Beware of Bat Cave Guides

I had the pleasure to meet a youg couple from the UK, their first trip to Boracay, infact to Asia. They expressed how wonderful Boracay was however they said they had a very distyrbing encounter at the Bat Caves.

Apparently when thay arrived at the Bat cave they were approached by a young polite Filipino male. He offered to guide them into the cave as he had a torch. The couple asked how much he replied ';Up to you just a little'; That was their first mistake.

They has a look through the caves and enjoyed the adventure.

Now it was time to pay. The guide informed them I not the boss you must pay him, they were then taken by trike to what they described as a slum house and quickly surrounded bu a number of Filipino males.

They were then told the price was P1500 for the guide. The couple said they felt intimidated (so would I) They offered the P1500 which apparently was all they had, then they were informed NO P1500 each.

Anyway long story short, be careful set the price before hand.

I would suggest that any tourist should consult their hotels for an average price for activities.

Also many hotels know trustworthy people they can recommend.

This does not happen all the time but it seems these scams and intimidation tactics are increasing.

Please be careful.

John

Beware of Bat Cave Guides

there will always be scammers - and suckers. Thanks for the information.

Beware of Bat Cave Guides

...but that is the second occurrence in as many weeks

...maybe the local police should look into it that is if they haven%26#39;t been too busy at Sandcastles

..obviously there is a ';boss'; at the bat caves

..this is not good for tourism

..being frightened intimidated...suckered is not a pleasant holiday experience

...I know this is da%26#39; Philippines...but it is one of the countries premier tourist destinations and local officials should be trying to ensure that these practices are discouraged

Rob

I would imagine you could find someone at the hotel to recommend a guide to bring with you?

A) The bat caves are not accessible without a local guide. These local guides have a monopoly which they enforce if needed with intimidation.

B) The problem of saying %26#39;up to you%26#39; and later asking a phantasy price is not only common to the bat caves and Boracay, but all over this country and also other countries. Visitors the first time in asia often fall prey to that and think: Wow - that%26#39;s a nice and humble guy!!!!!

Rob,

You live in an ideal world. Who cares about tourism? I should get my share or else its up for the picking by someone else. You cry %26#39;tourism%26#39; if it serve your purpose, otherwise...

Have you heard of the word %26#39;business ethics%26#39;?

Its the Philippines, okay, but same thing is happenning elsewhere.

';Up to you';? Simply walk away if they cannot fix their price. Its that simple, unless you were born yesterday.

edwinic,

...I live in the real world

..people who settle for less often get it

..now change... thats hard when people continually lower their expectations

...accountability...now thats hard everywhere but if that makes me an idealist great...I am an idealist

Rob

A friend of mine recently took a visiting guest to check out the caves. There were a number of construction workers from nearby Shangri La hanging around the site, and a woman who asked the couple for P100 to enter the cave.

My friend had only a P500 note, so she reluctantly gave it to the woman who went off somewhere to procure change.

On her return she handed my friend her P400 change but almost immediately turned aggressive, claiming that my friend had not given her the P500 in the first place. The woman snatched back the P400 change whilst STILL demanding P500 more, and trying to grab my friend%26#39;s bag.

By this time, the construction workers have crowded around looking menacing, and the couple felt very intimidated but were scared to try and leave the site.

Eventually they felt there was no choice but to hand over yet another P500 note, whereupon the fled the site without seeing a single bat.

this is not the first scam I%26#39;ve heard of at the bat caves. Be careful

Yes. Welcome to the Philippines%26#39; Number One Tourism Destination.

This is disturbing needs immediate action, meantime, It will be nicer of we have names or contact to the real victims so we can really get facts and not just stories passed on by other people...I will contact the Barangay Captain (chieftain of Yapak where the batcave is) to investigate and possible to have tanods (volunteer local peacekeepers) include teh area when roving...

yeah right bebeko, should i laugh out loud now or what. This problem has been going on for years. How do i say it nicely, NO GIVES A F___!

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