I’ve said several times that
Region XII (the SOCCSKSARGEN Region) is the best birding region in the
Philippines, and I still believe that it’s true. It boasts one of the best
marsh and shorebirding spots in the country (Barangay Buayan in General
Santos), one of the most important egret breeding colonies (Baras Bird Preserve
in Tacurong City), some of the best high-altitude forest birding sites (EDC
Geothermal Plant at Mount Apo, Lake Holon, and Mount Matutum), and, only
recently
being discovered, one of the last remaining primary lowland forests in
Mindanao, at Senator Ninoy Aquino in Sultan Kudarat province. It even has its
own endemic bird- the T’Boli Sunbird, found only in the mountains of South
Cotabato and Sarangani provinces.
Thankfully, others have been
cottoning on to the vast trove of avian riches in Region XII, including the Wild
Bird Club of the Philippines, which made the very wise decision to host its 12
th
Philippine Bird Festival in Tacurong City, home of the world-class Baras Bird
Preserve. Obviously I was excited just to visit the bird festival, but even
better, I was asked to be one of the leaders of the post-festival tours for
Bird Festival participants. Joining me leading the tour was fellow Davao resident
Pete Simpson, who’s the real professional guide (and a far better birder), as
well as Yepyep Pamplona, one of the many birders in Tacurong City. We set up a
whirlwind 4-day birding tour of Region XII, with a 2-night climb up Lake Holon
(my favorite place in Mindanao) followed by a day in the new birding site of
Senator Ninoy Aquino. It was a tight schedule, but it gave us the chance to see
some very, very good birds seen in very few other places. I'd been to Lake Holon twice before (blog entry from my first visit
here), and had some great bird finds both times, particularly on my
second visit with Pete and Irene, so I was excited to see what else it held. As for SNA, well, I already knew that was
legendary.
Pete and I departed for the conference
early in the morning on Friday, May 11 to be able to attend the afternoon
activities in Tacurong. Of course, you can’t put two birders in a car together
and expect them not to stop at least a few times to look at birds on the way.
Our first stop in Region XII was at a small lake in Barangay Tinagacan, just
outside of General Santos, which is the only currently-known site for Pheasant-tailed Jacana in Mindanao. I’d
seen them before, but Pete hadn’t, so we made a brief stop there for Pete to
get one of his few remaining Mindanao lifers. It took a while standing in the
hot sun scanning through a spotting scope, but we were finally able to spot one
a fair distance away- too far away for pictures, but good enough to count.
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Pheasant-tailed Jacana |
Another cool sighting on our way
back to the car was a Common Southeast Asian Treefrog impaled on a branch by a Long-tailed Shrike. There was actually
a pair of shrikes by the frog carcass, with one eating and the other displaying
and flicking its wings. Male shrikes are known to present large prey to females
as a form of courtship (in typically gruesome shrike fashion), which is what I
suspect was going on there.
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Long-tailed Shrike next to its catch |
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A close-up of the unfortunate tree-frog |
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Green Skimmer |
We also stopped by the mudflats
of Barangay Buayan in GenSan proper to check for any late-staying migrants, but
saw little interesting besides a young-looking
Osprey, a
Peregrine Falcon
of the migratory race, and a couple of unusual-looking
Little Egrets with all-yellow bills. We arrived in Tacurong with
just enough time for an excellent lunch, before continuing on to the day’s
various activities. The bird fest itself has been described
elsewhere, but suffice it to say that I was
very impressed with the WBCP execom and the LGU staff of Tacurong City
(particularly Emelie Jamorabon) for organizing an excellent, tightly-run bird
fair. I only wish I could have seen even more of it.
The second day of the bird tour
started with an excursion outside of Tacurong, to Lake Sebu where the delegates
were treated to a quick jaunt birding along the Seven Falls Trail, followed by
a cultural presentation in a T’boli longhouse. Lake Sebu is a fairly well-known spot in South Cotabato, as it's marketed as an eco-tourism destination where visitors can learn more about the T'boli cultural heritage and see some really cool
weavings. The "eco" part may be a bit overstated unfortunately, as most of the forest around the area has been completely cleared, but there's still a nice trail around th "Seven Falls", a very impressive chain of waterfalls cascading into the lake. I We arrived at the Seven Falls
just before sunrise, and started on a bridge over a river near one of the
waterfalls, hoping to see one of the resident Southern Silvery Kingfishers. I
told the delegates to look out for a small black and white kingfisher, and sure
enough, after a bit of waiting a
Southern
Silvery Kingfisher darted in, flitting from rock to rock and showing off. It's one of my favorites of the many great Philippine kingfishers, with its huge head and orange feet, so I'm always happy to show it to visitors.
