But please take note that the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary is not only the place where the giraffes from Africa are kept. There were also other animals there like the zebra, wild boars, fresh water turtles, mouse deer, eagles, python, and other animals are kept.
How to go to Calauit Safari from Coron?
You can go to Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary from Coron town via land travel and via boat (which is what we did). Whichever works, I’m willing to do the land travel but it seems going there via boat is much better since on the way back you can actually drop by on islands and other Coron tourist spots.It was around 3-5 hours boat ride. We needed to be there before 12noon, best if we’re there before 8am to 9am since we’ll be dropping by to some destinations on the way back, more time for us, more fun, more destinations to drop by. We aimed to be at the port at 5am, sadly we’re able to leave around 6 to 7am. We arrived at the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary around 11am.
The Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary Coron Palawan
The story of these animals are that way back years ago, the Kenya government asked if there’s any country that they could place some number of their animals to be preserved. Philippines former President Ferdinand Marcos somewhat (as I understand it) volunteered to have these animals, and that’s the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary, and yes these animals here are protected. So no hunting, or killing them please.The volunteers of the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary talked to us first before taking the tour, they told us a bit of the history and what to do and not to do while we’re there, and wait for the other volunteers to divide the crowd into groups.
I’m not sure what happened that day, they seem to be not that organized, so the volunteer asked us if it’s okay with us to walk to the giraffe’s area. We all (I believe we did) agreed to walk instead (even we paid extra for taking their jeepney ride, it’s 3,800 hectares and it’s a sunny day so to be safe, we paid extra for the ride. But then again we’re too excited to see the animals there, so we walked.
After more than 10 minutes of walking, we saw a huge open land. It's so huge that it's so beautiful to see from far because it meets with the sky somewhere. Then I heard the volunteer shouting to hurry because they're coming towards us.
I'm like. Who? The people here? Should we be afraid of them?
Because of my blurry vision, I then noticed that something is coming toward us. Not a human for sure.
I then heard footsteps on my left, and saw someone nearer to me.
I was like blown away that it's actually really huge, tall and huge. So I ran after the guide because he said the giraffes may want to go near us and step on us - because they're too tall to see or notice us.
Then we were led to a fenced circle. They told us to get inside the circle so that the giraffes will just wait outside the fence. Then few minutes later, one by one the giraffes there came out and we're all surrounded.
The volunteers there showed us how to feed their favorite leaf, and we just followed instructions so that we can take pictures of us with them.
That's Jackie right there. She's not that huge as the others because she's still young. She's also used with humans feeding her, so she's sweetheart.
Just look at that beautiful face. There were other adults but the other group wants them, but hey, they're checking me out too.
We spent most of our time with the giraffes there but other than the giraffes, we also visited the other animals there. It's farther away, so we ride their very old jeepney to take us to the destinations.
I'm not familiar with all the animals, and I'm not sure if this one is an alligator or a crocodile?
Well, that's fresh water though. And this one too is another one I'm not sure of. I wasn't listening much because I was so happy with the giraffe and the zebras passing by us is more interesting for me.
Ate Rose our guide there at the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary is handling that little guy with sharp teeth very well. She offered it to pass the little guy to me, but I said "No thanks! My Mama's hoping for me to go home complete, even my fingers".
Our guide, ate Rose also brought us to the fresh water turtle...
She was showing us there which one's the female and male. The male ones are the ones with shallow chest.
Then to see the guys in action under water, I dipped my GoPro Hero 2015 down there.
But the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary also have that huge snake. Really, really, huge snake.
Forgot the name of this little guy too. But yeap, you can find him there at the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary.
If you love pigs, but afraid of wild boars, you can get as close as this there. But be aware of the Mama. She's a tough one, and over protective.
Another favorite animal of mine at the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary is the zebras. Was able to follow around this little guy there and get a closer look with him. Like I was actually at his side, and him looking at me like "oh, hello there Ms. Piggy!".
And that's pretty much it there at the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary, we ride the jeepney again!
If you want to meet these guys, don't mind riding the boat for the whole day since early in the morning ( and I mean really early in the morning), and don't mind the long day on the boat, and of course got the budget for this trip. Then go for it! It's a bit more expensive that the usual tours but it was worth it for me, I got my first giraffe kiss! I haven't been kissed too for a long long time. So that makes that worth it I guess. LOL.
But really, I did not regret paying for this trip, and taking time and sleeping on the boat just to see these animals.
How did the kiss happened?
Our guide told ate Rose that we're bloggers, she read the back of my shirt what's my blog. She told me to put the leaves (their food) on my mouth and then suddenly, Jackie there kissed me. Yes, it was a girl! :(Some of the people hate it how it is not safe for the animals or even natural for them to be fed by humans. So, that's up to you too if you want to do this or not because of the animals natural living.
If you have any questions about the Calauit Wildlife Sanctuary or this trip, please do feel free to contact me or just leave it as a comment below.
Our next blog post here in the Exotic Philippines blog will be all about our 3rd day of tour. So it will be this Calauit safari tour and the destinations we've dropped by on the way back. like the Black island, North Cay, Lusong coral garden, and the Lusong Gunboat shipwreck, So please do check out the blog if you want to know more about that and see the third day of tour in Coron video.
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