Happy Townsfolk: Culion and Leprosy’s Curious Legacy

• Culture
• Day Trips
• Palawan
• Sea Kayaking
• Snorkeling

Discover what victory over the pandemic of leprosy looks like in the faces of the beaming residents of Culion, an American architectural anomoly that miraculously survived the ravages of World War Two: This a town walk and a museum visit that signals better times for us, post-coronavirus.

This both boat and walking safari.

On a banca you’ll have an opportunity to snorkel and kayak, as well as explore the town of Culion. It’s placed steeped in history, having once been the largest leper colony in the world.

A 90 minute walk starts at the port, revealing how families arriving from all corners of the Philippines to be isolated and treated for leprosy. Some 300 metres from the port is a wall that until the mid-1990s was the border between the Sanitarium with the diseased population and the “clean” part of town. Moving on through the Sanitarium section is the jail for unruly lepers, then it’s the Church atop a bluff. It’s not lost on visitors that the Catholic Church, which effected the theft of generations of children, occupies an old Spanish fort, the coral brick building protected by a large, Spanish-era cannon. It was outside this church in 1999 the tour leader interviewed a nun for a magazine story revealing how the children of infected mothers were removed from their families even though the fathers were disease-free.

A short walk and it’s the hospital, and the town square where lepers would sit on benches, waiting for treatment. Then there’s the saddest of many melancholic places, the building housing leper mothers, separated by glass from their children. Above is a giant snake-like insignia of the Hippocratic Oath emblazoned on the mountain above Culion. It’s a 15-minute hike with a panoramic view of the town, the towering limestone island of Coron in the background. It’s a fine spot to disclose how the town of Culion survived the Japanese occupation: they were scared to get the disease and gave the community, which then included the disease-free population taking sanctuary in the enclosed Sanitarium portion, a wide berth. Culion is the subject matter of a significant Philippine feature film, released just as the Covid crisis erupted. (In camp on the night following the tour there will be a film showing and talk under the stars). A museum visit of 60 minutes follows the hike up the hill. The museum is open weekdays but not on public holidays unless a special opening is pre-arranged.

Greg Hutchinson, a former international foreign correspondent for Reuters and the Financial Times, runs the catamaran version of this day trip aboard his Admiral 38 sailing cat. You may reach out directly at tours@tribaladventures.com for further details.