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One of the Seven Falls |
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Southern Silvery Kingfisher |
Once the Silvery Kingfisher had
moved on, we started on the real trail. It's nice showing around people who are new to the Philippines, since it means we can spend time
on "trash" birds like
Philippine Bulbul,
Red-keeled Flowerpecker, or
White-eared
Brown Dove, all endemics. There were
more exciting birds to be had as well, however- a flock of
Brown Tit-babblers called from the bushes, we had brief but good
views of the much-sought-after
White-eared
Tailorbird, a West Mindanao endemic, and the group I was with had a close
encounter with a male
Mindanao Hornbill!
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Mindanao Hornbill |
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White-eared Brown Dove |
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Good-looking grasshopper |
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Another of the seven falls |
Later that morning, we had a
traditional (and delicious!) breakfast in a T’boli longhouse, along with a
cultural presentation including music, dances, and one of the tribal elders
speaking to us about the T’boli beliefs about various local birds. One of my favorite things about Mindanao is that many of the indigenous cultures are still quite strong despite decades of aggressive colonization, and that's especially true of the T'boli people. I'm always happy to learn a bit more of the language and customs, even if events like this do still feel a bit "commodified". On the other hand, it brings good income to the community and allows them to maintain many of their customs, so perhaps it's not my place as a foreigner to judge. I still didn't feel entirely comfortable being one of "those" tourists to go up and take a selfie with the girls in traditional dress. That didn't matter, as it turns out, since they were more excited to go up to me and ask for selfies- guess I'm the more exotic-looking one?
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A tribal elder telling stories |
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Younger girls doing a traditional dance- lots of energy and twirling around |
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Elder woman doing a different dance- much more practiced and graceful. |
After driving back to Tacurong
and taking a much-needed nap, we joined for the afternoon and evening
activities, including an excellent dinner in the Tacurong City gymnasium. At
the same place we got a chance to officially meet our tour participants- a
diverse group from Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan, Cambodia, and Ireland- and give
them a quick briefing on the birding trip to come.
The next morning was another
very, very early one as we left Tacurong around 3:30 in the morning and headed
to the T’boli municipal hall, the jump-off point for Lake Holon. After
arranging food and equipment rentals, we transferred to 4x4 vehicles provided
by the municipality for the long drive to the trailhead. Getting to the
trailhead means 2 hours of driving on very, very rough dirt roads through small
villages and banana plantations. Previously getting to Sitio Kule, the start of
the Kule Trail, required a somewhat terrifying ride on the back of a
motorcycle, but in recent months they’ve made a new road that’s accessible with
a tough 4x4 vehicle. That makes it at least slightly more comfortable, though
it’s still a lot of time being jostled around in the back of a car.
As it turned out, Sitio Kule
still isn’t 100% vehicle accessible- our truck had to stop near the end of the
road as the load of passengers was too heavy to make it up a steep hill. Since
we were so close to the village, we decided to just get out and walk, which was
fine since it was through a decent patch of forest and we were able to start
our birding a bit early. We saw a Turquoise
Flycatcher in the top of a tree nearly as soon as we got down from the
truck, followed by a beautiful male Metallic-winged
Sunbird, near the very top of its altitudinal range. We also had a mixed
flock of Buzzing Flowerpeckers and Rufous-headed Tailorbird, and best of
all a quick flyover from a Mindanao
Lorikeet, our #1 target for the site!
After a bit of walking, we
reached Sitio Kule, a small T’boli village at the foot of Mount Melibengoy.
Previously accessible only by motorbike, Kule has only been open to outside
visitors for a couple of years, before which conflicts in the area meant that
Mount Melibengoy and Lake Holon were almost permanently closed for hikers. The
influx of tourism from the open of the lake has been a huge boon for the local
economy, as villagers now act as guides, porters and cooks for hiking
expeditions. However, the majority of the population remains employed in
farming. Only the younger generations speak Tagalog, while many of the older people
in the area speak only T’boli. T’boli isn’t closely related to Tagalog,
Cebuano, or any of the other widely-spoken Philippine languages, though it’s
closer to Blaan, Manobo, Meranao, and other languages spoken by Mindanao’s
original inhabitants. Unusually for the Philippines, it makes heavy use of the
“F” sound, which many Filipinos struggle to pronounce at all.
