Rasa Island Wildlife Sanctuary

Rasa Island holds one of the last viable populations of the katala, the Philippine cockatoo, down to a few hundred birds in the wild. The island is a strict sanctuary, watched over by Katala Foundation wardens, some of them former poachers who now guard the nests they once raided. Visits are arranged through the foundation's office in Narra and happen from the water; there's no landing on the sanctuary core. The show is the commute: at dawn and dusk the cockatoos stream between Rasa and the mainland in noisy white flocks. It's a conservation success story you can watch happen, funded in part by the visit fees.