Your Private Healing Island Wellness/Cleansing Detox/Yoga Retreat

• Wildlife at Private Island
• Turtles at Private Island
• Tropical Birds
• Tropical Fish

'The El Nido Marine Reserve' Bacuit Bay Palawan is home of the Philippines most precious and largest wildlife reserve. Since the 1998 damage of our coral reef due to global warming, followed quickly afterwards by a terrible typhoon, the recovery of our corals can be seen everywhere.

Prevention of further coral reef destruction from similar incidents is now being researched. A beautiful reef surrounds Private Island Natural Health, it's truly a wonderful tropical venue to commune with Mother Nature's paradises and give yourself a cleansing detox fast, combined with alternative healing.

Bacuit Bay, El Nido in Northern Palawan, is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. With its 23 islands, many of them still dense primary jungle and spectacular black marble cliffs more than 500 million years old, their beaches make ideal nesting sites for green & hawksbill turtles. In 1989, the World Wildlife Fund initiated "Debt for Nature Swap" created the largest marine park in the Philippines, comprising some 1000 km.

With continued funds from the United Nations and now an Annual Grant of $300,000 from the European Commission, this Marine Park falls under the El Nido Taytay Resource Protection Area Management Board and comprises a land area of 36,018 hectares and a water area of 54,303 hectares: a total of 90,321 hectares. Of the islands within Bacuit Bay only Miniloc and Lagan (because of existing tourist development) and Malapacao (because of its fishing community) are classified as multiple-use zones, the rest will hopefully remain protected for many, many years to come.

Here at Private Island Natural Health we encourage visitors to deeply connect to this pristine beauty of mother nature that we have been blessed with, right on our doorstep. It's truly a wonderful way to find your "inner self".

While the term "Eco-tourism" is brandished by the larger resorts, it takes a visit to this part of the world to appreciate the substantial differences in attitude that this implies.

Note From Leeann:
In 1986 when I arrived in El Nido, Dynamite, Cyanide and Morami fishing practices were rampant-- the latter, being the worst. Morami boats (the word Morami meaning many) used lots of young boys, who had been taken from their poor village; their parents given a token $30 or so and told that the children, once trained, would be able to support their families with regular income. Often the kids were never seen again and many of them lost their lives at sea. Their jobs as divers (to secure huge nets on the sea bottom, before a small charge of dynamite was set) was a dangerous one indeed. These illegal practices, though used in a small way by the local community, were mostly carried out by big businessmen from other provinces who had already destroyed their own waters.

Some of the boats carried machine guns on board. In between Inabuyatan and Malapacao Island it was just "Dynamite" fishing. Every night around 9pm & then again at 5am, I would hear and feel the charges. As I had started a small village store, the villagers and my own staff would ask to buy Tanduay Rum and other goods so they could barter with these boats. Turtles frequently lay their eggs on my 220 meter long beach and as passing fisherman would see these tracks (before I learned to get up earlier and hide them) they'd tear into my small channel, jump out (sometimes even before their boat had stopped running) race to the nest and dig up every single egg. Trying to explain that this, and the above, were not good policy, was far from welcome.

I was most grateful to our Governor Socrates of that time. After discussing these and other related issues, together with other foreigners who'd arrived here in Palawan about the same time as me, he shortly thereafter initiated the "Bantay sa Dagat" (Protect the Sea) policy which did help a great deal in discouraging these Illegal practices, specially of our Bacuit Bay El Nido area. He also initiated the "Oplan Linis" (the Clean Plan) for El Nido town and from the strength of his Governments "Green Policies" for Palawan, it's beauty became known to the outside world and the WWF Debt for Nature project came to mother natures rescue.

Or if we are really lucky, we may have a daytime visits, giving great delight to visitors who are quietly able to share this special event. One night another Green turtle came up right beside the dining area at suppertime but was frightened away by Cola (our two-legged dog). The following night, the same turtle presumably and not perturbed, made her nest right under my front balcony, only 5 feet away from my head, with all the dogs in my room not making a murmur.

A female turtle lays several clutches of eggs in one season at approx. 2 week intervals. She does not necessarily nest every year, but will come back to MIRAs every 2-3 years. Eggs, as you see in this picture above, look like ping-pong balls and a mother turtle can lay between 70-250 eggs in one nest. She does not need a male to fertilize her eggs after the first initial copulation & eggs take between 7-12 weeks to hatch after laying. This means its difficult to see the baby turtles because males hatchlings come from cool nests, while females come from warmer nests. Several guests have been lucky.

Before Private Island Natural Health Spa was established the turtles worst predators were the fisherman, but now it's mostly our many Monitor Lizards. Turtles instinctively know this and try to find beachfront areas where the Pandan Palms thrive.

The Pandan is a very prickly plant, not especially inviting to dig under, nor attractive if only low to the ground. When tall, it looks very graceful and its flowers, in the months of May to July have a wonderful perfume. As you might imagine our beach now has many Pandan Palms, both short and tall, growing on our shore.

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Tropical Birds

Of the 103 species of birds observed in our area, 16 species are endemic to Palawan including the threatened Palawan Peacock Pheasant, Palawan Scoop Owl and our Palawan Hornbill.

Hornbill can be seen almost every day at the retreat. The best time is early morning when we are working out on our Rocky Island sundeck. Very often they are very close up. They play in groups of 6 or 8 and stay only on Malapacao, never venturing to fly over the water to other islands nearby. Interestingly the female when she is ready to have her young, will find a large hollow tree and her partner/husband will block her inside with clay and twigs. He'll leave just enough space for her beak to protrude and he'll bring her food for the entire duration and until her young, usually two, can fly. The wonder of Mother Nature's pleasures abounds. Should her partner for some reason die, other males in the group will look after the widow and all the group help teach the young to fly. They are a gregarious lot, living mostly on fruit, predominantly our Yucca and Beetle-nut palms, which grow in abundance on the cliffs.

