Visiting Maria Cristina Falls after 27 years

Maria Cristina Falls is Iligan City’s most accessible and easy to visit!

I can still vividly remember, 27 years ago, while vacationing with a group of seminarians from Don Bosco, and I was in high school then, we motored up to the winding road from the highway and came to this monstrous hydropower plant, the Agus VII. Behind it was the beautiful Maria Cristina Falls.

Fast forward to last Saturday, I rode a habalhabal up the same winding road. This time, I paid 50 pesos as entrance fee for me and the driver to the NPC eco tourism park where the same Agus VII hydropower plant and the waterfall was situated.

It seems there has been little changes since I’ve visited the place for the first time. There were now flowerlike lamposts, a tourist area with cottages at the bottom. A zipline is also being offered with a shuttle service from the main entrance to where the waterfall is located.

With a smile on my face, I walked, following the path at the side of the power plant. The river’s still raging white with the strong current and slowly gazed into the distance, to the background. Maria Cristina Falls is just beautiful as ever. Thundering cascades as the plant gates above were opened that water from Lake Lanao poured down angrily.

I smiled. I took some photos. I took some video footage. If it weren’t a Saturday, they would have limited the water and would have not seen the waterfall in its full splendor. After getting the images, I went back my way and rode the motorcycle back to the highway.

Still with a smile on my face.

GETTING THERE: The Agus VII hydropower plant is located in Barangay Maria Cristina and is just before Tinago in Buru-un. If you are commuting, take a Buru-un jeep from the city center and tell the driver to stop at the Maria Cristina Falls junction. From the junction there are habal-habal motorcycles or you can walk to the main entrance. P35 per adult as entrance fee and if you have a motorcycle driver, P50. There is a shuttle that will take you from the main entrance to the waterfall area but it will only leave minimum of five passengers. Zipline and other amenities have additional costs.