Our partners in the ALDAW indigenous network in the Philippines have called on us for our help. The Philippine government plans to promote oil palm plantations on a vast scale on the tropical islands of Mindanao and Palawan, on rainforest land and the ancestral homes of small farmers and indigenous peoples. The residents own the land, and grow fruits, vegetables, rice and coconut palms there. They also use the forests as a source of food and materials for house construction and crafts.

With their sustainable way of life, the indigenous peoples have helped preserve their natural treasures, including many animal and plant species in danger of extinction. Because of this abundance, Palawan has been listed as a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve since 1990. The government’s palm oil plans are an existential threat to the future of the indigenous residents and their environment.

Please support ALDAW in petitioning the government of the Philippines:

The idea of organizing a night safari tours where tourists can spot tarsiers and other unique wildlife was carried out by Cristy Burlace, founder of Simply Butterflies Conservation Centre in Bilar, and Milada Řeháková, Tarsius project leader, already in 2010. Unfortunately there is not much tradition in organizing jungle safaris in the Philippines therefore it was hard to make tourist to come over. The situation changed in 2012. The Tarsius project got a substantial support from Czech Ministry of foreign affairs which helped us to focus more on development of ecotourism in neighbouring Rajah Sikatuna National Park.

With new promotional fliers a new round of promotion has been done and the Night Safari in Bilar has become more popular over the last three months. “We track the feedback of safari guest by asking them to complete a questionnaire at the end of the safari.  100% said it was better that expected and 95% said they would recommend it to others.  Groups that have encountered the wild tarsier have been totally trilled with the experience.  All groups have thoroughly enjoy their encounter in the rainforest at night, seeing and learning about the animals and plants that they normally don’t have a chance to experience in a truly wild situation.  Been in the safety of a trained guide, guest have enjoyed watching snakes and spiders that they would normally want to kill or run away from”, says Cristy Burlace.

What is the night safari tour?

Tarsiers, a symbol of Bohol and natural heritage of the Philippines as well as many other unique wildlife of Bohol are nocturnal. Therefore we present our night safaris making this the best time to observe tarsiers and other nocturnal wildlife in their natural habitat, and in the natural activity period. Dusk is when the nocturnal animals are just waiting up and starting to feed. The nocturnal way of the world that we don’t normally take the time to stop and look at, is in fact full of life. Besides tarsiers you can encounter flying lemurs, civet cats, bats and fruit bats, owls, frog mouths, nightjars. Frogs and various insect species will sing one of the most fascinating concerts of nature. Thousands of shiny eyes or glowing mushrooms will bring you to the world of fairy-tales. We want to offer a positive eco friendly way to experience the wildlife in natural surrounding and bring about awareness of habitat conservation. Proceeds from Nigh Safari go towards habitat protection, wildlife conservation and provide better eco-friendly livelihood for locals.

If you are searching for an inspiration for your holiday come and join the Night Safari tour inside the Rajah Sikatuna National Park, Bilar and get an amazing experience of being in the tropical forest after dusk. You may enjoy the unique wildlife with all your senses and learn about all the wonders that can be encountered in the forest at night.

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Cover image by Petr Slavik taken during fieldwork on the Tarsius Project.

