Trip Ko Lang

Simply Butterflies Conservation Center

Early this year, I had a chance to visit a butterfly sanctuary in the own home of Prof. Jumalon, a notable butterfly enthusiast in Cebu. Simply Butterflies Conservation Center is the extended sanctuary of it in Bohol.  The place can be considered as more established tourist spot because of its well maintained place and facilities compared with  Jumalon butterfly sanctuary which is just a simple home of the Jumalons converted to a museum-like but with very informative tour guides.

We arrived late afternoon and this was our 3rd to the last stop for our day tour. Entrance fee is 20php per person.

As you can see in the first image above, this is the lobby where they had a mini souvenir shop and snack bar. And will definitely remember their yummy home-made ice candies we bought for only 20php; I had the buko pandan flavor, it was just like a delicious salad, frozen and in plastic. We had a tour guide the “Kuya” in flowery polo who briefed us with quick facts on the butterflies we saw and other displays in the area.

I’ll be honest, I did not really joined the group tour and did not listen that much to our “Kuya” tour guide because I was so impatient and eager to move around to take pictures of butterflies and the place. And thought that I already learned much about butterflies in my visit in Cebu from Ms. Jumalon’s very, very detailed and educational tour.

Though, I was struck by these mating butterflies, it was my first time to see something like this and we were also lucky that these butterflies were in real action. Haha.  According to “Kuya” tour guide, mating of butterflies can last for 24 hours or more and I have a proof that no one can disturb them because they were still intact even if they were placed on my arm or anywhere you want to put them. Interesting, ah?

Mating Butterflies

Yes, you can put the butterflies anywhere you want, just like this photo. Butterflies all over me… ;P 2 on my head and 2 on my arms, nice, ah! It was fun, their feet were a bit tickling but manageable for a quick photo shoot. Also, I remembered a fact from Ms. Jumalon that butterflies will come and stay on you if they smell something pleasant but I guess this scenario is contradicting because I can assure you that I was 99% fragrant-less.

Our butterfly invasion was worthwhile. We had lots of fun in taking pictures and mingling with Bohol butterflies.

Butterflies overload

Butterflies in Action

Butterflies in Bohol

Zzzzzzzz

This is a typical scenario of a restless explorer after an adventurous trip in a new place waiting at the airport to head back home.

Haven’t they thought of introducing a sleeping lounge in airports like in Cebu-Mactan International Airport or NAIA?

After a busy holiday trip, your energy will just drop to zero percent and you can’t do anything but take a nap wherever you might be… at the airport… you will fall asleep particularly if you are waiting for long hours and delays on your scheduled flight.

Zzzzzzzzz again.....

“I don’t really care with the people around me,  just want to get a snooze. Okay?!”

Here’s our story… while strolling around Ayala mall, we saw people in line, trying to line up in a resto called Ice Castle… Hmmm… Why are there so many people? Got near the entrance, saw pictures of icy halo-halo and big and colorful ice creams… Hmmm… Okay, let’s line up!

Ice Castle at Ayala mall Cebu

Thou the line was long, we didn’t really wait that long because the turnover was quick. We ordered 1 Special Halo-Halo @ 66.50php and 1 Banana Craze @ 125php…

Ice Castle Menu

Halo-halo and Banana Craze

Yes it was icy, yummy, and really worth the price. I think their Halo-Halo is very affordable and has more ingredients (sahog) compared to what we have here in Manila. We definitely enjoyed our mini and accidental merienda of Halo-Halo and Ice Cream.

In case you will be in Ayala Cebu, Ice Castle is a must try and you will surely come back for more desserts and ice creams.

Yummy Ice cream

Next stop – Crocolandia, the land of the crocodiles, but where were they?

Crocodiles

This is located in Biasong, Talisay, just the next barrio after Basak, Pardo. It was a 10-15 minute taxi ride from Jumalon’s place. Entrance fees, 40php (kids) and 80php (adult). If you’re not with a kid on this trip, you can skip this place because you might not enjoy it! No tour guide, you have to DIY Crocolandia tour. Okay, we were really expecting to see a lot of crocodiles in action but unfortunately I think we just saw about 2 or 3 of them. I don’t know, were they hiding from us?! Haha. Anyways, thanks to the birds and they made our tour a bit interesting…  we saw owls, mayna bird, parrot, of course, I’m mentioning the birds I know by name… But still there were other interesting birds and other animals that caught our attention.  It was a quick tour, nothing much to see…

birds and other animals

To go back to the city, we rode a trisikad (30php for 3 persons) to reach the main road and from there we rode a jeepney going back to Cebu city.

hmmm... maybe not...

Our first stop – Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary, right after our lunch at Jollibee, our adventure began… we rode a jeepney along Colon st. with a sign – Basak, Pardo. The ride took us about 30-45 minutes, or maybe it seemed long because we really didn’t know where we were going…   and unfortunately, we missed the right stop and just rode another jeepney to go back and alight near Mcdo. From there, we rode a tricycle (30php – 10php each) and brought us to Macopa St. where the Jumalon’s house is situated. I didn’t expect the sanctuary to be a house, thought it was sort of a museum. Entrance Fees – 25php (kids) and 50php (adults). At first, I find it a bit pricey, seeing that it was just a house, but the tour was worthwhile, we had the daughter of Prof. Jumalon as our tour guide, she shared a lot of information about his father’s passion for butterflies, art and different studies they had about butterflies. I can assure you that you will really learn a lot from her and after you will have a new outlook on butterflies and really appreciate its beauty.

Butterflies close-up

Interacting with butterflies

The tour consists of their butterfly garden (where we were able to get close and take pictures of butterflies – tip: wear perfume so butterflies will come to you), the egg, larva, pupa and caterpillar section (get to see how butterflies evolve), the butterfly collections (get to see the oldest, the largest, most beautiful, butterflies around the world and a lot more) and the art gallery (be amazed with Prof. Jumalon’s butterfly mosaics and paintings). Personally, I enjoyed the tour and  I was inspired by Prof. Jumalon’s great passion for butterflies and art that until his death he was still trying to finish a masterpiece. I even got teary-eyed appreciating all his masterpieces and realizing his dedication and hardwork in accomplishing them.

Jumalon Tour