When I hear about beautiful waterfalls in the Philippines I'm... let's say... rather skeptical...I've seen a few which have been promoted as tourist attractions and usually I'd find one of the two realities: a) a 2-meter drop which, depending on wet or dry season, does or does not carry any water, b) a nice waterfall that has been turned into an amusement park with entrance fee (camouflaged as "environmental fee"), tubes, rafts, food stalls and a lot of trash floating in them.
The Inambakan Falls in southern Cebu taught me yet another lesson: there is beauty out there which is responsibly developed to enjoy it!
To get to the falls it requires quite some local knowledge. The narrow trail passes by small huts where old men offered us Tuba (local rice wine) while guiding us into the right direction. The walk is not difficult, just hidden. We crossed seven rivers (or was it just one river which we crossed seven times?) but did not come across any other "tourist".
When we finally walked up and down a few man-made concrete stairs (the kind of development which provides for accessibility and safety but doesn't spoil the experience) I almost didn't believe my eyes!
There was actually a curtain of water falling into a turquoise pool of water! The surrounding smoothed rocks were covered in lush green moss. The falling water was received by a mushroom-shaped rock, which crushed each drop of water into fine mist, creating this fascinating draft inherent to waterfalls. Swimming against a fairly strong current we discovered a cave behind the waterfall. For years and years drops of water have been eating their way through the rock!
After a refreshing dip we decided to explore the source of the waterfall. Climbing higher and higher, against the stream like salmons, we discovered truly untouched nature and a couple more water slides and steep falls. Careful not to slip we dared to challenge the stream and cooled off in the current.
As careful as we were we have to lament one casualty: Glenn's nice gecko shirt got sucked into one of the plenty whirlpools... never to be seen again. In swim shorts he made his way back to the car... Truly a tourist attraction!
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