AS evening falls across the thick green canopy of the garden forest on Banwa Private Island, a pair of chubby Mantanani scops owls contemplate their next meal. A line of Hawksbill turtles shuffle lazily across the hot white sand, headed back to the cool clear sea after a busy day burying their eggs. Tabon birds stab their hopeful beaks into the thick undergrowth searching for a tasty diner of seeds, shoots and hapless insects. Around the island, the reef teems with life. Trevally, grouper, and cuttlefish dance hungrily above beds of giant clams. Angelfish, parrot fish and clownfish, try to avoid becoming prey. Darting through the coral, they become colorful playthings for a nursery of black-tipped reef sharks. As the sun dips its toes into the turquoise waters for the last hurrah of the day; life is good in northeastern Palawan.
Banwa Private island is remote but not removed from the heavy hand humanity has had on nature. Banwa Private Island's Aquos Foundation was established to turn this around. Aquos Foundation guardian Bernard Bonares says: "In 2016, when Palawan was supposed to have the best coral in the Philippines, I saw rubble covered in algae, a few lonely fish looking hopeless, and a hungry Hawksbill turtle picking at a sponge. I was heartbroken." Something had to be done, so the Foundation was set up to restore and protect the environment. This has resulted in a growing list of now thriving (often endangered) wildlife, the lush habitat and also the island's healthy surrounding reef.
Continue reading with one of these options:
Ad-free access
P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
- Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
- Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)