Nice video of the very rare and endangered Sulu hornbill : Sulu Hornbill | | :: Birding Adventure Philippines | Guided birdwatching tours anywhere in the Philippines ::
It is one of birds which should not be twitched. Read the comment under that photo: Oriental Bird Club Image Database : Sulu Hornbill » Anthracoceros montani
That's some very, erm, intense, birding. The Oriental Bird Club image is dated 2012 but the video in @vogelcommando's post is dated 2017. What's the current situation?
most of the Philippines is safe as houses. The extreme southern part (south Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago) is still really volatile because of the insurgents. Kidnappings of foreigners are common. EDIT: it seems that Tawi Tawi has become much safer in recent years, although that changed again very recently and is currently under martial law. When I get to the Philippines I would still go there (after due consideration of whatever the current situation would be).
Although the times when things don't go quite according to plan are the most interesting bits of your travel blogs to read, you being kidnapped and held hostage for years is probably going a bit too far. And you probably won't even get internet access either to post your blog about it either.
Apologies for linking an article from the Daily Fail, but I thought further details might be interesting to some: Swiss hostage Lorenzo Vinciguerra in Philippines escapes Islamist extremists | Daily Mail Online
I'd just pick up where I left off. "12 July 2018, I saw Sulu Hornbills today". Next post, "12 August 2021, today I left Tawi Tawi and travelled on to southern Mindanao to look for Monkey-eating Eagles". Next post, "12 February 2029, okay another small hold-up in the trip, but now I'm off to Palawan".
The photograph is from early 2012, but the photographer did not escape until late 2014 - so the time interval between now and then is actually shorter than you noted certainly not somewhere I would want to risk going!