Almost without fail, every day the sound of an Eagle soaring overhead can be heard. You only have to look up and search the cliffs. Sometimes you might be lucky to see one catching a big fish in the sea, then watch it spiraling high above, pray in talons, to share with his /her young.

The Kingfisher are another bird you can see many times a day. Though the White-Collared are a little more shy, I see the Stork Billed Red Breasted sitting on the bridge or trees nearby our Rocky island, catching fish or crab for breakfast every morning as I walk to my western sundeck for Gentle Arts.

Due to an incredibly dense garden and wonderful ground mulch of leaves etc, small birds are thriving in Private Island's garden and making their nests in many of our bathrooms and cottages. The most common smaller birds you can easily see are the delightful Olive backed Palawan Sunbirds, our colorful Aqua-marine and black Hooded Pittas, the Sulphur-bellied Bulbuls, the delightfully sounding White-vented Charmas and our many Swiftlets called Balinsasayaw. Harder to spot are the Maroon Crested Woodpeckers and the Turtle-Dove or Wood Pigeon. Sunbirds often make their nests just under the windows of your cottage.

Pittas prefer inside. At the time of waiting this another Pitta bird has made her nest and laid 4 eggs inside the hanging space of Heart cottage, so we'll not rent it out till her babies have learned to fly. Pittas enjoy foraging on the forest floor and I have seen them crack large hard shelled snails for their dinner. Like many of the birds you will see here they are most active at dawn and dusk and their strident calls makes them easy to find.

The Swift lets are the reason for the name of El Nido which means "The Nest". El Nido has been famous for its quantity and quality of Edible Birds Nest collected by the Chinese for hundreds of years. Sadly the gathering of nests is done long before the poor bird has had a chance to lay an egg and consequently they will eventually die out. Though there are rules preventing people from taking nest out of season, the value of the nests is so high (between US$3,000 to $4,000 per kilo) that it is very hard to enforce these laws.

The Grey Heron often plays a game with my three dogs, while catching fish from the seashore flying just out of reach for hours whenever they give chase.

a Clownfish, Hawkfish and Butterfly fish, are just some of the
many varieties you will see only meters from your cottages.
The Lion and Angelfish are some of my favorites as their colors are so lovely.
While here on a cleansing detox fast you can spend many magical hours reading and identifying tropical fish from the many books in my library.

Coconuts and Reptiles

Private Island Natural Health Spa is built within a plantation of coconuts and many of them are approx. 85-95 years old. Over the past 20 years, our staff have planted more than 800 young palms which we add to every year, since we harvest the crown of the young trees at the same rate (about 200 per year) once they are over 4 years old.

These crowns are served as salad, better known as "Heart of Palm". It's an incredibly delicious, healthy food, and as one has to cut down and thereby kill the tree, its often called "Millionaire's Salad"

In this photo, one of our staff are gathering our daily "Buko", the young coconut that we serve as fresh juice. Coconut water (some call it coconut milk) is full of healthy enzymes and one of the purist forms of liquid available.

One can also use it to mix medicine used for injections. Coconut climbers have to deal with many difficulties when getting down nuts and falling from the tree is not one of them. A coconut tree is home for many Monitor Lizards, Squirrels Snakes and the worst for the climbers, native bees.

So don't waste a coconut, it is a very precious commodity!! All parts of a coconut are used.

Is Virgin Coconut Oil really the healthiest oil on earth?
Read the research at <http:\\www.coconut-info.com> and find out for yourself!!
When I first read about the health benefits of coconut oil, I asked the local people if there was a more natural way to extract the oil from the coconut, so that we wouldn't have to use refined coconut oils.

We extract the oil by grating the fresh coconut, extracting the coconut milk and then letting the coconut milk stand in a covered bucket. After 24-36 hrs, the oil naturally separates from the water producing a crystal clear oil that retains the full scent and taste of coconuts, making it a truly unrefined coconut oil. Coconuts are best used fresh (within 24 hours of harvest) then the meat is shredded (wet milled) and then cold-pressed to make coconut milk. The milk is then fermented for 24-36 hours and the oil is separated and filtered from the curds. No chemical or high-heat treatment is used and this oil contains no trans fatty acids. Testing done in independent laboratories reveals a 50% - 53% content of lauric acid. We're using this method for both the bases of our massage oils and also to add to our green drinks on your cleansing detox fasts, together with other oils and herbs for removing the toxins.

The leaves of coconut make strong roofing thatch, the wood has many uses, the fiber makes great rope and the very young leaves: called the heart, we eat in salads. Coconut trees flower and fruit all year round and the local Palawan bees (an incredibly small bee) love the flower. Their pure honey is delightful and I've found lots of uses for garlic honey, Chile honey, honeyed ginger and others.

We sell honey if you'd like by the bottle. All kinds of birds and animals love the coconut trees and often I've seen the same tree shared by a group of 6 or 8 Hornbill, 2 or 3 Crows, a Wood pigeon and a Kingfisher. Hidden out of view could be a Monitor or a Snake. Like the animals that live here in a wonderland of Mother Nature, you too can share this marvelous experience.

Interesting sites dealing with Environmental Issues of Palawan

Live fish trade a threat to coral reefs, tourism in El Nido
http://www.phil-at-home.com/travel/news/news_elnidofishing.html

Final Report on "The Development of Management Plan for El Nido Palawan." from
International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) who visited
El Nido, Palawan in April 1994 to examine existing systems pertinent to its projects
http://www.co-management.org