Calayan's Secret Revealed:
THE 17- CASCADED NAGSARMINGAN FALLS
📌 Dibay, Calayan Island, Cagayan
Video:
https://fb.watch/p1rFMecCqC/?mibextid=Nif5oz
SOMEWHERE deep in the tropical rainforest that is part of the small village of Dibay, Calayan Island - several kilometers from a dirt, craggy road, an esteemed guide led our troop into a wild chase, paving the way to my 87th waterfalls. The forest was enormous, teeming with wildlife. Calayan was never been part of any large landmass, and thus possesses unique flora and fauna, most of which are confined only here and to the nearby islands of the Babuyanes.
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| One of the many cascades or levels of the Nagsarmingan Falls |
The sun marched high over the horizon when we started our hike; a wrong move because we have not anticipated the sheer distance we are dealing with. From Centro Calayan going to Dibay, our high strength XRM motorcycles wiggled and jumped through dense thickets, jagged paths and deep muds, struggling to keep up, then broke out into a vast grassland. We were in the vicinity of Mount Nangabaywanan, Calayan's second loftiest point.
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| The rich avian biodiversity of the tropical rainforest of Calayan Island around Mount Nangabaywanan |
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| One of the largest and most voluminous cascades of the multi-tiered Nagsarmingan Falls |
We tirelessly trekked the mountains with its richness, offering an immense value to the natural world and to the country's biodiversity.
The Nagsarmingan Falls is arguably the highest waterfalls in the entire Cagayan Valley if all of the more than 17-known cascades (levels) are put together vertically - atleast in my experience.
The pictures below are just one of the many cascades (smaller falls) of the Nagsarmingan Falls. Each cascade or level is separated by few steps or few hikes away to reach the next.
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| Multi-falls in one level |
Each level could have been named separately - but collectively, the locals still called them as one, to form the multi-level Nagsarmingan Falls. It was derived from the Iluko word "sarming" which means mirror, as the highest cascade on top of the mountain is visible from the sea like a mirror according to the locals.
It is best visited during rainy season or just after a typhoon. During that time, the waterfalls are voluminous and there might be more than 17 cascades.
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| The Falls is best visited during rainy season where the water is strong and voluminous |
The sun already painted a gaudy yellow-orange stripe across the horizon after our conquest. The darkness and night threatened at us any moment when we set our motorcycles back to Centro Calayan.
In my mind, I was lucky that I was able to mirror myself at Nagsarmingan. It is always been great to be the first, if not among the firsts; the very few firsts.
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| The rainforest of Calayan teeming with wild flora |
It's not all about feeding our egoistic tendency but rather, it's all about our delicate chance to see the most raw, the most beautiful, the most natural and the most untouched form of that wonderful place taken into account before they could be vandalized, defaced or humanized.
Below are some of the more than 17-cascades of the Nagsarmingan Falls:
Additional and related story:
𝐅𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠...
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐈-𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒
Photos:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3495908183995270&id=100007283687906&mibextid=Nif5oz
I HAVE roamed numerous realm of tropical rainforests where the murmur of the cool streams and the unforgettable scent of the woods and foliages fill the air. I have ambled along muddy and craggy roads alike, freed myself from impenetrable tangles of vegetations chaotic with extensive biological richness and traced some of the wildest and untouched shorelines of Cagayan.
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| Extensive biological richness of Calayan, featuring a bird called "sawsaw-it" |
But still, there is a seemingly endless variety of beauty pageants in Calayan Island: its uncharted waterfalls, its immaculate beaches, its opulent marine life and countless imaginings of allure.
With the conquest of this wild and distant multi-cascaded Nagsarmingan Falls, we are lucky to be among the very few first non-islanders to visit this anomaly of nature and firmly establish Calayan's fame as a realm of the fabulous and fascinating.
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| The exploration never dies; after long hours of hiking |
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