Other sights in The Visayas
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Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary
The Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary takes in 1030 hectares of sand flats and mangroves on Olango’s southern shores. This is a vital refuelling depot for around 50,000 birds of 47 species (including the endangered Chinese egret Egretta eulophotes and Asiatic dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus) on the east-Asian migratory route to Australia. The birds, which prefer Olango to neighbouring islands because of the abundant food and ideal nesting sites, arrive in late September and leave in early March, but the best time for twitchers is between November and February. Tragically, you may also encounter organised hunting parties, which are imperilling shorebird populations.
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Rajah Sikatuna National Park
The Rajah Sikatuna National Park is an immense 9000 hectares of native molave forest and grasslands, kilometres of haphazardly marked trails, more than 100 caves and a dubious camping area (per person P30) that is little more than a sign in a small, cleared zone. With assistance from foreign NGOs, the Philippine government is trying to protect the park from gradual destruction by providing alternative livelihood programs for illegal loggers – it’s potentially prime birdwatching territory and home to tarsiers, flying lemurs, civet cats, monitor lizards and monkeys. The crew at nearby Nuts Huts may be able to suggest walks.
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Basilica Minore del Santo Niño
This holiest of churches is a real survivor. Built in 1565 and burnt down three times, it was rebuilt in its present form in 1737. Perhaps it owes its incendiary past to the perennial bonfire of candles in its courtyard, stoked by an endless procession of pilgrims and other worshippers. The object of their veneration is a Flemish image of the infant Jesus, sequestered in a chapel to the left of the altar. It dates back to Magellan’s time and is said to be miraculous (which it probably had to be to survive all those fires). Every year, the image is the centrepiece of Cebu’s largest annual event, the Sinulog festival.
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Victorias Milling Company
There’s historic paraphernalia on display at the huge Victorias Milling Company, in the town of Victorias, north of Silay. Victorias was the world’s biggest mill during the ’60s and ’70s and is the site of the Church of St Joseph the Worker, which features a claustrophobically dense liturgical mural by Alfonso Ossorio, a contemporary of Jackson Pollock. Jeepneys run all day to Victorias from Silay (P20, 45 minutes). No shorts, sandals or cameras are allowed at Victorias.
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Dizon Ramos Museum
If you’re interested in getting a sense of how the upper-middle class lived in Bacolod in the 1950s, you could go to the oddball Dizon Ramos Museum. Among the artefacts deemed worthy to preserve for posterity are immense collections of naff ceramics, glassware and religious knick-knacks. The real treat is upstairs, where the dining table set for Sunday dinner, phonograph, brown fridge, waterbed and cheesy family photos appear undisturbed since Elvis left the building.
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Tarsier Research & Development Center
Just beyond the attractive jungle-fringed town of Corella, near the village of Sikatuna, is the Tarsier Research & Development Center, a tarsier sanctuary open to the general public. This simultaneously crazy and cuddly looking little primate can fit in the palm of your hand yet leap 5m, rotate its head almost 360 degrees, and move its ears in the direction of sound, and it has huge imploring eyes, 150 times bigger than a human’s in relation to its body size.
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Santo Niño Shrine & Heritage Center
A must is the Santo Niño Shrine & Heritage Center, a palatial guesthouse built to Imelda Marcos’ specifications but never slept in. It houses an extraordinary collection of antiques and objets d’art, and in every room there is a diorama of Imelda in the midst of one beneficial act or another. The centre is sadly underfunded and crumbling almost before your eyes; kept open by a hardy bunch of committed locals, it’s well worth the entry fee for a guided tour.
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Negros Museum
The lovingly curated Negros Museum houses displays that focus on the island’s rich history, from Spanish missions to cane plantations and revolution. Dominating the main exhibition hall are the sugar-hauling Iron Dinosaur steam engine and a replica of a batil (cargo boat), laden with bananas, bags of sugar and a few anachronistic items such as San Miguel beer and Tanduay rum. The museum also has a small art gallery and cafe.
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Negros Forests & Ecological Foundation
A zoo with a difference, the Negros Forests & Ecological Foundation is a ‘wildlife rescue and captive breeding centre’ that seeks to preserve endangered animals endemic to Negros. Staffed by volunteers, it houses about 15 different species, including deer, wildcats and birds of prey. Now that only 3% of the island’s original forest cover remains, this could well be one of the most precious pieces of land in the Philippines.
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Naomi’s Bottle Museum & Book Club
When global warming eventually catches up with the precarious waterside structures of Moalboal, there is at least one place whose legacy is guaranteed well into the future. Marooned above the dive centres, bars and rampant commerce of Panagsama Beach is Naomi’s Bottle Museum & Book Club, where you can cast off your preloved paperbacks and pluck words of wisdom from a bottle.
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Anthropology Museum & Centre for the Study of Philippine Living Culture
The Anthropology Museum & Centre for the Study of Philippine Living Culture has displays including artefacts from Siquijor and ancient Chinese bits and pieces dug up on various Philippine islands. It’s in the central campus area. Enter from Hibbard Ave, the extension of Perdices St, and head to the old building with the staircase at front.
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MacArthur Memorabilia Rooms
World War II buffs will want to visit the MacArthur memorabilia rooms on the 2nd floor of the College Assurance Plan (CAP) building. Housed in rooms that MacArthur used in the (now decaying) grandeur of the 1910 Price Mansion, this is a charming mini museum. Ask the watchman downstairs to let you in.
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Centrop
Centrop is a small zoo and research centre housing 16 species of indigenous mammals, reptiles and birds, including the endangered Philippine spotted deer and the Visayan warty pig. If you’re planning a hike at Twin Lakes or Mt Kanlaon, come here first to familiarise yourself with the fauna.
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Orchid Farm
For something sedate, unwind at the orchid farm just out of Moalboal; a tricycle from Moalboal proper should cost P70.
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