Chocolate Hills

 is an unusual geological formation in Bohol, Philippines. It is composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills of about the same size, spread over an area of more than 50 kilometers. They are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, hence the name. The Chocolate Hills is a famous tourist attraction of Bohol. It is featured in the provincial flag and seal to symbolize the abundance of natural attraction in the province.

It is also in the Philippine Tourism Authority’s list of tourist destinations in the Philippines. Sometimes consider “Eighth Wonder of the World”, it has been declared the country’s 3rd National Geological Monument. The Chocolate Hills is a rolling terrain of haycock hills — mounds of general shape which are conical and almost symmetrical. Estimated to be at least 1,268 individual mounds to about 1,776, these cone-shaped or dome-shaped hills are actually grass-covered limestone hills. The large and numerous perfect domes vary in sizes from 30 meters to 50 meters high with the largest being 120 meters in height. Aesthetically extensive, they are scattered throughout the towns of Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan. Bohol’s “main attraction”, these unique mound-shaped hills are scattered by the thousands on the island’s central plain, concentrated near the town of Carmen.
At dawn or at sunset, the Chocolate Hills are an alluring sight; the whole area picturesque amidst the rice fields and the clusters of houses made of the diamond patterned sawali or bamboo slats.
During the dry season, the precipitation is inadequate such that the grass-covered hills dry up and turn chocolate brown. This transforms the area into seemingly endless rows of “chocolate kisses”. The branded confection is the inspiration behind the name, Chocolate Hills.