Tinuy-an Falls on a Rainy, stormy day!

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]inuy-an Falls is a top tourist attraction for Bislig City in Surigao Del Sur. Located in Burboanan, some 10 kms away in the southeastern part of Bislig, Tinuy-an holds the record of having the widest diameter (95 meters) among all the known falls here in the Philippines. Thus,  Tinuy-an Falls was nicknamed the Niagara Falls of the Philippines.

The crystal clear, pristine, Tinuy-an Falls of Bislig City (photo from Wikipedia)

No wonder Tinuy-an Falls is on top of our “must-go-to-list-of places” in this trip.

Previously, we made a brief stop at Bislig City “baywalk for a fun shoot. Sensing another storm is coming, we hurriedly left the city proper  and headed south towards Tinuy-an Falls. The howling winds at the bay side plus road flooding made us all worry about this trip. While on the road, we met people in a government owned vehicle warning us not to go ahead towards Tinuy-an because the roads are flooded. A tourist filled commuter van backed out even before reaching the place. None of us however, wanted to forgo the opportunity of seeing this falls. We invested time and effort in this road trip. We braved a storm and got wet in the rain, went through an accident, busted our tires, and we made it this far. We’ve traveled for days and since we are here already, we all agreed to go ahead, see the roads for ourselves and just turn back whenever we encounter road blocks. We knew exactly what we are expecting to see, and for the most part of it, this is all just to satisfy our curiosity. Turning back now seem to be not an option.

The road leading to Tinuy-an Falls is “unpolished”-rough, snakelike, narrow and on rainy days, muddy flooded. It was an image built entirely from “amazon stories”, creating both an excitement and fear for something unknown for first timers. We just knew something worth all these troubles is waiting for us to be discovered. The heavy rains and mud didn’t dampen our obsession to see this place. Whatever comes our view when we arrived there, we’ll take it face value. We can only hope against hope. Luckily, the flooded roads are really not that flooded or impassable. We made it to the foot of Tinuy-an Falls.

Just as expected, we arrived at the foot Tinuy-an Falls seeing the beauty in all of its inglorious state. Like seeing a lady in all her “harassed moments”.

Tinuy-an Falls cottages in deep flood waters

In this state, this falls is far from its previous pictures depicting a pristine, crystal like and serene, curtain falls. The rushing and gushing, mud laden, swirling, chocolate brown waters falling from this falls is Tinuy-an on rainy, stormy days. But sensing the uniqueness of our trip (rare for tourist to see tinuy-an falls like this) we make do with what we have in front of us.  So our camera’s got busy, despite the poor, hazy and drizzling weather. Take a look at theses photos.

Chocolaity Tinuy-an Falls on a stormy weather!

One thing I’m sure not going to do again, is going to this falls on rainy days. The sheer distance and the risks  you have to conquer is not worth the the inglorious sight you’ll see.

Tinuy-an Falls as seen near the entrance. Note even the sides are all submerged in flood waters.

I’m not saying Tinuy-an Falls is not a beauty. I’m just saying it’s not at her best this time of the year. Ours, was a unique experience though, given that it may take some time before I could come back to this place. But there’s something we can brag about Tinuy-an Falls. That is seeing a chocolaity, Tinuy-an Falls on a rainy stormy days!