monfort bat sanctuary

one girl gave us a tour . there are 4 openings and millions of bats live in those caves... you will learn a lot from this mammals and if your lucky you can also see snakes down the cave from the opening. you only have to pay 100. very near from paradise island. you can take habal-habal..

The Monfort Bat Cave Sanctuary is a private property owned by Monfort Family. The entrance fee increased from 40Php to 100Php as they want to develop the place for tourist attraction purposes. 100Php is too much for viewing it but if you want to see it for yourself go waste 100Php. Anyway, it is the largest bat colony in the world and it's in Guinness Book of World's Record. You will see several tarpaulins with a lot of information about bats. This is a good place for those who wants to know more about bats and understanding them. Their guides are informative too. Some of their spiels are also the same on what you mostly see on the tarps. The locals say that it is best to go there at night because the bats will swarm all over the place and you will see the 2 Billion record they are claiming. The rest of the bats stay in the caves. Camera flash is discouraged.

What you see on the pictures in the internet is the same as what you'll see when you get there. Nothing more. Entrance is P100.

First of all, you have to consider if you'd like to make a special trip down. It will cost you maybe 50php per person on a habal-habal, and another 100php per person to enter. In itself it is rather cheap. But if you consider how long you'll be there (we were in and out in about 20 minutes), and the number of caves you get to see (4 to 5 in total), you might feel that your time might be better spent doing other things that Samal Island has to offer - water sports. Not taking away anything from the experience though - you get to learn more about the bats, and get up close and personal with the 2.5 million fruit bats on site, some would say the experience is priceless - your call!

Pay to enter parking lot, pay again to enter and see the overrated, small, smelly underground caves with lots of bats. Facilities are aweful. Too pricy. Place is meh.. Basically overrated. Not recommended.

The bats that inhabit the caves in Monfort Conservation Park was said to have numbered to millions breaking the Guinness World Records. The bat sanctuary is a privately-owned property with natural caves conducive for survival and shelter of bats. Here they formed colonies of more than million individuals There are openings on top of the caves where visitors can watch how the bats are doing down under. Bats are nocturnal mammals capable of sustained flight, so that they sleep during day time and go out as hordes during night time in search of food. While about 70% of bats consume insects for survival, bats here were said to be fruit-eating bats going as far as the mainland of Mindanao before returning back to Monfort at dawn. Boring as it may seem, you can see those bats hanging upside down - one on top of another - making a thick wall of bats that darken the cave at day time. It was said that the best time to watch them is during early evening when bats start to move inside the cave and out to fly. While day tour at Monfort ends at 5 PM, interested guests may make arrangement with Monfort staff for a nigh visit.

We got there at 4.30 which was good as we saw the caves in the light then stayed until it got dark at 6pm.Once it gets dark the bats take off swirling around in a mass throng of movement and noise. The set up at the sanctuary is good with the cave entry holes fenced off and secured and they gave us torches to see into the cave as well as help our footing. We got the timing correct but if you are planning to be there late then call or SMS otherwise they close up at 5pm and go home. The daytime charge of php 100 goes up to php 200 for the night visit, but we thought it was well worth it. Guides, anna and Jodie, were friendly and enthusiastic and definitely wanted to show us the centre.All I all a good place to visit

If you have binoculars or a DSLR with a long lens you will get the optimum benefit of this place. You will need proper tools to see what those bats really look like and be able to take some worthwhile pictures of them home.For safety reason tourists can only look around the various openings around the cave and at the safety of daylight. The bats numbering in the millions according to estimates can easily overwhelm you should they wish it. The guide said there are night tours too. I wonder how that goes.But without said tools seeing all those bats together is still quite something. Just open your nose.

Our tour guide is very knowledgeable given her experience. I did not know that the bat colony living in the cave has different rooms. Like, older bats stay in the darkest part of the cave whilst younger ones are staying near the entrance. The place smells of bat poop but I did not mind it. Simply breathtaking to be up close with bats in their natural habitat.

The tour guides are very engaging. They can make the short tour very fun and engaging.Try to get a night tour. That is what I plan to do next time.

A great place to go to. lots of bats to see and caves. There is a distinct smell which is normal for bat caves. You won"t need to enter the cave, you can see it from the top. The lady said around 5pm is a good time to see them fly out of the cave, surely a good experience. Bring some "off lotion" to keep the mosquitos off. Shorts, slippers and tshirt is enough to go here. Tour guide was very friendly and knowlegeable.

I've been visiting this cave when it was still free, but it appears that its National Geographic exposure has instilled a opportunistic mindset on its owners/operators. The Php 150 entrance fee on top of the Php 5 environmental fee the city charges leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The guide told us that the fee used to be Php 40, so we can expect the fee to further escalate.

Never seen so many bats in one place.Also have a record guinness for the population but the smell is overwhelming.A different experience...shhh bats sleeping!!

Samal island is about 20 minutes by boat from davao city; a short walk to the Monfort bat sanctuary then there is a 5 minute briefing by the helpful staff (with funny anecdotes from Ana, our designated guide for this visit) then a short walk to the caverns and suddenly you are up close with the bats -- a lot of bats! This is such a unique and educational experience worth the trip

It was a perfectly preserved bat colony....educational too. Our guide Anne....was so informative and helpful...and accommodating.