We stopped for a bit in Kule to
arrange our bags to give to the porters and drink some excellent native coffee,
then starting hiking on the actual Kule Trail. The hike started through
farmland on the deforested lower slopes of Mount Melibengoy, where we heard
Tawny Grassbird and
Striated Grassbird and had good looks
at the
Ridgetop Swiftlets and
Philippine Swiftlets flying overhead. A
huge
Purple Needletail also flew by
quickly, the first I’ve seen at the site. We had excellent views of a
Colasisi perched on the top of a palm
frond, though I was too busy pointing it out to our tour participants to get a
photo. Once we reached the forest edge, the mixed flocks started almost
immediately; we had wave after wave of
Turquoise
Flycatchers, Yellow-bellied Whistlers, Cinnamon Ibon, Buzzing Flowerpeckers,
Olive-capped Flowerpeckers, and
Negros
Leaf Warblers passing by us, though usually too high and backlit for good
photos. A
Bundok Flycatcher was seen
in the underbrush, while we also heard
White-browed
Shortwing and
Red-eared Parrotfinch,
an excellent first record for the site. Even better, the forest was
regularly pierced by the explosive squawks of
Mindanao Lorikeets!
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Buzzing Flowerpecker |
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Cinnamon Ibon |
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Lagriini sp. I think |
This was the first time birding
in the Philippines for most of our participants, so any endemic bird we saw was
a good bird. Really though, what we were looking for most were the lorikeets.
Mindanao Lorikeets are considered “Near-threatened” by the IUCN, but really that’s
an underestimate of the dire situation that they’re in. They're supposedly found in most mountains of the Philippines, but they've been decimated over the past decades alone by trapping
for the pet trade. Within the past 10 years they’ve most likely been completely
extirpated from the well-known birding sites of Mount Talomo, Mount Apo, and
Mount Kitanglad, with no reliable sightings there that I know of in the last 5
years. They were previously seen semi-regularly in small numbers at Pete’s
birding site in the Compostela Valley, but haven’t been spotted at all this
year, perhaps because a trapper managed to find that flock’s roosting area.
Considering the drastic decline in population over the past couple of decades,
they at least merit a listing as Endangered, perhaps even Critically
Endangered. Very, very few people have seen them recently, and before this trip
only 7 people I know of had ever photographed them in the wild- four of whom
(myself included) photographed them during my last visit to Lake Holon.
Miraculously, they’re still found
in healthy numbers on Lake Holon, the only safe and accessible site that I know
of for them. The locals tell me that they haven’t hunted or trapped them in
years, and trapping is likely also discouraged by the strict entry requirements
for the mountain. Hikers (or birders) must pre-book a climb on the mountain with
the T’boli tourism office, and the no-book-no-climb policy is strictly
enforced. The T’boli municipality and tourism office deserve lots of kudos for
the excellent job they’ve done in preserving the environment around Lake Holon,
and hopefully the enforcement of environmental laws and sustainable tourism
policies will continue.
We stopped at a small stream and
hot spring for an excellent lunch of rice, adobo and pancit, prepared
boodle-fight style on banana leaves and eaten with our hands. After lunch was a
steeper section, following switchbacks up the edge of the ravine, and then
another flat bit. When I reached the top of the switchbacks, I found lots of
people stopped staring at a fruiting bangkal tree- it turned out that they had
seen a feeding Mindanao Lorikeet! It wasn’t there at first, but with a bit of
waiting, a pair finally returned, and we all had beautiful scope views of them
perched and preening, the rarest of sights!
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Mindanao Lorikeet- crappy record shot from far away |
A bit further up, we encountered
another mixed flock, this one with lots of Black-and-cinnamon
Fantails and a pair of Macgregor’s
Cuckooshrikes. The cuckooshrikes are supposedly monotypic and found on most
mountains of Mindanao besides Mount Apo, but the birds in Compostela Valley
have calls that are quite different from those seen on Mount Kitanglad. The
birds in Lake Holon, meanwhile, are noticeably bigger than the ones in Bukidnon
and ComVal, and also have their own distinctive call- one of the many unsolved
taxonomic mysteries of Western Mindanao.
