13/01/2021
8. Visit Calauit Safari Park
Away from the sea, you can have a wildlife encounter and escapade by joining a Calauit Safari Park adventure. The Calauit Safari Park is a game reserve and wildlife sanctuary that spans 3,700 hectares in Calauit Island off the coast of Palawan province.
It boasts African giraffes and zebras brought over through a supposed translocation habitat experiment between President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. The wildlife sanctuary was established on August 31, 1976.
Formerly known as Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary, the conservation center has since also housed critically endangered animals endemic to Palawan’s Calamianes group of islands.
From the 1980s onward, Calamian deer, pheasant peacock, the Balabac mouse-deer, and the local bearcat shared the sanctuary with more than 100 different species of African giraffe, eland, zebra, impala, bushbuck, gazelle, and waterbuck.
Today, only 2 African species remain with six endemic species. The migrant species are the reticulated giraffe, also known as the Somali giraffe, native to the Horn of Africa, and Grévy’s zebra, the largest extant species of zebra.
Only as few as 25 when they were brought here, the Calamian deer now number between 1,200 and 1,300 — indeed the sanctuary’s best success story.
There is also the Palawan bearded pig, one of 4 wild pig species endemic to the country. They also have the Philippines' porcupine and the Binturong (bearcat). All are considered vulnerable under the Philippine Red List of Threatened Wildlife.
There is also the critically endangered freshwater Philippine crocodile. Only four adults currently exist in the park, but breeding efforts are underway.