Watching fireflies on the Loboc River, Bohol: a magical experience

Fireflies are one of those animals I’ve always wanted to see but never expected to. So when the opportunity came to me to see them whilst visiting the Philippines, I knew I had to take it!

That’s how I found myself paddle boarding down the Loboc River, on the Philippine island of Bohol, in search of these luminescent little bugs.

As I was excited to observe fireflies for the first time, I figured I’d share the experience with you on In Search of Everywhere, as well as the practical details in case you want to do it yourself.

The setting: the Loboc River

In May 2023, during our year of travel, my sister, Lou, and I had some spare time. We’d just returned from our trip through South America but didn’t have any plans in the U.K. until Glastonbury, at the end of June.

By chance, whilst I was optimistically looking at flights on Google, I found some ridiculously cheap flights to the Philippines. Seeing them, they felt almost too cheap to be true. Whilst I was buying them, I was sure that China Southern’s website would refresh or have ‘technical issues’, with their cost doubling in the meantime. We just had to go!

We decided on a rough itinerary of islands we would visit, with Siquijor, Palawan and Coron all featuring. However, high on our list was Bohol, an island in the Central Visayas region known for its tarsiers and chocolate hills.

Most of the places we visited in the Philippines were coastal, so, to mix it up a bit, we picked to stay inland, close to Loboc, a town and rural area in the centre of the island. I was excited about this as our guesthouse backed onto the Loboc River, which looked so tranquil and relaxing!

The opportunity: a paddle boarding trip

Many of the reviews for the place we stayed – Water to Forest Ecolodge – mentioned an interesting experience: a paddle boarding trip to see fireflies along the Loboc River. These reviews were very favourable towards it and Lou and I had already discussed that we’d probably do it during our stay. After all, we’d never seen fireflies before! Plus, paddle boarding was one of those activities I’d always wanted to try but had never got around to.

Once we arrived, we signed up for a trip in a few days’ time.

On the day, the paddle boarding trip started around 6 pm, around sunset. We headed to the water with our guide, donning life jackets in case we fell in. There were four of us in total: me, Lou and a couple, plus the guide.

One by one, we got on the paddle boards. There wasn’t much instruction; the guide just showed us how to get on the board and stand up. Fortunately the conditions weren’t too difficult and I just about got the hang of it!

Paddling time

As it was only sunset, we had plenty of time before it would be dark enough to see the fireflies. Therefore, we paddled upstream from the ecolodge – in the opposite direction to where the fireflies would be, might I add – for fifteen minutes, then chilled on our paddle boards for a while.

I’ll have to admit that, although I was a little sad to be doing extra exertion going up the river, this part of the evening was super calming. It was nice to just be able to sit and lie down on the paddle board, not doing anything or having to push in a particular direction. After all, the water would only push us back towards the lodge in the direction we’d need to go in anyway!

The noises of the jungle, with birds and cicadas singing, were so calming. The trees hanging over the banks of the river were so pretty, and I could daydream about what was going on inside the forest.

After around half an hour, we slowly started to paddle back down the river, towards, then past, our hotel. The others paddled whilst sat down, whilst I alternated between sitting down and standing up.

Moving down the river

Moving down the river, we passed resorts with bungalows that faced out onto the water, and a couple of restaurants. There were a few houses and, for a little bit, a road followed the loop of the river, so we saw and heard the occasional motorbike.

However, for the most part, the river felt private and serene. The water itself was cloudy and greenish, even when it was light, and you could only see about a foot inside before whatever was there became invisible. I thought I might be scared by not being able to see inside the water at night, but as we already couldn’t see much, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be!

We paddled down the river for just under an hour, until we reached a tree with a few dancing specks of light around it. Firefly time!

Firefly spotting

At this particular tree, the guide instructed us to stop – as best we could, I should say. It’s hard to stay stationary on a moving river and I nearly ended up in the bank multiple times.

I can’t lie, I was a bit underwhelmed. They weren’t close by – the fireflies were in the canopy perhaps 10 ft above our heads, and the lights were quite dim. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I think I imagined a Princess and the Frog-style lit up night with bright firefly lights. The reality was less impressive.

However, the guide scooped up a firefly and placed it in my hands. I have no idea where he got it from – maybe it was just flying past at that exact moment – but I was very excited to see it close up. It looked just like a smallish black beetle: cute but nondescript. However, it had an orb on its bottom which was glowing faintly yellow.

I was so excited by this little firefly, it was unreal. I studied it for ages; it didn’t seem too concerned about flying off or doing anything else and just chilled on my hand. I passed it to Lou and she seemed equally excited.

When it flew off to join its family, maybe five minutes later, we were so excited and happy to see it go.

Back to the hotel

After around twenty minutes, we turned around to head back to our hotel. This was quite hard as we were travelling upstream again, not downstream as we had on the way, and of course we’d already been on the paddle boards by a couple of hours at this point. I was a little tired!

Paddling back took around an hour. I kept getting distracted as, in the darker areas of the river where there was forest, I kept looking for more fireflies. I saw a few of them in the trees, but that was it.

Around halfway I had a big faux paus. There was a sports pitch on the other side of the river and I got distracted watching what was going on inside. I took a step back on the board and flipped it over as I lost my balance. Fortunately, I got on the board pretty quickly again!

Finally we got back. Once we deposited the boards in the ecolodge garden, it was time to relax.

Conclusion: fireflies on the Loboc River

Seeing fireflies was such a treat. The actual movement and light of the fireflies was a bit underwhelming and wasn’t as spectacular as I was expecting, but getting to hold a firefly in my hands and observe it up close was amazing.

I definitely wouldn’t say no to doing this again, and the Loboc Rover was a great setting for such a trip!

Is seeing fireflies on your list? Let me know in the comments!

How to see it for yourself

You can see fireflies throughout Asia and South America. The most important thing is to come when it is dark – observe them where there are minimal lights and during a new moon.

It’s possible to see them on Bohol in several ways. You can take trips, either in a boat or kayaking, on the Loboc River or Abatan River. These can be booked online or with a tour agency or your accommodation once you’re on the island.