As we were gathered looking at
the cuckooshrikes, I happened to spot a tiny bird fly into a patch of leaves
right in front of us. Some closer looks in the binoculars revealed a tiny beak
and plumed back-
Mindanao Miniature
Babbler! These are another rarely-seen bird; the smallest in Mindanao, and
known only from three sites, all of which are in Region XII. They’re also
extremely difficult to spot almost everywhere, as they prefer to stay high in
the canopy mixed in with flocks of other birds. I'd seen one on my first visit, albeit terribly, making me possibly the first American ever to see one, and the fifth person ever to get a picture. Unfortunately the bird flew off
before everyone was able to get on it, and my pictures were horribly backlit
and not terribly sharp, but it was still an excellent tick for the day.
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Mindanao Miniature Babbler- another horrid record shot |
Another steep climb brought us
out of the forested area, and, finally, to the crater rim! I’ve heard many
stories of hikers making it all the way to the top of Mount Melibengoy, only to
have a clouded, rainy view of absolutely nothing. However, I’ve always had good
luck- perhaps because they say the guardian spirits of Lake Holon reward people
who climb the mountain with good intentions with good weather. This visit was
no exception, and we had fantastic panoramic views across Lake Holon and the
forest below. Lake Holon is the only sign of Mount Melibengoy’s violent past;
it was created in a massive Pinatubo-style eruption around 300 years ago, which
Spanish records say turned the sky over all of Mindanao black with volcanic ash.
It’s been quiet since then, though it’s being monitored for any
sign that it may awake again.
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The view from the crater rim |
After the overlook, the trail
continued along the crater rim for a time, passing through an area of thick
shrubbery and dwarf forest. This proved to be excellent birding, with some very
good new records- a beautiful male
Flame-crowned
Flowerpecker, a quite difficult-to-find flowerpecker recently split to become a Mindanao endemic, flitted in the
trees above us, along with
Elegant Tit,
Macgregor’s Cuckooshrike, and
Cinnamon
Ibon. We also spotted a brilliant-looking
Island Thrush, only my second time seeing one at Lake Holon. The
Island Thrush here are supposedly part of the
kelleri subspecies found on all mountains of Mindanao except Mount
Kitanglad (which has its own unique form), but this bird looked nothing like
any
kelleri I’ve seen elsewhere, with
a light-grey head clearly contrasting with its dark-brown body. Considering the
Island Thrush’s propensity for extreme subspecific (and perhaps species-level)
diversity, this could be yet another taxonomic knot in Lake Holon that ought to
be sorted out.
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Elegant Tit |
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MacGregor's Cuckooshrike |
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The very strange local Island Thrush |
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Flame-crowned Flowerpecker |
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Cinnamon Ibon |
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Acytolepis puspa |
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Some very cool mushrooms |
The descent from the crater rim
down to the actual lake was quite steep, with barely any time to stop for
birding. Getting to the campsite required a quick trip on a bangka, as the edge
of the crater by the lakeshore is too steep for a trail. In fact, the lake used
to be nearly inaccessible, until a strong earthquake in 1996 sent a huge chunk
of land tumbling from the crater down to the lakeshore, creating what is today
the campsite area.
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Crossing Lake Holon |
It was late afternoon by the time
we reached the campsite, and there was time to do little else but set up camp
and enjoy the sunset over the lake. The next day had been declared a holiday at
the last minute, so the campsite was busier than it usually would be on a
Sunday night. In general that was fine, but it did make owling difficult-
indeed, we heard little but a very distant
Giant Scops Owl that showed little interest in our tape. Owling the
next morning was similarly fruitless, with a calling
Everett’s Scops Owl remaining far out of view. A warning for anyone wanting to visit Lake Holon for birding- do
not attempt to visit on a weekend! The campsite and trails get very overcrowded and noisy. Sunrise over the
lake was stunning as always however, despite some inconvenient clouds.
After an early breakfast, we
began walking very, very slowly up the Salacafe trail to see what other
Mindanao endemics we could catch a glimpse of. After some limited playback, we
were able to coax a male
White-browed
Shortwing out in the open for a short while, enjoying its loud, beautiful
song. A
Black-and-cinnamon Fantail was
seen sitting on its nest, as well as many others flitting around in mixed
flocks, joined by
Sulphur-billed
Nuthatches, Yellow-bellied Whistlers, Rufous-headed Tailorbirds and
Negros Leaf-warblers. Negros Leaf
Warblers are yet another of Lake Holon’s taxonomic puzzles; for one thing,
they’re all pale grey, rather than the yellowish tinge I’m used to seeing
around Davao. For another, there are two distinct forms- one with a clear
eyebrow, and one with a massive eyering, the likes of which I’ve
never seen on another phylloscopus in the Philippines.
