Awe inspiring Situbo Falls in Tampilisan

It’s well worth the travel into Zamboanga del Norte’s Situbo Falls in the municipality of Tampilisan. The waterfall’s beauty is mesmerizing when I first saw it. But the foreboding dark clouds above were jealous that I had to take one last glimpse at it and walked away. If it didn’t started to rain, I would have just sat on a flat rock and stared at it for hours on end.

I first saw a photo of Situbo Falls in Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte a few months ago while researching online about places in that province and I wasn’t so much impressed. But while spending a few days in Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay for a magazine assignment, the proximity of the municipality to where I was, just a 15 minute jeepney/bus ride, was so irresistible.

The dirt road was rather smooth, wide and winding, unexpected in a rather remote municipality. The motorcycle driver was chatty while deftly handling his vehicle as it passed some rocky portions and a few puddles. On hindsight, it was a good thing that I passed by the tourism office which assisted me and gave me a driver.

Situbo Falls before me

After about an hour. We stopped where the road has narrowed, descending a path more apt for a farmer and his carabao to pass. The path then opened up to a grassy area and continues to narrow again, steeply in some sections. We can hear the sound of thundering water as we went down the path.

The sight of the river made me all excited! The cascading flow was getting louder at each step I made. Louder and a few more meters of hiking upstream just revealed a glorious sight: Situbo Falls in its full glory! I was wide eyed at its massiveness. I was speechless with its breadth. And I was mesmerized with its two tier curtain of water.

It is such a humbling sight to behold that it just sears into your memory and never to be forgotten. A beautiful waterfall in Zamboanga del Norte’s Tampilisan.

GETTING THERE: From the town of Tampilisan, hire a habal-habal motorcycle to the waterfalls