Lake Sebu ~ Seven Waterfalls ~ Part 1

Lake Sebu's Seven Waterfalls 
Location: Brgy. Lake Seloton, Lake Sebu, South Cotobato
Type and height: Plunge
Trek difficulty: 5/5
Trek duration: 1 to 2 hours

"I just descended from Mt. Apo and I'm back in Davao City. Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Lake Sebu to discover its rich wonder."

I arrived in Lake Sebu at 11:30am.

Even before arriving I’ve pondered on the thought of spending more time with the T’boli people. Their culture and tradition is so rich my curiosity wanted to learn and discover more about it. And what better way to learn but to share the following nights on the same roof with a T’boli family. That’s exactly what happened. By sheer luck, while looking for a place to stay I landed here...At the T’boli School of Living Tradition. I thank the universe.

After having Sinigang na Tilapia for lunch I met Dodo who will be my main companion on my whole stay here in Lake Sebu. He’s my motorcycle driver turned co-explorer.

We arrived at the main gate of Falls 1 and walked from there. It’s a short 400 meter distance along paved way from the gate to the nearest view point of Waterfalls 1. Be extra careful as the cemented trail is wet with mist. Swimming is not allowed due to the strong current the waterfalls produce.

Falls 1: "Hikong Alo"

From Waterfalls 1, one must simply descend 774 steps to reach waterfalls 2. “Ooohhh….makes me wonder”- My mind singing a verse from the song Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. The steps are cemented but extra vigilance is advised as some parts of the staircase are tricky and unstable.

Falls 2: "Hikong Bente"

Just like any video game, the higher the number the more challenging the tasks are. This is no different from Lake Sebu’s Seven Waterfalls as we continued our trek down on the third Waterfalls. There is still an established walkway but parts of it is now covered with moss, it consist of stumbled trees and missing steps due to erosion, spider webs catching you and the trek now requires a bit of scrambling. This was the last waterfalls we saw before calling it a day.   

Falls 5: "Hikong Ukol"

Where’s Waterfalls 4 and 5 you may ask. We found it out the hard way…