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Black-and-cinnamon Fantail |
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Rufous-headed Tailorbird, split from Mountain Tailorbird |
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Yellow-bellied Whistler |
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Turquoise Flycatcher |
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Eyering-free Negros Leaf-warbler- much paler than the ones elsewhere in Mindanao |
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Eyeringed Negros Leaf-warbler |
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Pithecops corvus corax |
We paused on our way up for an
extended rest in a small clearing, just wide enough for us all to gather and
look at the mixed flocks above us. We had excellent views of a few female
T’boli Sunbirds, recorded only from the
mountains of south-central Mindanao, and a major specialty of Lake Holon. Even
better were the knock-out views we had of a pair of
Mindanao Lorikeets perched just meters in front of us! The best
view most people have of these is as small green bullets flying above them, so to have perched views two days in a row was the rarest of birding experiences.
Flush with success after our
walkaway views at an incredible rare bird, some of decided to stay around at
the clearing for a bit of a rest, while others continued uphill a bit further
to a clearing that can be excellent for sunbirds, flowerpeckers and raptors.
Sure enough, at the clearing we had more great views of a female
T’boli Sunbird sitting and preening
herself. On the way back down, we happened upon another fruiting tree, which
held feeding
Coleto, Philippine
Cuckoo-dove, Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis, and, amazingly, even more perched
Mindanao Lorikeets.
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Female T'boli Sunbird |
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Coleto with a photobombing Philippine Cuckoo-dove |
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Mindanao Lorikeet (again!) |
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Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis |
In the late afternoon a smaller
group of us went back up the trail for another bit of birding and a final try
at owling. We were able to coax a
Bagobo
Babbler and
Long-tailed Bush Warbler
quite close to us, though neither of them showed themselves in the open.
Once it fell dark we tried owling once more and, amazingly, were rewarded with
an
Everett’s Scops Owl sitting
quietly in the undergrowth just a few meters in front of us! Certainly the best
views I’ve ever had of this common but shy endemic bird.
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Everett's Scops-owl |
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Roosting Yellow-bellied Whistler |
The next morning was our last in
Lake Holon, and we didn’t have too much time to delay as some of our delegates
had to be in the airport by that afternoon. Still, we had time to enjoy the
sunrise, and watch an immature
White-bellied
Sea Eagle (very far from the sea) being mobbed by
Large-billed Crows.
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White-bellied Sea Eagle being mobbed |
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Janardana Bushbrown (Mycalesis janardana micromede) |
On our final descent from the
mountain, birding was a bit hurried as we had lunch to eat and planes to catch.
Still, we had time to stop and call in a very responsive
Striated Wren-babbler, as well as enjoy some new birds in the form
of
Citrine Canary-flycatcher and
Flame-crowned Flowerpecker. An even
better find near the bottom of the trail was a calling
Whiskered Flowerpecker! We didn’t have time to try and find it
properly, but even the fact they’re in the area is very, very good as so far as
I know there are only three or four other known sites for this highly localized
Mindanao endemic.
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Buzzing Flowerpecker |
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Citrine Canary-flycatcher |
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Coppersmith Barbet |
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Calomera mindanaoensis, a great-looking endemic tiger beetle |
Lunch was the typical excellent
fare we’d come to expect: traditional cuisine in a T’boli longhouse, hosted by
the T’boli royal family themselves. We also got the chance to meet with
Margaux, the Senior Tourism Officer of the municipality, who’s been behind
developing community-based tourism in T’boli along with the LGU and the local
tribe. They’ve really done a fantastic job of all of it, and I have a massive
amount respect for all of them for the good work they’ve done so far- hopefully
it can be a model of sustainable, community-conscious tourism that the rest of
the country can emulate.
The next destination for some of us that afternoon was SNA, back in Sultan Kudarat, but that entry will have to wait a bit, as I think this one is quite long enough already.
Great story. Look forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDeleteHi sir... i'm armin hautea of the DOT region xii (soccsksargen). DOT central office isnlooking for materials like this to be included in its promotion of birding in the Philippines. Your article is so complete that I wish to ask ur permission to be used by DOT so that birding in soccsksargen will be promoted.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much.
Dear sir Armin, my apologies for my very late response! Yes, please go ahead and use this article in promoting SOCCSKSARGEN tourism and birding.
Delete