The Philippine tarsier is a small nocturnal prosimian. Due to its cute appearance of little pixy it is often sold on illegal pet market. Together with destruction of forests, their natural habitat, it leads to a serious population decline. The Tarsius project, led by a Czech zoologist RNDr. Milada Řeháková, Ph.D., has been focused on the conservation of this unique animal since 2009. Thanks to its intensive work the project team has achieved several successes. Beside collection of valuable data about tarsier biology that were collected during two years study, the team accomplished closing of several facilities along the main tourist road showing tarsiers in unsuitable conditions were they died very soon and were replenished by new tarsiers captured from the wild. This happened soon after Dr. Milada Řeháková together with the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Josef Rychtar submitted reports to the Secretary of the Environment Ramon Paje and Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio.
„Most of the illegally caught tarsiers were sold to these facilities; therefore we believe that this step will lead to significant decrease of tarsiers caught from the wild. But the conservation education of a local community and visitors that come to Bohol Island to see the tarsiers is equally important. Otherwise the locals will find another way how to renew their business”, says Dr. Milada Řeháková.
Therefore the Tarsius project team prepared follow-up steps that include development of the visitors’ centre of the partner organization Simply Butterflies Conservation Centre and prepared educational materials. The project also focuses on development of ecotourism in areas where tarsiers occur by organizing night safari tours where tourists can spot tarsiers and other unique wildlife. The efforts of the Tarsius project were supported by the Embassy of Czech Republic and this year funded by Ministry of foreign affairs as a part of development cooperation.
The Philippines and Bohol Island are visited by a growing number of tourists every year. Experiencing the night jungle can be a welcome enrichment of holiday and also a way to help the local nature to deal with growing pressure of human population.

Night safari – photo Milada Řeháková

Photo: Zdeněk Lokaj, National Geographic

The newest edition of Czech National Geographic contains  a reportage of Zdeněk Lokaj about his travel to Borneo and Bohol, tarsier and the Tarsius project. An interview about tarsiers and also rediscovery of the Dinagat Island cloud rat can be found in the latest edition of Czech Cosmopolitan.

Photo by Petr Slavík

Acoustic communication, that is how the tarsiers talk to each other, was one of the main goals of our research of the Philippine tarsiers living on Bohol Island. Tarsiers as nocturnal animals use especially olfactory and acoustic communication. Thanks to the huge eyes their vision is also very good. The Philippine tarsiers are quite solitary, in opposite to some of related Indonesian species. They spend most of the time alone, during hunting at night as well as daily resting. Therefore, we were interested how rich is their acoustic repertoire. Several months long research during two years, hours and hours spent in the forest and thousands of audio records led us to desired results that have just been published in scientific journal International Journal of Zoology.

The easiest way how to find a tarsier is after sunset. You sit in the forest and wait to hear a whistle-like “loud call”. The loud call is typical for all tarsier species as well as other nocturnal primates and serves in long-distance communication, advertising of the territory or communication with a partner. We have discovered that Philippine tarsiers use three types of these long-distance calls. Moreover, individual differences can be found in these calls. Based on the sound you can recognize which individual is calling. It is for the first time in tarsiers that such individual differences in calls have been revealed. Some other calls are very soft and audible only from immediate proximity. For example a kind of chirping sound that is very similar to ubiquitous sounds of insects and even our experienced hunter Julius had problems with distinguishing it. A big surprise was a sound resembling rather a bird song than a tarsier call. Tarsier mother and baby use other two types of calls that have not been recorded in adult animals.

Our findings have also conservation significance. Based on the calls we can monitor the animals in the wild, record their distribution and distinguish individual. Comparison with other tarsier species can help us to resolve their relationships. The original article can be downloaded here.

Copyright text and audio: Milada Řeháková, the Tarsius Project

Photo by Petr Slavík

Unique tarsier pictures showing tarsier feeding, movement or mother care where published in Daily Mail. Pictures were made by Petr Slavík during his participation in the Tarsius project on Bohol Island, Philippines.

“Who you looking at? Tiny primate uses his big eyes to spot up his dinner from his perch”… Read more

Photo by Petr Slavík

See the amazing pictures of tarsiers made by Czech wildlife photographer Petr Slavík and read about tarsiers in The Sun magazine.

“AN UNFORTUNATE grasshopper makes an easy meal for one of the planet’s cutest critters.” read more…

“Here at ARKive, we love a conservation success story, and we were delighted when ARKive media donor Dr. Milada Řeháková-Petrů got in touch to share with us the latest news on the Tarsius Project – a research and conservation organisation centred around the Philippine tarsier. Read more…