The first time we got to know of Coron was from diving enthusiasts. Like Siargao in Surigao, home of the famed Cloud Nine that brought world attention to this surfing paradise, Coron in Palawan’s northernmost island cluster, is the province’s most marketable dive spot for people tired of Anilao.
We got there upon the invitation of Fiesta Travel’s Wally Trinidad, who booked us on our favorite little airline Asian Spirit to Busuanga airport, returning by StarFerry to Manila. Since we were not into diving, we found super attractions simply by taking in the atmosphere in the country’s largest province, home to 1,780 islands, and billed in tourism flyers as "The Last Ecological Frontier in the Country."
Together with our very good friends in travel – English teacher Richard Signey, and dentist Dr. Malony Santos – we spent the next three days simply lazing around, taking a banca to surrounding islands, and paying a visit to the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary.
Palawan is the country’s largest province, comprising 25 percent of the nation’s islands, but only 1 percent of its population. As such, there are large open spaces, virgin forests, unexplored bays and waterways. Geographically, it is even closer to Malaysia than to the rest of the Philippines. These attributes attract foreign celebrities and movie stars who patronize the very expensive private resorts like Amanpulo and Club Noah.
For us domestic tourists, there is enough left to cram into three days… or a lifetime like Jim and Chris Goll from Seattle, who like many foreign resort dwellers from Boracay to Panglao come for a week and stay forever. We crashed at Goll’s Inn near the pier of Coron Town, and from there took the banca to World War II Japanese wrecks under the sea, dozens of deserted beaches amidst towering limestone cliffs, and the awesome Twin Lakes unreachable during low tide.
A SLICE OF AFRICA IN PALAWAN
What separates Coron, however, from the country’s myriad resort attractions, is the existence of the Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary, home to both endemic and African wildlife. It opened in 1976 with 104 exotic animals which now number more than 400.
Froilan Sariego, long time manager of the preserve reports budget cuts from the national government (currently R4 million annually, compared to R9 million during the Marcos regime), as well as squatters poaching and killing the animals. Still, the park survives with its prime attractions of 27 friendly giraffes, 61 reticent zebra, various antelopes, elans, more than 1000 Calamian deer, porcupine, anteater, turtles, crocodiles, and the bearcat.
Help comes from animal lovers like Wilma Redder from Nebraska who founded the Feathered Friends Foundation. She is an avian vet technician, and has worked as orthodontist on orangutan, mountain cat, jaguar, various birds, turtle and other exotic animals.
It seems that the terrain, vegetation, and climate in Calauit resembled that of a National Park in Kenya, which is what convinced the then Marcos government to transport African animals to their new home. We had heard long ago of Calauit and its unique population, and after coming close to them, petting and feeding the giraffes, gazing at the zebras from afar, it does seem a wonder to find these animals co-existing in a natural habitat with Philippine wildlife in a manner that humans should emulate.
Indeed, in this remote and isolated island, we have found valuable lessons that made our three-day sojourn more meaningful and more complete.
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