Philippines Expat and Travel Blog May Archive

I went to Subic yesterday mainly for work but also ended having some relaxing moment touring its very interesting and beautiful destinations.

I first went to the Zoobic Safari, the first and only Tiger safari in the country. This is the first time I have been in close encounter with a tiger. What's unique with the Zoobi Safari is their use of a Filipino style jeep with iron netted windows that enables visitors to clearly see the tigers unlike other parks who uses vans and other closed vehicles. They have more than 15 bright orange with black band tigers, indicating they are well cared of. In addition, the safari also has a part where harmonious animals are living including ostriches, horses, llamas, the Philippine mouse deers, elephants and giraffes. They also have a crocodile farm where you can touch baby crocs.

But what really made my day is when I visit their ever famous Ocean Adventure Park. The park, of which I have visited about 5 years ago, undergone a lot of improvement. They have more marine animals now performing skillfully in front of many people.

What makes Subic Ocean Adventure Park different from the other is that it is one of the few ocean parks that uses free water from the ocean. Their main stage is located abit offshore the bay, where only a short fence is their assurance that the dolphins and other sea animals will not go away. In fact, they claimed that some of their dolphins regularly jumps off the fence but then jumps back after a few minutes of roaming around the open sea.

The dolphins and the other animals' performance is just spectacular. Its really great seeing dolphins dance in synchronized motion while some are being ridden by trainers on their back as if they are living jet skis. The false killer whales, which are bigger than the bottlenose dolphins even throw trainers in the air with their powerful tails for the sake of the show.

It was indeed one of the experiences I will surely treasure. Subic is getting better and better everyday. And I will come back for sure.

It has been almost more than half a century since the last great war ripped off the bridges, destroyed every building and spoiled the beauty of Philippine nature. Since then, a lot has been done to recover from the great loss. One of the places who greatly suffered from the fall of the American soldiers to help defend the country from the invading Japanese is Subic Bay in the province of Zambales.

Now called the Subic Bay Freeport Economic Zone, is formerly the site of the US Naval Base in the Philippines. It is where most of the Americans generally stayed prior to the World War II. After major efforts to regain the stability of the place, the local government ordered to shut down the base that during that time threatens many of the investors. Their actions proved effective.

In just a few years, Subic Bay has established itself as one of the major economic districts of the country. The Bureau of Customs is also located here that is why the big taxes of the imported goods that docks here everyday, which reaches millions of dollars a day, also helped the local government in improving and rebuilding Subic.

Occasional military joint exercise by both Philippines and the US as well as other foreign groups are still being held in Subic. Regular port visits are also allowed just like what's on the photo. It is the USS Oklahoma City as it enter Subic's port for their routine port visit.

Subic is also known as the melting pot of the country where majority of its inhabitants are foreigners, most of them are Americans. Some of these foreigners are part or member of the US Navy who decided to stay with their family after the base was lifted. Some even have Filipina wives and now are living peacefully.

Subic have been shattered to dust. It was rebuilt. It was created again, prooving the immortal beauty of the place will always be on the top.