Go Philippines: Chocolate Hills in Bohol

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Chocolate Hills in Bohol

The Chocolate Hills are the famous tourist attraction in Bohol Island, composed of 1,776 hills spread in an area of more than 50 square km in the towns of Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan. The hills is a grass covered limestone and green in color during rainy season and turns to chocolate brown during dry season as the grass dry up, hence the name came from. The shape is generally cone or dome shaped with height varies from 30 to 50 m high with the highest of 120 m.

The Chocolate hills were the uplift of coral deposits, fractured by tectonic processes and the results of the action of rainwater, surface water, ground water and erosion and developed through hundreds of thousands of years. The chocolate hills are considered to be a remarkable example of karst topography.

Two hills were developed into resorts for tourism. The one is located in Carmen, Bohol located in Barangay Buenos Aires called "Chocolate Hills Complex" that is owned and operated by the government. The Chocolate Hills Complex has a restaurant, hotel with swimming pool and observation deck located 64m above the ground with 360 degree view of the surrounding area for easy viewing of the chocolate hills. The other resort is the "Sagbayan Peak" located in Sagbayan town. Viewing is made from the deck of an elevated ridge that provides an unobsructed view of Chocolate Hills and the sea of Cebu City. Aside from viewing, Sagbayan Peak offers restaurant, children's park, hotel, swimming pool, driving range and butterfly dome. Tarsier sanctuary and a 100 hectare golf course is also planned.

The Chocolate Hills are included in Philippine Tourism Authority's list of tourist destinations and declared as the country's 3rd National Geographic Monument and proposed for inclusion in UNESCO World Heritage List under the criteria of superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.