Foot and Fire

I first came to see Calabash or Miracle Fruit at the Bat Sanctuary in Samal Island of Davao Del Norte. I got amazed at its shiny skind and the roundness of its shape. Before my father passed away in 2016, he brought home a tall seedling of this plant known to cure cancer. Now, in March 2019, we had our first harvests. So far, we harvested seven (7) fruits. The first three (3) was given to a research team from UP while I processed into juice what fell down from the tree and the last three were what I formally made into juice. (Still awaiting for the promise of this wonder fruit -- 6.21.19) The juice is colored black with sweet and pleasing sourness. It has this particular smell which wards you off if you're sensitive but it can be ignored. For its claim for some medicinal cure, its not bad.

The efforts of the Monfort family to preserve this Bat Colony is admirable. What's in this Bat Colony? With no trace of sarcasm, it's the bat, load of them! There are many fruit bats every square foot of the cave. This is the largest colony of Fruit bats known as Geoffroy's Rousette Fruit Bats; they cover 75% of the ceilings and walls of their 245 ft (75 m)-long cave. And the effort of the Monfort family to preserve the same is admirable. The best time to go in this place is from 5pm to 6pm as it is the time when these nocturnal creature go out of their cave and hunt for fruits and they flew out of the cave in colony too. According to the guide, these bats help in the pollination/flowering of the Durian, a fruit for which Davao provinces are known for. Wikipedia notes that "the Indigo-Monfort family has maintained the area since the 1900s. Norma Monfort is the current owner of the 57 acres of land including its 1.8 million fruit bats. She enclosed the property to...