Pagsanjan Falls

The falls themselves, locally Magdapio and officially Cavinti Falls since they lie inside Cavinti, drop in three stages into a pool at the head of a narrow gorge on the Bumbungan river, and the journey is the attraction - a canoe trip known since Spanish times, with a written account from 1894. Two boatmen take a narrow dugout canoe upstream through a series of rapids, paddling where they can and getting out to drag and lift the boat over rocks where they cannot, for something over an hour, with the gorge walls closing in and small side cascades coming down through the vegetation. At the top a bamboo raft is pulled on a rope under the main fall and into the cave behind the curtain of water. The trip back down is the reverse, fast, and much wetter.

The landscape

• The canoe ride upriver - two boatmen hauling a dugout over rocks and through rapids into the gorge.
• The gorge walls - narrow rock sides hung with vegetation and threaded with side cascades.
• The main fall and its pool - the drop at the head of the gorge, with the raft crossing below it.
• The cave behind the water - the raft pulled through the curtain of the fall on a rope.

When to go

November to May is the drier half of the year and the safest for the rapids. After heavy rain the river runs high and brown, the trip is suspended, and the falls lose their colour. Weekdays are quieter and the boatmen are less rushed. Go early: the canoes queue up by mid-morning and the return run is done in convoy.

What to expect

Tipping is the problem here and it is worth knowing in advance. Boatmen frequently ask for large tips mid-river, sometimes with the boat stopped, and the amounts named are far above the fare. Agree everything at the office before boarding. You will get soaked, phones and cameras need dry bags, and there are separate charges for the raft, life vests and lockers.

Nearby

Lake Caliraya and the Laguna lakeshore towns are close, with Cavinti above the gorge.

Key facts