PAGSANJAN FALLS
AND
SHOOTING THE RAPIDS
 

In recent years Pagsanjan has become the premier tourist spot of the Philippines. More than 500 tourists from all parts of the world daily visit the town, from Monday through Sunday. These tourists are ferried to the enchanting Pagsanjan falls in native bancas paddled by expert boatmen. They all experience a thrilling memory of adventure, seldom surpassed in their lifetime. As Dr. Marguerite J. Fisher, American lady professor and globe-trotter, said: "I just love Pagsanjan, with its picturesque waterfalls and rapids. I've been there thrice and I've shot the rapids a number of times."

Upstream Banca Trip to the Falls

Unlike the Niagara Falls (U.S.) which is located within the periphery of Niagara City, the Pagsanjan falls is situated three miles outside of the town of Pagsanjan somewhere in the rugged highlands of Cavinti. Its site is a national territory under the supervision of the Parks and Wildlife Office of the Bureau of Forestry Development. The only passable route to it is the Bumbungan River of Pagsanjan.
To reach Pagsanjan Falls, tourists or visitors have to ride on bancas (native canoes) manned by skilled Pagsanjeño boatmen (bankeros). The upstream trip to the Falls lasts more than one hour and the return trip is less than an hour. It is on this return that one has to shoot the rapids -- an unforgetable thrill of a lifetime. There are fourteen roaring rapids in all.
The trip upriver is a rather slow process, for the two boatmen are paddling against the stream currents. Before entering the gorge, one would see a broad bend or curve of the river, whose water is extremely deep. This bend is called Kawa-Kawa. According to local legendary lore, the muddy bottom of this bend contains a giant bell, whose thunderous peals frightened little children and pregnant women many, many years ago.

The gorge, the gateway to the world-famous Pagsanjan Falls, is hemmed in by rocky cliffs as high as 300 feet, lush with tropical vegetation -- wild orchids, ferns, and vines. In early morning one may see little monkeys chattering among the vines and birds of multi-colored plumage gamboling or flirting among the bushes. "The gorge of Pagsanjan," commented Mrs. Isabel Anderson, American author-traveler in 1916, "is very beautiful." As the banca glides smoothly through the gorge, one may feel the sepulchral silence and cool atmosphere which comfort the agonizing heart or soothe frayed nerves.
Before reaching the gorgeous Pagsanjan Falls, one may behold many mini-falls, especially during rainy days. The first of this mini-falls is the Talahib Falls. Farther on are the Kaluykuy Falls and the misty Bridal Veil Falls. The other mini-falls, numbering more than nineteen during the rainy months, have no names. Many of these are unseen during the summer season.
After more than an hour of difficult journey upstream, during which the boatmen have to drag the banca, with two passengers on board, or lift it up across the rapids, the real thing emerges in view -- the enchanting Pagsanjan falls, whose booming waters cascade down a 300-foot high rocky cliff in full splendor. The echoes of the falling waters fill the air with symphonic thunder like the crash of a Wagnerian opera.
Behind the curtain of the cascading waters is the mysterious Devil's Cave, so named because its opening looks like the profile of a devil's face.
The base of Pagsanjan Falls is a huge natural swimming pool. Its water is clean and rather cold. A good swimmer can dive and swim to his heart's delight.

The Exciting Shooting of the Rapids

The climax of the visit to Pagsanjan Falls is the exciting "shooting the rapids" during the return trip. It is a rare experience of one's lifetime. The rapids, winding through boulders and roaring downstream with the velocity of an express railway train, are frightening to see. Shooting these rapids is relatively safe, for the Pagsanjeño boatmen, with their inborn dexterity in rowing and amazing skill acquired by many years of experience, have the know-how to navigate them.
Many foreign visitors have enjoyed this unique adventure of shooting the Pagsanjan rapids. As a British traveler P. Armitage, gladly remarked: "Shooting the rapids is the most thrilling experience of my life. I've been to many capitals of the world, but the Pagsanjan trip is worth all the trouble." This is affirmed by General Chatechai Choonhavan, Thailand's Foreign Minister, who said: "Shooting the rapids is a thrill that is unequalled anywhere."

First Written Account of a Trip to Pagsanjan Falls

Historically, the first written account of a trip to Pagsanjan Falls was by Joseph E. Stevens, an American trader-traveler from Boston. With four American friends, he made a banca trip to Pagsanjan Falls on Holy Thursday, March 22, 1894. In glowing words he described his exciting experience as follows:


After breakfast we went down to the river and got into five hollowed-out tree-trunks (bancas), preparatory to the start up into the mountain gorges. It was worse than riding a bicycle, trying to balance one of the crazy affairs, and for a few moments I feared my camera and I would get wet. However, nobody turned turtle, and we were paddled up between the high coconut-fringed banks of the wonderfully clear river before the early morning sun had looked over mountains into whose cool heart we were going.
Then came the first rapids, with backgrounds of rich slopes showing heavy growth of hemp and cocoa palms. Another short paddle and the second set of rapids was passed on foot. A clear blue lane of water then stretched out in front of us and reached squarely into the mountain fastness through a huge rift where almost perpendicular walls were artistically draped with rich foliage that concealed birds of many colors, a few chattering monkeys, and many hanging creepers. Again it seemed like a Norwegian fjord . . . but here, instead of bare rocks, were deeply verdured ones. Above, the blue sky showed in a narrow irregular line; below, the absolutely clear water reflected the heavens; the cliffs rose a thousand feet, the water was five hundred feet deep, the birds sang, the creepers hung, the water dripped, and we seemed to float through a sort of El Dorado, a visionary and unreal paradise. At last we glided in through a specially narrow lane not more than fifty feet wide; a holy twilight prevailed; the cliffs seemed to hold up the few clouds that floated far over our head, and we landed on a little jutting point, for bathing and refreshments. It seemed as if we were diving into the river Lethe or being introduced to the boudoir of Nature herself. In an hour we pushed on, passed up by three more rapids and halted at last at the foot of a bridal-veil waterfall that charmed the eye with its beauty, cooled the air with its mists, and set off the green foliage with its white purity. Here we lunched, and in lieu of warm beer drank in the beauties of the scenery.
The return was a repetition of the advance, except that we shot one or two of the rapids, and that the banca holding the boy and the provisions upset in a critical place, wetting the crackers that were labeled "keep dry". We got back to our house by early afternoon, and all agreed that an inimitable, unexcelled wouldn't-have-missed-it-for-world-excursion passed into history.