Chocolate Hills

I tell you this is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. The minute that we saw a few of the hills inside our car going to the viewing deck me and my friends, without any cue dropped our jaws and sounded in unison with one big Awwww!

We call them chocolate hills though obviously they aren’t made up of your favorite cocoa they are still and eye candy. These hills are made of lime stones who’s origin of which vary depending on who you’d ask for.

The Scientist

As of the moment there had been no in depth study on how the Chocolate came about, but what is only clear is that these are limestone hills and are classified as a kind of Karst Topography similar to the ones found in Slovania, Croatia and Puerto Rico to name a few.  I did say “similar” because if you would compare them the Chocolate hills are much more, way way way -yes I am trying to exaggerate to make a point- more beautiful than the ones mentioned.

The Marker

Upon arriving at the viewing deck area you will find a market that states “The unique land form known as the Chocolate Hills of Bohol was formed ages ago by the uplift of coral deposits and the action of rain water and erosion” which some publications as stated above say has no basis at all.

The Legend

Legends in the Philippines could be as many as the islands in the archipelago or maybe more. They (legends) are part of our lives growing up in a country that has so many myths to believe in and the Chocolate hills is no exception to these legends.

I learned this story while I was growing still as a child. It really isn’t clear to me if I learned this in school or at home, but what the heck here it is anyway.

It said that the Chocolate hills were formed because of two giants throwing earth at each other in a fight over a woman. The fight went on for days and at the end thousands of hills fomed right next to each other.

I know quite a short story but yeah obviously it has its defects with the giants throwing mud instead of rocks or limestones or maybe corals ey? But still like I said its part of being a Filipino hearing these stories.

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 Anyways these hills are called Chocolate Hills because their colors turn to brown like chocolate consistency during the summer because they dry up and the grass on the hills wither.

Upon arriving at the view point area you would have to pay for parking -I think, not sure- and the tourism or environmental fee don’t worry its actually very cheap compared to the awesomeness of the Chocolate Hills, it’s less than A DOLLAR!

So once you have paid up the compulsory fees you can now head up and walk up the stairs leading to the viewing deck.

There are a few levels going up and you can stop and look at some of the hills like a trailer or a teaser of a movie it gives you sneak peeks to what you can see up ahead.

As soon as we reach the top we saw the magnificent horizon dotted with hills almost closely knitted to each other. We can’t get over the beauty of view that we had to consciously and willfully decide that we had to leave the place for our next generation.

Even though I have experienced the chocolate hills already the next time that I am in Bohol I surely will go back here bring some food and maybe have a picnic lunch over looking the hills. I am sure that would be a lot of fun!

How To Go To The Chocolate Hills

Ideally you should arrange a tour with your hotel which will cost you much less and would make your tour more comfortable. We got our tour package for just 1,500 that provided us a tour guide, a Mercedes van and the gas for the van. Divided into three people the tour set us back with just 500 pesos for an entire day of fun.

You can also take a bus from Tagbilaran but you would have to walk from the drop off point up to the observation deck.

MAP

From Tagbilaran Airport.