Tarsier Sancturary - Bohol, Philippines
One of the destinations we had really looked forward to was visiting and viewing the Tarsier Sanctuary. Unlike other attractions that advertise the ability to view tarsiers, the sanctuary does not cage their tarsiers and has strict policies on how to behave when viewing them in their natural habitat. Because they are nocturnal animals we had to observe silence as we hiked through the forest and resist using flash photography. After we spotted our first one we instantly fell in love. “Can we buy one and take it home?” we asked. “No,” was the answer. And, a very definitive no at that. Part of the reason these tiny bundles of cute are endangered is over the years they were hunted, captured, and sold as pets. Couple that with the extensive deforestation occurring in the Philippines for farm land and you land yourself on the endangered species list. The sanctuary helps educate the general public, aids in research, and helps with breeding efforts to increase the tarsier population. We loved seeing these little guys out and about, though they seemed slightly perturbed to be the center of attention while they were trying to catch their 40 winks.