When we went to the Philippines last summer, we knew, with our critter filled trip, we were out of China. Before travelling to the Philippines we had lived in China for 3 years. Not just China but a Chinese city. A big city. Chinese cities mean lots of tall buildings & lots of planned "green." There's not a whole lot of country side to be enjoyed near where we lived. We had mountains, but they were hiked often & filled with people most days, which isn't ideal for wild life. There was a point one time that Zachary and I both realized we rarely saw birds! That was so weird to us, coming from the States where we have birds everywhere! Not just birds but lots of deer and other wild life. I mean, just counting road kill (haha), we probably daily see a skunk, armadillo or possum! Not so in China! Crazy thing, my city grown students had never seen a frog in real life!!! That's insane to this Texas girl who grew up catching frogs & lizards. Anyways, back to our time in the Philippines where we saw TONS of critters! 
Every morning the Loboc river would flow over it's banks and under our bamboo raise lodge. By noon, the water flowed back out & things dried out a little, leaving tons & TONS of little crabs. I loved sitting outside on our balcony and watching them. Mostly, I'd just spit down at them to see them scurry away scared of what was falling but then bravely go up to my spit and eat it. I know, I'm classy. It was interesting, what can I say.
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The Loboc fireflies were probably the coolest critters we saw, not because we've never seen fire flies before, we grew up catching them during Texas summers, but because of how they'd fill trees along the river at night. They'd light up trees like Christmas lights.
Another favorite and bucket list critter, were the monkeys living on a little island at our resort. The resort some how got them all on this little island. They are afraid of water so they never leave the island, therefore they never bother guests. Monkeys, I've heard, are actually terrible pests! They're so cute to us Americans but many who live near them don't think they're very cute because of all their antics. Anyways, don't feel too sorry for these stranded-on-a-little-Island monkeys, the resort takes lots of fruit and food out to them twice a day. 
One night this huge gecko was putting on a show for us. By show I mean just hanging out on the ceiling & being a really cool and interesting gecko, therefore the topic of our conversation & entertainment for awhile.
I loved this guy, too. Every morning we'd look out our window and see him lounging in the marsh.
This guy is a Bohol tarsier. Tarsiers are only found in a few places in the world & one of those places happens to be the Philippines. Visiting them at the Tarsier Conservation Center is on the top of the list of things to do in Bohol. They are timid & adorable.
Huge butterflies can be seen at Simply Butterflies Conservation Center. You can even hold some of them! There are tons of beautiful species in Bohol & many are being protected at the Conservation Center. 
This is Prony the python! She's also famous in Bohol. She, above, is actually the replacement Prony after Prony died, but she's huge & looks basically the same. You can hold her, too! 
I know, ducks are everywhere, but why leave them out?
There are tons of extremely cute dogs wandering around Bohol, too! I know, I know you have to be careful when playing with off leash dogs. (Though this guys was on a rope.) But most have wagging tails & are super friendly. 
The following guys were in cages at Prony the Phython
s park, so technically they are not really wild life critters, but they are animals local to Bohol, so I'll include them. Except, isn't seeing animals in cages, especially small cages, so sad? The worst is seeing a bird in a small cage! Sorry little guy!
That's all for now. We saw quite a few animals in just a few days, didn't we?! And these were just the land animals. Leaving the concrete jungle opens up a whole new world of experiences with nature. :) I love it!
Every morning the Loboc river would flow over it's banks and under our bamboo raise lodge. By noon, the water flowed back out & things dried out a little, leaving tons & TONS of little crabs. I loved sitting outside on our balcony and watching them. Mostly, I'd just spit down at them to see them scurry away scared of what was falling but then bravely go up to my spit and eat it. I know, I'm classy. It was interesting, what can I say.
source
The Loboc fireflies were probably the coolest critters we saw, not because we've never seen fire flies before, we grew up catching them during Texas summers, but because of how they'd fill trees along the river at night. They'd light up trees like Christmas lights.
Another favorite and bucket list critter, were the monkeys living on a little island at our resort. The resort some how got them all on this little island. They are afraid of water so they never leave the island, therefore they never bother guests. Monkeys, I've heard, are actually terrible pests! They're so cute to us Americans but many who live near them don't think they're very cute because of all their antics. Anyways, don't feel too sorry for these stranded-on-a-little-Island monkeys, the resort takes lots of fruit and food out to them twice a day. One night this huge gecko was putting on a show for us. By show I mean just hanging out on the ceiling & being a really cool and interesting gecko, therefore the topic of our conversation & entertainment for awhile. I loved this guy, too. Every morning we'd look out our window and see him lounging in the marsh.
This guy is a Bohol tarsier. Tarsiers are only found in a few places in the world & one of those places happens to be the Philippines. Visiting them at the Tarsier Conservation Center is on the top of the list of things to do in Bohol. They are timid & adorable.
Huge butterflies can be seen at Simply Butterflies Conservation Center. You can even hold some of them! There are tons of beautiful species in Bohol & many are being protected at the Conservation Center. This is Prony the python! She's also famous in Bohol. She, above, is actually the replacement Prony after Prony died, but she's huge & looks basically the same. You can hold her, too! I know, ducks are everywhere, but why leave them out?
There are tons of extremely cute dogs wandering around Bohol, too! I know, I know you have to be careful when playing with off leash dogs. (Though this guys was on a rope.) But most have wagging tails & are super friendly. The following guys were in cages at Prony the Phythons park, so technically they are not really wild life critters, but they are animals local to Bohol, so I'll include them. Except, isn't seeing animals in cages, especially small cages, so sad? The worst is seeing a bird in a small cage! Sorry little guy!
That's all for now. We saw quite a few animals in just a few days, didn't we?! And these were just the land animals. Leaving the concrete jungle opens up a whole new world of experiences with nature. :) I love it!
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