Sikatuna- Corella Biodiversity and Tarsier Conservation Area

Overview

The Sikatuna-Corella Biodiversity and Tarsier Conservation Area is a component of the larger Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected zone spanning the municipalities of Corella, Sikatuna, and Loboc in central Bohol. The area is managed by the Philippine Tarsier Foundation (PTFI) in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The Philippine tarsier (Carlito syrichta) is one of the world’s smallest primates, nocturnal and highly sensitive to stress. The conservation area is one of the more appropriate places to observe tarsiers in Bohol because encounters happen in the animal’s actual forest habitat rather than in captive enclosures. Tarsiers in the wild cling to small saplings and low-hanging branches in secondary and primary forest; they do not interact with visitors.

The site also functions as a research and education center. Information boards throughout the protected area explain tarsier behavior, diet, breeding, and the conservation challenges facing the species, including habitat loss and the illegal pet trade.

Location

The conservation area falls within the municipalities of Sikatuna and Corella in central Bohol, approximately 12–15 km northeast of Tagbilaran City. The Corella section is the most frequently visited entry point.

Detailed local routes and trail directions are best verified with local guides or municipal tourism offices on arrival.

Getting There

From Tagbilaran City, take a jeepney or van toward Corella (approximately 20–30 minutes). The PTFI-managed sanctuary entrance in Corella is the standard visitor access point. Habal-habal from Corella town center can reach the sanctuary gate.

Detailed local routes and trail directions are best verified with local guides or municipal tourism offices on arrival.

Practical Info

• Manager: Philippine Tarsier Foundation (PTFI) / DENR
• Guide: trained guides lead all visitor groups — mandatory
• Group size: small groups only
• Photography: no flash photography permitted — tarsiers are highly sensitive to bright light
• Noise: strict silence required during observation
• Entry fee: ₱150 (₱120 seniors/PWDs/students); open 8:30 AM–3:30 PM daily
• Best time: early morning or late afternoon (tarsiers are crepuscular/nocturnal — daytime visits observe resting animals)

What to Expect

Upon arrival, a trained guide leads visitors along a shaded forest trail. Tarsiers are pointed out at their daytime roosting positions — usually clinging to vertical saplings at eye level or slightly above. They typically stay still during daylight hours.

Visitors must keep silent and keep flash photography off at all times. Tarsier stress responses include self-harm; the foundation’s strict protocols exist specifically to prevent this. The observation period is brief, but the proximity — tarsiers do not flee — is closer than any enclosure encounter would allow.

Information boards along the trail cover the tarsier’s biology, habitat requirements, and the threat landscape.

Conservation Status and Legal Protection

The Philippine tarsier is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, though its firmer protection comes from Philippine law: Proclamation No. 1030, signed in 1997, declared the species specially protected, prohibiting hunting, killing, or possession outside a DENR-certified setting. The sanctuary’s long-time field supervisor, Carlito Pizarras, a Corella native who has cared for the resident tarsiers since the late 1990s, has an unusual scientific footnote: when taxonomists split the Philippine tarsier into its own genus in 2010, they named it Carlito in his honor.

Local Lore

Tarsiers carry a layer of folklore older than the conservation program. A belief recorded across the southern Philippines holds that tarsiers are pets of forest spirits who dwell in balete trees, and that harming one invites sickness or misfortune unless the offender apologizes to the spirit. Older residents in tarsier habitat have cited this belief as a reason for leaving the animals alone long before formal protection existed — a much older set of local instincts pointing toward the same no-touching, no-flash rules the sanctuary now enforces.

Notes

• The PTFI sanctuary in Corella is distinct from commercial “tarsier sanctuaries” in Loboc that keep animals in cages; the conservation area is the responsible alternative
• Tarsiers are wild animals — encounters are not guaranteed but are generally reliable given the density of the population in the protected zone
• The conservation area spans three municipalities; the Corella entrance is the most developed for visitors