves with what this island is all about. We already had experienced a few and we are still in town for the next two days. We got to take advantage of the time. Again as a recap, here are the places that we have been in Coron:
On our third day on this beautiful island, we decided to get more intimate with the wildlife and have a unique exploration of the other side of the land - Calauit in Busuanga. We hired a tour Calauit Wildlife Tour which was around Php 2400 per head. This tour package includes the following:
Free Breakfast
Free Pickup and Drop Off with a private Van
Calauit Wildlife Tour
Free Lunch
Busuanga Island Hopping Tour
We only inquired about the Calauit Wildlife Tour but they included a Busuanga Island hopping on top and yet their package was cheaper than other agencies so we just gave in and agreed with it as if we were still not content with the whole day island hopping the other day.
Call Time
The agency personnel informed me the call time would be four in the morning. According to her, we have to get there to Calauit at the earliest time possible because if we don't, we will not be able to enjoy feeding the animals. After all, many other tourists will be on our way.
So on that day, we pushed ourselves to wake up early, our things were already prepared the previous night so it was just easy for us to freshen up, grab our stuff and go.
This time, the tour guide was on time and we got into the private vehicle, only a few heads were there and so we seated well, comfortable plus there was an entertainment monitor too.
Our hungry bellies were filled for a very early breakfast at a restaurant which I guess is a partner of the agency as they had already prepared the number of plates just enough for us, the tour guide, and the van driver. We were served with fried fish, sunny side up, and coffee, perfect to keep us awake, alert, and attentive!
Busuanga is where the airport is located. According to the tour guide, the road here was just cemented so we were lucky. Originally, I planned on renting motorcycles to get to Calauit but after reading blogs online about the road not being cemented and their bad experiences, I backed off, I am glad that the road now is cemented which means easier access and so more guests or visitors would be elated to go visit the animals at Calauit.
The trip was just smooth and we were able to even doze to sleep even after having that strong coffee! The trip took two hours overall.
Busuanga to Calauit Island
Calauit is an island separated by a body of water from the main Busuanga so we have to take a boat to get there. I am pretty sure that our tour guide already contacted the boatmen prior to our arrival here as they were already ready at the small port made of wood.
The voyage was just short, around ten minutes I guess including our onboarding and un-boarding part. And it was a success coming here early! We were the first visitors which means we can have photos without photo bombers and we can enjoy the place to ourselves first.
A local guide greeted and welcomed us, gave us the registration sheet to fill up with our names, we were excited to see the Giraffes!
According to the guide, from Africa, these animals such as Giraffes and Zebras were transported to the island way back in the 1970s. It aimed to save these exotic animals from extinction and the whole of Calauit Island was dedicated to taking care and custody of these animals. So the people living there were considered the caretakers. However, as the years went by and the late President Marcos died, there was less support from the government. The villagers ended up hunting, killing some of the animals, leaving only a few in the land and only some settlers had been left as caretakers too!
It was just sad hearing this story from the guide, their salary is also dependent on the number of visitors coming so thinking about it right now and the pandemic, I am not sure if they are still getting visitors. I do hope the government is giving them support.
At the start, there were 20 giraffes, along with dozens of zebra and antelope (impala, gazelle, bushbuck, eland, waterbuck, and Tobi) but all those which were formerly shipped from Africa had died already and these that are here are those which were already born in Calauit, all are considered Filipinos.
Currently, there are 24 giraffes, 38 zebras, and approximately 1000 Calamian deer, endemic to the island, this number was when we visited the island, I am sure the numbers had changed at this point. These animals are named after their sponsors, just like that in the Philippine Eagle Center. Some patrons are Noli De Castro, Kuya Kim Atienza and a lot more.
Other animals are caged such as Philippine crocodiles, three porcupines, two pythons, a civet cat, a wild boar, a seagull, and several tortoises. The baby giraffes are also caged to ensure that they are safe until they are mature enough to go around the island.
All these things were mentioned to us as we were walking towards the main safari park.
As this blog is already a little long and I still have a lot of things to write and share with you, I decided to cut this here and will make a separate article for our encounter with the animals.
Have you been to the Calauit Safari Wildlife Park?
Read more travel blog articles here:
xoxo,
mommy jean of momentswithmatti
Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.
It looks like it was a very interesting adventure for you. I think. that many dream of going on a safari and seeing with their own eyes the nature and biodiversity of Africa. Well, you should visit the African Bush Camps website and find out more about the cool safari tours in Botswana and Victoria Falls. You will definitely not be disappointed and will be impressed by the emotions received on the African safari for a long time to come.