Kepirohi Falls

Pohnpei's rain writes waterfalls everywhere, and Kepirohi is its signature: a broad curtain dropping some twenty metres over hexagonal basalt columns into a pool built for the post-drive swim, ferns and breadfruit framing the amphitheatre and the island's permanent green doing the rest. The falls sit conveniently on the Nan Madol side - the ruins-and-waterfall pairing makes Pohnpei's classic day - with a short path from the road, landowner fees at the entrance in island custom, and flow that never fails because the sky here never truly stops. It is the most photographed fall on Pohnpei, largely because it is the only one reachable without a serious walk.

The landscape

• The basalt curtain - twenty metres over columned rock.
• The swimming pool - the post-drive rite performed.
• The green amphitheatre - ferns and breadfruit framing.
• The Nan Madol pairing - ruins and falls in one day.

When to go

December to April, the (relatively) drier trades; after big rain the curtain doubles and the pool clouds briefly.

What to expect

Rocks are slick as policy - footwear with grip; the landowner fee is the access custom, paid cheerfully.

Nearby

Nan Madol's ruins and the Madolenihmw coast.