” height=”450″ />Do you want to visit the waterfall? Elizer Simon, Claveria tourism officer asked us. But we were already in Claveria late in the afternoon and I wasn’t sure if we can still make it. Don’t worry, its just near. He reassured us.
Thus we headed our way to Barangay Mabnang, just a couple of kilometers from Claveria’s towncenter and which is near the border with Sta. Praxedes, both are northern municipalities of Cagayan province with the latter, the last town before Ilocos. These are closer to Laoag City than the capital, Tuguegarao City.
I was back again in this municipality after just four days from shooting the Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho travel feature. This time with Eric, my travel buddy. I was more interested to visit again Taggat Lagoon but Elizer’s invitation was just to hard too resist.
When we arrived at a little clearing midway up in the hill with beautiful anahaw palms, we started our hike.
I have a thing for waterfalls because of their many forms, volume and height as well as location. But what I don’t like is that reaching one, most of the time entails a steep descent like Tappiyah Falls in Batad, Fedilisan in Sagada, Merloquet in Situbo, Zamboanga City, to cite a few.
But when we reached the falls, I was surprised that it was really accessible. Just about a hundred meters from where we started walking with no steep ascent or descent. Just a gradual and easy slope to contend with.
But then, Mabnang Falls is small. It is just around 40 feet but it is said that there is a taller cascade above it but kind of inaccessible as the route was damaged during the logging years. A few meters from where the waterfall is another cascade, this time at an angle, almost the same length but lesser volume.
While the waterfall is beautiful, barangay plans are not. Already, they have cemented the sides and ground to make a pool directly where the water will fall. And this makes it disappointing. When we were there, they have already made progress.
Back to where we started hiking, the barangay is making a pool with water coming from Mabnang Falls. And god, the view is just so spectacular. Elevated and on top of a hill, it gives a good view of the farmland directly opposite the main highway with forested mountains and  the wide open blue sky above. I think, this will also be a good alternative or enjoy after swimming at the waterfall.
My great appreciation for Mr. Elizer Simon, Claveria tourism officer who assisted us when we were there.
I’m from Claveria… and visited this falls once… It was purely falls no renovation at all… So disappointed with the LGU because there were no developments done during the past few years.. Good to see, at last some improvements were done… Might visit this again next month… Thanks fro sharing:)
@reydan, medyo disappointing lang ang development sa falls mismo.
Sayang naman kung ganon ang ginawa nila…
good to know that the falls can be easily accessed. pero it could also be a disadvantage. it would mean more people going there who doesn’t know much about taking care of the environment
yan ang medyo downside. but which, people here thinks is normal, like what they did sa Portabaga Falls in Sta. Praxedes. Naka landscape and cemented. That’s why I skipped it.
unfortunately, the development within the falls is already a big downside.
Yeah… di kasi malalim ang basin sa falls mismo kaya siguro naisipan nilang gawin yun… but still mas maganda kung di siya cemented. Still I prefer yung area before… ginagawa na nilang commercialized.
like what they did with Portabaga Falls in the neighboring municipality of Sta. Praxedes. When I saw that waterfall in photos, I did not hesitate to not visit it.