Bohol Province, Philippines

By James Barcelona

Tourist Attractions

Alona Beach

Bohol is a first income class island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of 4,117.26 square kilometres (1,589.68 sq mi) and a coastline 261 kilometres (162 mi) long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines. To the west of Bohol is Cebu, to the northeast is the island of Leyte and to the south, across the Bohol Sea is Mindanao.

Baclayon Church

The province is a popular tourist destination with its beaches and resorts. The Chocolate Hills, numerous mounds of limestone formations, is the most popular attraction. The formations can be seen by land (climbing the highest point) or by air via ultralight airplane tours. Panglao Island, located just southwest of Tagbilaran City, is famous for its diving locations and routinely listed as one of the top ten diving locations in the world. Numerous tourist resorts dot the southern beaches and cater to divers from around the world. The Philippine Tarsier, the second-smallest primate in the world, is indigenous to the island.

Kalamay is Bohol's Delicacy

A narrow strait separates the island of Cebu and Bohol, and both share a common language, but the Boholanos retain a conscious distinction from the Cebuanos. Bohol's climate is generally dry, with maximum rainfall between the months of June and October. The interior is cooler than the coast.

It is the home province of Carlos P. Garcia, the eighth president of the Republic of the Philippines (1957–1961) who was born in Talibon, Bohol.

Chocolate Hills

On 15 October 2013, Bohol was devastated by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake was 6 kilometers south of Sagbayan town. The earthquake, which also devastated neighboring Cebu City, claimed 156 lives and injured 374 people. It also destroyed or damaged a number of Bohol's heritage churches, including the churches of Baclayon, Loboc, Loon, Maribojoc, Loay, Dimiao, and Dauis.

Geography

The Chocolate Hills are considered one of Philippine's natural wonders and Bohol is often referred to as the Jewel of the Philippines. They are hills made of limestone leftover from coral reefs during the Ice age when the island was submerged. They turn brown during the summer, hence their name.

Loboc river

There are four main rivers that run through Bohol, with the Loboc River running from the center of the island to the southeastern coast. The largest river, the Inabanga, runs in the northwestern part of the province; the Abatan River runs in the southwest, and Ipil River in the north.

Numerous waterfalls and caves are scattered across the island, including Mag-Aso Falls in Antequera. Mag-Aso means smoke in the native tongue. The water is cool and often creates a mist in humid mornings which can hide the falls.

Panglao Watchtower

The Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape protects Bohol's largest remaining lowland forest and can be found in the island's southern portion near Bilar.

Physical

With a land area of 3,269 square kilometres (1,262 sq mi) and a coastline 261 kilometres (162 mi) long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines. The main island is surrounded by about 70 smaller islands, the largest of which are Panglao Island, facing Tagbilaran City, in the southwest and Lapinig Island in the northeast.

Tarsier hugs mossy branch

The terrain of Bohol is basically rolling and hilly and about half the island is covered in limestone. Near the outer areas of the island are low mountain ranges. The interior is a large plateau with irregular landforms.

Near Carmen, the Chocolate Hills are more than 1,200 uniformly cone-shaped limestone hills named for the grass growing on the hills that turns brown in the summer, making the landscape look like chocolate mounds. The Chocolate Hills appear on the provincial seal of Bohol.