Travel ^ Adventure ^ Photography: Closer view of the CHOCOLATE HILLS

Closer view of the CHOCOLATE HILLS

7/10/2010 | Posted by ghen the backpacker

Wanna take a closer look at the Chocolate hills aside from the usual viewing deck at Sagbayan Peak and Carmen? With a private car/van, take the Tagbilaran-Cortes-Balilihan-Catigbian route. I'm not sure though if this is the same route used for public transpo.

We used this route when we went to Danao for our EAT Danao experience. Once you reach the rocky roads between Catigbian and Sagbayan, you will see few of these hills scattered around. And so on our way home from Danao, we decided to stop over at one of the hills' foot and took pictures of it and the other few hills around for few minutes.

Each hill varied in sizes from 30 to 50 metres high, cone shaped and almost perfect. The green grass that covers the hills turns to chocolate brown during the dry season, hence the inspiration for the name Chocolate Hills----------

Interestingly, we saw one hill where you could see pathways towards the top, so that means, it's possible for one to hike and go up to the very top. I'm gonna try it one day! It's cool! Couldn't really imagine how these haycock hills emerged.

I have learned to appreciate it more now than ever before.

According to theories, they are eroded formations of type of marine limestone that sits on top of hardened clay. The grassy hills were once coral reefs that erupted from the sea in a massive geologic shift. And over hundreds of thousands of years, the wind, water and some nature's powerful forces put up the finishing touches and created one of the greatest wonders this world has ever seen. This theory is also described in the bronze plaque at the viewing deck in Carmen, Bohol.

Of course, the locals have their own legends of the Chocolate hills too! The most common is the legend of two giants who fought against each other, throwing muds, rocks and sands. Surprisingly, some of the stones, sand and mud stuck to each other and formed mounds. Thousands of years of wind and rain erosion eventually formed the hills into what it is now.

Another legend I've heard relates to the vast lands in Carmen which used to be the playground of giant children. One day, they had a game where one has to bake cakes out of muds and sands and let it stay for sometime under the heat of the sun. When they came back to play, they found their cakes already baked. Those who got the most won the game. All of them were very happy with the result and did not bother to remove it nor destroy it and left it as it is now.