Going to the Philippines Eagle Centre
I appear to be adjusting to local time well coming from Maldives. I woke around 0500 and then dozed till 0630.
With the aim of going to the Philippine Eagle Centre on the edge of the city, I wasted not time in having my oats and coffee.
I set off around 0720 by foot to the location I had found last night where I saw a bus departing for Calinan. But this morning, there was no bus and no counter open. Wandering around, I found a jeepney stand and bought a ticket.
It was nearly 30 mins of waiting before the jeepney was full with 18 passengers in the back and 2 in front. That’s one short of the licensed capacity of 21 passengers.
In the crowded jeepney.
While air-conditioned, it was still a sweaty (armpits) and squishy ride for most of the 1 hour.
At Calinan, I transferred to a shared tricycle for 10 min ride to the Philippines Eagle Centre.
At the Philippines Eagle Centre
At the centre, I first paid an environment fee at the gate and then an entrance fee at the actual ticket office.
The centre is home to a number of rescued Philippine Eagles and those hatched in captivity. It also houses other eagles, other birds, some monkeys and crocodiles.
While some may be saddened to see the animals caged or chained, one must remember that some of them, especially the birds have not lived in the wild before and are unable to fend for themselves.
It’s very heartening to see so many of the critically endangered Philippine Eagles have hatched in captivity. Some are huge, perhaps around 1.5m from head to tail.
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- It’s hard to get a picture of the large Philippine Eagle, so here’s a photo of a poster.
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- White-bellied sea eagle.
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- Crocodile with it’s mouth open and motionless. It looked fake.
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- Beautiful gardens of the Philippines Eagle Centre.
Back to Davao
After just under an hour, I walked out to the main road to flag down a tricycle. I was dropped at the bus terminal where I found a big suburban bus about to depart for Davao. It cost slightly more at PHP65 instead of the PHP50 by jeepney. But it was worlds apart in terms of comfort!
I managed to hop off the bus in Davao near the hotel. I grabbed a lunch of pre-cooked local-style dishes at the sheds nearby.
The rest of the day was spent in the comfort of my room catching up with reading and tasks on the computer.
Dinner at Chowking (a Filipino Chinese fastfood chain) was a disappointment. The wonton noodle soup was laced with too much salt and MSG. The wontons were pitiful. I had to top up my meal with a cheeseburger from McDonald’s after to ensure I didn’t go to bed hungry.