OLANGUAN FALLS

From the zest of a city to the brilliance of nature, let the Palawenya Explorer lead you to a wonderful destination.

72 Kilometers away from the city proper of Puerto Princesa is an amazing hidden natural wonder.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

Come on Bamonos, join the Palawenya explorer as she explores this epic hidden creation of God.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

Along with my cousin and two of her office mates, we navigated our way to baranggay Binduyan to visit the Olanguan Waterfalls.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

From the San Jose Terminal, we rode a bus which took us to Binduyan. 

Baranggay Binduyan is located in the northern part of the City of Puerto Princesa. It is approximately 1.25 to 1.5 hours away from the city proper, fare is P70 (one way only). 

The original plan was to meet at the terminal at around 6am, but due to some delays we were able to board the bus a few minutes before 6.30am. The bus left the terminal at around quarter to 7.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

We were able to reach the drop-off point (which is at the Olanguan bridge) at 7:50am.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

Nobody among the four of us has visited the place yet, so we didn't have any idea on how to get to the falls from the drop-off point. Luckily, when we arrived at Binduyan there is a man along the road whom we asked on how to get to the falls.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

We learned that he has been offering services on guiding tourists who want to visit the falls.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

Our guide's name is Kuya John Rey Antolo.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

He's been guiding tourists since 2004.

If you're also planning to visit the falls and you want to get him as your tour guide, you can just ask the people around the community for him. He wasn't able to give me his contact number because his phone already went off  and he was't able to memorize his cellphone number. Anyway, Kuya John Rey is nice and he didn't leave us at the falls (our previous agreement is that he will guide/lead us to the falls, but if we'll be staying there long he'll just leave us there). He stayed with us (even if we stayed for a while) until we're ready to go back. Good thing he didn't leave us because there were a lot of guys who arrived when we were about to leave the falls (fyi: my companions and i are all girls).

You can actually go trekking without a guide because the trails are visible naman, but for safety purposes you can just get a guide for your trek, anyway guide fee is just 200 pesos.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

Okay, going back to the story.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

We started trekking at 8:00am (which is the best time to start the trek because it's not that hot and you can have the place all by yourselves).

The place is clean but i still saw a little bit of trash along the trail (SAD). 

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

We crossed around 7 small river crossings and it took us around 45 minutes to reach the falls (including the time for pictorial stopovers hehe).

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

I think trekking without the interruptions, we'll be able to reach the falls within 25-30 minutes only.


We saw a lot of beautiful natural scenery along the way.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

We even saw incredibly large stones and trees as well as small fishes.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

There was a steep part on the trek (like this one-- refer to the pictures below)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

and there were parts which requires a little bit f rock climbing skills haha. 

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

Just like if you want to get near the falls, you need to rock climb a little bit.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

Just be careful not to slip. Always make sure that the vines/plants or stones that you hold on to is stable enough to support your weight.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

After 30 to 45 minutes of trekking, this will be your awesome reward.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

There is also a rope that visitors may use if they want to cliff dive. They need to climb with the help of that rope to be able to reach the top of the cliff. And once they're on top of the cliff already, they can do the jump.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

This is one of my favorite parts of the cascading falls.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

This part is my most favorite. The stone carvings due to the flow of the water is incredibly awesome. It's such a nice and pleasant sight.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

Super amazing!

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

This part on the way to the falls is also super beautiful.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

This is the Olanguan Waterfalls.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

The Falls

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

You need to cross this (refer to the picture below), to be able to get near the falls.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

There's actually another falls on the higher part of the mountain but we didn't go there because the trail going there is quite dangerous already (it's masukal). But you can still reach that part if you want to.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

The descent is always less tiring and easier as compared to the ascent.

The adventure was really tiring yet fulfilling. When we reached the main road, we decided to explore the place more and look for a nice beach where we can bum around.

We asked the people around on where we could find a nice beach and they gladly directed us to this particular area near the Olanguan river.

On the way to the beach we saw a lot of improvised traps. There was also a bird who was caught by one of the traps and we freed it.

(A trapped bird)

(Freeing the trapped bird. There was a lot of traps scattered around the area)

After freeing the bird, we continued walking towards the beach. And this is what we found.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

At around past 12 o'clock noon, we already decided to go back to the city. We hailed and boarded an ordinary bus which was eventually full so we were given some stools to sit on. We occupied the middle of the aisle.

(Olanguan Falls--- Brgy. Binduyan PPC, Palawan Philippines)

This adventure is one of the beautiful highlights of my 2014! God's creation is reeeeaaaally AWEsome!


ADIOS!

-The Palawenya Explorer ;)

(A nice waterfall chase experience)