A Trek to Ditumabo Mother Falls

This is Ditumabo Mother Falls, the loveliest water falls I have ever seen! In this travelogue, I'm going to share with you an experience I won't ever forget my whole life, something that's so extraordinary, something I thought would never happen.

If anyone talks about Baler, mother falls will surely be brought on the table. It's one of the tourist destinations in town but geographically, it is not situated in Baler but in its neighboring municipality, San Luis, specifically in Barangay Ditumabo. That's what we missed to visit during our first trip to Baler last year. And when we had this trip again, I said I wouldn't miss it again! I shouldn't! So after surfing, we got ready for the tour.



There are tricycle tour service available and the rate varies depending on destinations. Whole day tour costs 800 pesos per tricycle for a maximum of 4 people. As we just wanted to visit Mother Falls and Aniao Islet, we negotiated for a cheaper rate and got 400 peso - deal for the entire tour. That's not costly I guess because we're a group of 5 and if we were to divide the cost, it's cheap. We hired 2 tricycles: one for me and Maecel and another one for Teacher Dyen, Marion and Ellables.

Tricycle tour drivers are available anywhere in town so it is very easy to engage their service. One just needs to learn how to negotiate for the price with the driver in order to get a much cheaper rate.

From Baler, the tricycle took us to San Luis. It started with a fun ride along the highway. Everything went on smoothly, and the panoramic beauty of rice fields and mountains that we saw along the way, oh wow! they were so lovely to look at. I couldn't stop myself from taking photos of them.

I know trips are mostly not smooth sailing. We're going to water falls so I expect to pass some rough roads, just like in Caunayan Falls in San Luis. When we turned left, just before reaching Ditumabo bridge, the unexpected ride truly began. As to what made it "unexpected", I'll tell you later. As we're taking some craggy route, the driver asked us to have someone to occupy the back seat for a good balance. Maecel did the back ride then.

Road was getting more rough and flinty as we were advancing. I was seated inside the tricycle and it was so bumpy and shaky inside. I needed to really struggle against possibility of getting injury. I could bump my head at the ceiling or anywhere sideways at any point in time.


After less than hundred meters drive, the tricycle could no longer get through the rockies. The driver asked me and Maecel to just walk until we reached the portion where he thought his tricycle could carry on. This is one of the "unexpected". Being asked to walk gave me a little idea that there should be something strenuous along the way. 

Our tour guide, Owel.

Several minutes more and we finally reached the jump off point. We're not in the water falls yet but the place had fascinated me already.

I read several blogs about Ditumabo Mother Falls and none of them mentioned about river crossing or described the trail at least. Hence, I did expect an easy one. I was with friends, Ella and Dyen, who'd never been to hiking, so it wasn't a good idea to drag them to an activity they have never prepared.


Our trek started with crossing a bridge that's made of old bamboos and woods. At first I was in doubt if the bridge could hold standing with me walking on it. I'm heavy and I was afraid it would break, but nah! It could carry up to 20 people, I guess  :)

First Bridge

When we crossed the bridge, we headed to a hut or "bahay kubo" as we call it for registration. There is no fee required but the management was asking for a donation, and that's all. While Ella was busy writing down our names in the log book, I looked around and noticed a boy holding fishes skewed with a stick-like tie. He said he got it from the river. Oh wow! I was fascinated, not because it was my first time to hear such but because I realized we still have clean fresh waters in Philippines where fishes can live and be eaten by people. Then a thought came in, we're in province and not in Manila Bay. :D

Me and the boy who caught fish in the river

Prior to the actual trek, we all had no idea what kind of trail we're going to traverse, how long would it take. Like I said, I didn't read any description about it aside from a 30-minute walk according to one blog. We'd been to Caunayan, a nearby water falls in San Luis and it was an easy trip. I was expecting the same. And, yeah, it looked easy.

I thought the trail would continue to be straight forward and easy until we reach the water falls. I was wrong and was too early to judge. Just right after we crossed the second bridge, the trail was gradually becoming arduous. There were portions in the trail where we had to walk along the river with rocks that were very slippery. And we're not prepared for this. We didn't wear trekking shoes, we're on our slippers. We were not in hiking suit. I was wearing shorts while others were on skirts or dress. We didn't even bring a trail water or food because we thought it was just a 30-minutes trek. Whoever that blogger who said it, he or she must be a runner or a hard core hiker :)  So this is another "unexpected".

Branched Water Falls

Then, few more walk after traversing portions of the river, I thought we're in the water falls already but, nah! We're still not yet there hehe I didn't know how much farther we had to walk in order to get there. I was getting tired little by little and was thirsty. Anyhow, we must proceed. I heard our guide saying we're almost near but "how near would that be?"  I couldn't wait to see the water falls. If only I could run to get to see it fast, I've done it :) and that's the impatient side of me hehe

And after that exhausting, long walk, undoubtedly we're getting closer. Seeing those waters flowing from an elevated formation, I knew we're close, and that feeling of excitement ruled over me. I wanted to walk a bit fast to finally meet the water falls but the view of the running waters captivated me. I couldn't resist the temptation of taking photos of the place.

When I had enough photos, I continued walking until I reached the water falls' base. The moment I laid my eyes on it, I couldn't help but be more vocal of how amazed I'd been. Mother water falls is beyond gorgeous. It's very spectacular. Just imagine how fantastic our creator has been for ever thinking of making those natural water passageways in the forest and mountains to create such wonderful waterfalls. It's truly amazing. All the hardships I got along the way, they were all paid off by seeing what I had returned for in Baler! It sounds corny but it was like a dream come true moment for me so I must have my own picture taken, making it as my background cover :D

My water falls experience would never be complete without swimming on it. So I did swim, and as expected, the water was so cold. It felt as if I was swimming inside a cooler or underneath glacier. I wanted to get closer to the portion where the actual water drops fell but the current was so strong and it kept pushing me away from it. One of our tour guides, Hadjie, was with me swimming. He tried his best to get closer too but he couldn't. Then he mentioned about jumping off from the edge closer to the water falls. He said his previous guests took the challenge and he asked me if I would like to do it. It sounded thrilling so I said yes. Facing toward mossy rocks, we managed to get to the closest side of the falls and we jumped to the water. That was another "new experience" for me, something I had never expected. I had dreamed of jumping from the top of water falls downwards but haven't done it so far, and what I just did was almost similar to what I have in my bucketlist. That was terribly mind-blowing! It's so fulfilling!

This whole trek experience is one of a kind, one of the trips I won't forget that easy. This tested my patience in the trail and allowed me to jump at least on its approximately closest spot I could go near. What I like the most is the fact that this trip showed me how wild God's imagination was to ever think of creating water falls that are so stunning and gorgeous. And I'm so blessed to ever get the chance to see it with my barely naked eyes. It's a gift, a very rare gift for someone who spends most of the time in the city.


Clue
August 11, 2013
Mondragon