Chocolate Hill Adventure Park (CHAP)

After our delightful Loboc River Cruise, we all returned to our airconditioned coaster for the highlight of our Bohol Countryside Tour – the Chocolate Hills Adventure Park (CHAPS) which is owned and run by Camanayon Hill Development Corp.

The park entrance

Situated in Carmen, it is the latest eco-tourism and adrenaline pumping adventure park in Bohol. The sprawling 4-hectare park offers thrilling adventure activities like hiking trails, tree top adventures and the famous, exciting  and very unique bike zip line dubbed as “The Rush.”  The 37-km. drive, via the Loay Interior Rd., took about 40 mins. and we arrive at CHAPS by 4 PM.

The wooden bridge leading to the receiving area

From the park entrance, we first crossed a short wooden bridge, over a natural pond, to a main receiving hall that houses the reception desk in the middle,  a small open-air restaurant  (Cuisina ni Tesai) offering Boholano dishes plus some souvenir stalls on the left and an events place on the right.

Cusina ni Tesai and souvenir shops

The events place

Here, Josue took a head count on those who would avail of the adventure packages. However, Joy, Czarina, Julia, Lara and yours truly were here for “The Rush” – the bike zip which takes biking to another level.

Hiking up the wooden boardwalk

From the pavilion, we all hiked along a wooden boardwalk that meanders over a brook. Along the hiking trail, we passed by a serpentarium that houses a few snakes (python, green Oriental whip snake, etc.) found around the area during the construction of the park plus some sugar gliders and hedgehogs.

The Serpentarium

We made a stopover at a cottage where a nurse checked our blood pressure (mine was 140/90). Lara had to back out for reasons I will not divulge.  We were also given a briefing on what to expect on the bike zip.

Ladies at the briefing cottage

After climbing all 268 steps (including crossing a hanging bridge 4 at a time) along the hiking trail, we were already a little out of breath when we reached the viewing deck.

Crossing a hanging bridge

Since the massive magnitude 7.2 earthquake of October 15, 2013 destroyed parts of the old viewing deck (as well as a few of the 1,776 Chocolate Hills) in the town of Carmen, the one at CHAP’s became the de facto viewing deck (the hills are much farther away though) while the old one, which has a much grander view, is being rebuilt.

Czarina, the author, Joy, Kath and Euden at the viewing deck

The Bike Zip is a 275-m. (550 m. round trip) long zip line, 150 ft. above the ground, using a mountain bike to cross from one hill to another. After all suiting up with helmet, harness and hairnet (?), we all climbed the stairs going up to the tower. The bicycle, minus the rubber tires, is securely joined to the zip line so there’s no problem balancing. All we had to do was pedal and feel the ride.

The bike zip tower

I was supposed to go first and I was already mounted on the bike and ready to go when I suddenly got chills and almost chickened out.  I have somehow conquered my fear of heights, having gone ziplining a number of times, but seeing how high I was from the ground, the scenario seeing the hills high up in the sky made me shudder.

Getting ready to hit the zip

I allowed Joy to have first crack at it and, as soon as she made it to the other side, I gathered the courage and followed suit.  The ride was scary at first as I had this feeling that, at any moment, my bike would fall off from the zip line. It took some time to for me to feel at ease with the ride but, once I got the feel for it, the ride slowly became enjoyable and exciting.

Traffic along the bike zipline

The ride truly gave me a different experience of seeing the famous Chocolate Hills.  They say that the windier and rainier it is, the more exciting the bike ride is. Due to the rush of emotions, now I know why they call it “The Rush.” It was truly an exciting, one-of-a-kind experience.  After Joy and I, Czarina and Julia followed our lead.  After our bike zip, we interviewed Mr. Jing E. Velaso, Managing Director of CHAP on the parks’s current facilities and future plans (including overnight accommodations).

Experiencing the rush

The park has a 9-course rope challenge adventure course – “Islands in the Sky,” “Burma Loops,” “Burma Planks,” “Hanging Bridge” (2 stages), “Earthquake,” “Vine Walk,” “Jacob’s Walk,” “Tyrolean” and  the “Zipline.” You  get to “Zipline” upon completing half of the course and then the “Ttyrolean” traverse for the rest of the course. Upon completion of all courses, you rappel your way down.  These trails test one’s strength, balance, endurance, strategy and patience.

