Butanding Craze...


A few of the people from MODCEBU Team embarked on a trip to the south of Cebu  Province, particularly  Oslob town, to take a look at the newest craze in as far as local tourism is concerned—butanding or whale shark. Locally known as Tuki, whale sharks are the largest known living species of fish. As filter-feeding species, they feed mainly on planktons—microscopic animal and plant lives. 

Since whale sharks were not known to be endemic in the area around Oslob, Cebu, we rushed to see before it's too late. The area around Oslob can be considered a seasonal feeding ground for these huge sea creatures. Our bus ride from the Cebu South Bus Terminal going to Oslob was a breeze. After a two and a half hour bus ride we arrived at our destination at exactly 5:30 AM. However we had to wait for a couple of hours as fishermen still had to lure the whale sharks close to shore. Here are some of the photos.

silhouette...against the sunrise

More fun in the Philippines!!!!


More fun waiting for whale sharks!

...and after what seemed like forever...there were two...

And that was our 30-minute rendezvous with butandings. Whale sharks are extraordinarily harmless and friendly sea creatures. Precautionary measures are, however, set in handling whale sharks. Humans are strongly advised from touching the skin of whale sharks and or using flash on cameras when taking pictures least we frighten them.  We are not supposed to swim near or block in the way of these creatures for reasons that are quite obvious.
Location: Oslob, Philippines

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