Olango Island

Olango sits a short ferry ride off Mactan, and at first sight it is unremarkable - a low, flat island with fishing villages and shallow water all round. That shallow water is the point. The tidal flats and mangroves on its southern shore form one of the most important shorebird stopovers in Southeast Asia, the first Ramsar wetland in the Philippines, listed in 1994, where tens of thousands of birds rest and feed on the East Asian-Australasian flyway: plovers, sandpipers, godwits and curlews, Chinese egrets and, in some years, large numbers of terns. A boardwalk runs out over the flats to viewing platforms with a small interpretation centre at the start, and rangers can point out what is present. Timing is everything - the birds are on the flats at particular states of the tide and in particular months, and outside migration season the sanctuary is quiet mud. The rest of the island has beaches and a few small resorts on the east side.

The landscape

• The tidal flats - the feeding grounds at low water.
• The boardwalk platforms - viewing hides over the wetland.
• The migratory flocks - waders in the thousands in season.
• The mangrove fringe - the sanctuary's back edge.

When to go

September to November on the southward passage and February to April on the return are the peaks. Check the tide - birds gather as the flats are exposed and disperse at high water.

Things to know

Out of season there is little to see. Bring binoculars; the birds are distant. The boardwalk is exposed with almost no shade, and biting insects are common near the mangroves.

Nearby

Mactan's dive sites and Lapu-Lapu City are across the channel; Cebu City is beyond.

Key facts