Media team with CHAP Managing Director Mr. Jing E. Velasco (center)

Rates: The Rush (Bike Zip): PhP400, The Snake Ladder (Tree Top RCA): PhP200, The Pentagon (Tree Top RCB): PhP350, Gymnaskids (Child Rope Course): PhP300, Eco-Hiking Trail: PhP200,Chicken & Fish Feeding: PhP50.

I survived

Chocolate Hills Adventure Park (CHAP): Sitio Camanayon, Brgy. Buenos Aires, Carmen, Bohol. Mobile number: (0917) 304-1341  and (0932) 667-7098.  Email: chocolatehills_adventurepark@yahoo.com.  Entrance Fee: PhP60. Open daily, 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM.

How to Get There: CHAPS can be reached in an hour and a half by riding a bus or van from Dao Terminal in Tagbilaran City.

Upon landing at Tagbilaran Airport, we were welcomed at the terminal by our local tour guide Mr. Josue Hinay of Travel Village and Tours.  Boarding our airconditioned coaster, we proceeded on our scheduled Countryside Tour of Bohol. After a 30-min./10 km. drive northeast of the city, we arrived at  the 7.4-hectare Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary

An arm of the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, Inc. (PTFI), the sanctuary was established in 1996 to protect the tarsier (Tarsius syrichta), Bohol tourism’s mascot.  Known locally as mamag, mago, magau, maomag and magatilok-iok, here the tarsiers are allowed to live and reproduce freely in a natural setting.

What you should know about the tarsier

The tarsiers, formerly hunted down, captured and then sold to local and foreign visitors, were declared to be specially protected faunal species of the Philippines by virtue of Proclamation No. 1030, as declared by former Pres. Fidel V. Ramos on June 23, 1997. A 167-hectare sanctuary has been set up in areas within Corella, Sikatuna and Loboc towns where numerous sightings of the tarsiers have been made within their forested domain. Poaching, killing and even wounding of these tarsiers as well as the destruction of its declared habitat are strictly prohibited.

Hiking along the Tarsier Trail

Alighting from our coaster, we made our way to the Tarsier Research and Development Center which has a visitor’s center complete with a reception and souvenir counter, an exhibition area, an audio-visual room, a mini-cafeteria, toilets, and administration offices.  Here, we were assigned a trained volunteer guide who led us through a net enclosure with a 7-ft. high fence (to keep house cats out and the insects in) where 100 tarsiers are kept for feeding, breeding and display.

Taking turns potographing the tarsier

Here, we saw and observed, up close and personal, three of them in their nature habitat which consists of mature secondary growths of mahogany, teak and ficus trees as well as many varieties of palm, fern, bamboo clumps, tall grass patches, thick bushes and other greenery which grow in profusion.  We were allowed to take pictures but were urged to do so quietly and not to handle them so as not to put stress on these nocturnal animals who, during daytime, are asleep.

A close up shot

Back at the Visitors Center, Josue introduced us to Carlito “Lito” Pizarras, the Field Supervisor of the sanctuary.  Known as the “Tarsier Man,” Lito once hunted tarsiers for a living, shooting them out of the trees with an air rifle or trapping them for his father, a taxidermist who augmented the family income through the sale of the preserved, stuffed tarsiers which, at that time, went for PhP300.  He also caught them alive for collectors, hobbyists and tourists by simply shaking the trees until the tarsiers fell.

The Visitors Center

Sometime in the 1970s, Lito gave up his air gun, formaldehyde and the other awful tools of his trade, devoting the rest of his life in trying to save this exotic mascot of the Philippines’ receding tropical forests. He has since become an enthusiastic environmentalist and conservationist and, when he noticed their receding numbers, he began keeping several of the tarsiers at the backyard of his residence in Corella, breeding 20 of them successfully. In 1985, he sent 10 live tarsiers to the Chicago Zoo in the United States and, in 1998, he was hired by the foundation, maintaining the net enclosure and serving as a resource person and guide to visitors and researchers at the Research and Development Center. When the UK’s Prince Charles visited Manila on July1997, Lito made a symbolic presentation of a pair of tarsiers to his Royal Highness at Malacañang Palace.

The author with Carlito Pizarras

Tarsier Research and Development Center: Km. 14, Brgy. Canapnapan, Corella, 6337 Bohol. Mobile numbers: (0927) 541-2290 (Program Manager). E-mail: joanniemaryc@yahoo.com. Website: www.tarsierfoundation.org.

Travel Village and Tours: Bohol Tropics Resort Club, Graham Ave.,
Tagbilaran City, Bohol.  Tel (038) 411-4023  and (038) 501-8078. Fax (038) 411-5928.  Website: www.boholtravelvillage.com.