Into The Mangroves of Bohol

Where there are mangroves, there are no white, sandy beaches. Maybe this explains why mangroves are almost non-existent to a number of tourists. There is no swimming and gaily-colored umbrellas, no snorkeling, no sandcastles for the children and no room for a little tanning.

Bohol, the home of the much-publicized Chocolate Hills or the tarsiers with their bulging eyes is part of Smart Communication, Inc.’s efforts to promote ecotourism and responsible travel among its employees.

The Cambuhat River and Village tour is about an hour-and-a-half ride to the town of Buenavista some 83 kilometers from Tagbilaran City. The tour started with a ride on a paddleboat.

There was so much to see. Aside from the mangroves, there were family-managed oyster culture farms, birds, vintas slowly sailing past, the occasional pumpboat carrying drinking water chug-chugging slowly past and a view along the riverbank as one passes by the nipa huts that broke the line of mangrove trees every now and then.

Oysters, fish, brackish water lobsters, mudcrabs could be taken from the mangroves. Accompanied by fresh buko juice, one’s meal is an excellent mangrove surprise. Female members of the Cambuhat Enterprise Development and Fishermen’s Association (CEDFA), the village cooperative which manages the tour, performed the Buri dance, which showed how they made sago out of the Buri palm tree.

After Cambuhat, one can go to Banacon Island which covers 1,764 hectares, of which only 11 hectares is land. The rest are mangroves. Dioscuro Canlubo, president of the Banacon Fisherfolk and Mangrove Planter’s Association said that member-families are allocated a section of mangroves to maintain.

Canlubo said they are allowed to cut mangroves for firewood or for house construction only if they replant. Since residents are well aware of the plantation’s environment impact, this posed no problem.

In the plantation, the section of mangroves which had been planted by Eugenio Paden, the mangroves stood taller than the rest, in testimony to the efforts of the man who had started planting mangroves in 1957 to make himself selfreliant.

Paden’s brother, who worked in the Bureau of Forestry, had advised him to plant mangroves to attract fish and other aquatic species to the area. A government ban on the cutting of mangroves in 1982 aided Paden’s efforts.

Now, Banacon Island reportedly has the largest manmade mangrove forest in the Philippines, if not in Asia. In recognition of Paden’s efforts, residents have named the “highway’’ that cuts through the mangroves after him.

In Barangay Panadtaran in Candijay, Bohol, the trek starts passing by marshlands were one could go birdwatching.

Here, members of the Panadtaran Mangrove Association (PAMAS) serenades tourists. One can take a walk along the bamboo walkways that had been constructed well into the trees. They have their tour guide – Demetrio Olaivar who rattles off local and scientific names of the trees and their uses.

The fruit of the bakauan babae, for example, is peeled and eaten; the lugs of its stem can be made into wine. Its bark, roots and fruits make good mosquito repellants, cure for leprosy, elephantiasis, asthma, fever, convulsion and sore throat. Its leaves are a good tea substitute and can cure rheumatism.

Lady members of the PAMAS had undergone training in cooking and table presentation. Like their counterparts in Cambuhat, they had sought to master the skills so essential to tourism – basic skills for tour guides, knowledge of their environment and other relevant training. Though they stammered every now and then, their sincerity and their desire to please the tourists more than made up for it.

The Cambuhat, Panadtaran and Banacon Island tours are learning showcases developed under the Coastal Resource Management Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the United States Agency for International Development.

Though some distance from Tagbilaran City, the towns of Buenavista, Candijay and Getafe can be easily reached from a good hotel in the city or from a beach resort in Panglao Island within the day. For the tourist who’s a little tired of sand and sea all day long, these tours can be worked into the itinerary.