When In Manila…. head over to the beautiful island known only as Bohol to see the smallest monkey in the world: the Vince… The Philippine Tarsier!
The Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) is often described as “the world’s smallest monkey”. Although purists point out it’s not a monkey, its classification is obscure. Some taxonomists consider tarsiers to be a distinct taxonomic suborder among the primates. Other taxonomists classify the Philippine tarsier along with the lemurs, lorises and bushbabies as prosimians.
There’s actually a lot of different sanctuaries throughout Bohol where you can find these cute little creatures. Most of them do not charge any fee for you to come and view the Philippine Tarsiers but do ask for a donation. to maintain the place.
So don’t be all cheap and just go to take pictures and leave nothing. Spare a few dollars / a few hundred pesos to help preserve the welfare of these cute little critters known as the Philippine Tarsier.
Oh and these little guys / tarsiers look really slow and bored, like a Koala, but don’t let that fool ya coz they move FAST! I wasn’t able to get a video of it, but there was one little Tarsier who wanted to switch trees so he jumped down the tree he was on, took a couple of quick and giant hops, and hopped into another tree in the blink of an eye! Fortunately, the tarsiers are pretty laid back and won’t hurt you, so you can totally take some cool pictures next to them (except for the ninja tarsiers… don’t F with those ones….).
It was actually a very nice trip to Bohol to get re-united with my college buddies from San Diego. I wasn’t the one who planed the trip so I don’t have a lot of the info available, but I was told that most of the tours around Bohol, similar to the one we took, would include a trip to see the Chocolate Hills, to eat on the floating restaurant cruise that floats up the river then see the Tarsiers as well. So just go ahead and book a tour that does those as those seem to be the best attractions.
But don’t forget to set aside at least one morning to head over to the Danao Adventure Park to try THE PLUNGE (like a bungee swing) and their SUI-SLIDE (zipline across mountains).
Check out our post on those Bohol attractions here:
https://www.wheninmanila.com/bungee-swing-plunge-at-danao-adventure-park-bohol-philippines/
https://www.wheninmanila.com/sui-slide-zipline-bohol-longest-and-highest-in-the-philippines/
When In Manila… take a trip to the beautiful island of Bohol!
When In Bohol, be sure to stop and see some Tarsiers. The smallest monkey in the world! The Philippine Tarsier is a certified MUST SEE in Bohol!
Philippine Tarsier in Bohol: Smallest Monkey in the World
