With my late grandfather being a Bohol native, visits to his province’s most prominent symbol and pride have been countless. I’ve been to Chocolate Hills too many times, and I’ve had a ton of photos taken in front of them. But since it’s Visit Bohol Year 2015, after all, it was my pleasure to revisit, and we made a trip to the new Chocolate Hills Adventure Park, too. Read more…
Thankfully, despite the devastating earthquake that shook Bohol, the Chocolate Hills sustained minimal damage in general. What was greatly damaged, however, was the concrete view deck in Carmen town, although efforts to rehabilitate are underway. (To clarify, the view deck remains open to tourists, and I presume the admission fees would help fix the place.)
That said, the Chocolate Hills still retain their magnificence, enthralling not only our Malaysian friends who’ve gone for the first time but us Filipinos as well.
Right before we went to Carmen, we made a stop at a relatively-new, hot tourist attraction called Chocolate Hills Adventure Park (CHAP). What I’ve been to and am familiar with is in the one in Danao town, but apparently, this one’s making the rounds on social media as well.
CHAP’s exciting outdoor adventure attractions include tree-top rope courses, child rope course, eco-hiking trail, camping, and fish and chicken feeding. Entrance into the park is only 60 PHP, and equally affordable are the activities at 50-400 PHP a person only.
Much as we wanted to dare ourselves to try everything at CHAP, our time allowed us only one, and so we went for the most exhilarating—their much-talked-about bike zip.
While a typical zip line would just glide one across an inclined cable, a bike zip requires pedaling, making it slower and hence more frightening. Looking at what I was about to do made my gut wrench that I admittedly was very, very close in backing out from doing it. But after much cajoling from my friends, I braved the challenge, and it turned out to be a spectacular and memorable experience. Of course, the vantage of the Chocolate Hills made it more worthwhile.
How to get there: Both the Chocolate Hills view deck and Chocolate Hills Adventure Park (CHAP) are in the town of Carmen near to each other. Although buses and v-hires (commuter vans) reach Carmen, private cars and vans are the way to go for tourists in Bohol. Tour vehicle drivers are well-aware of these two attractions. For more information on CHAP, call +63 932 667 7098.
