maria cristina falls, how majestic!

it was not in my dream that i’ll be able to visit for FREE the place where the book-featured maria cristina falls resides. when you enter school at the early age, your mind will be opened to the natural wonders of the philippines. when you talk about picturesque water falls that our country possessed, most textbooks in school will point us to the infamous pagsanjan falls in luzon and maria cristina falls in mindanao.

it was my wish before to visit maria cristina falls one day since i was curious how would it look like in the real world. all the information i have then were from textbooks, features in televisions and magazines. many of my friends, of course, who had been there had talked beautiful things about it.

i am also curious how this majestic water falls is able to produce electricity. i surmise that what made this falls so prominent is because it powers the hydro-electric power plant of NAPOCOR. it became the benchmark of other hydro-electric power plants in the country. aside from the electric plant, its majesty also draws curious crowds to the place.

i was so inggit with some of my high school teachers who went on tour to northern mindanao and was able to visit maria cristina falls. you will really feel inggit looking at their pictures. it’s a fact that every school boy and girl knows this beautiful creation, however, only few have the chance to witness it in its full strength.

since currently i am assigned in northern mindanao by our company, i am excited to visit it. i made plans that maybe next year  i’ll have the financial strength to fulfill my childhood dream.

i also presumed that its nestled at the center of a dense jungle in lanao del norte where some of the bandits are seeking refuge from the assault of the armed foces of the philippines making it more risky even for local tourist to be there. i was amazed that it’s only three (3) kilometers away from the city center of iligan city. exactly it rests in one of the barangay in the city - barangay maria cristina. maybe the name maria cristina falls was culled from the barrio where it is located. it’s a kilometer away from the main or national highway.  it’s even nearer than the timoga pools, another attraction in lanao del norte.

i was told by a friend from NAPOCOR, ms. mabel diana murro, that it’s best to visit the place when NAPOCOR will open the dam. it is on these occassions that you’ll experience the full force of the water falls and you’ll be able to witness the total width of water that curtains the mountain rocks. only twice a week will NAPOCOR fully open the dam - thursday and saturday.  she also advised that it would be better if you bring a car or hire a van in going there than to use a public transportation. that is for your convenience, of course.

True to what she said, NAPOCOR had already built a picnic cottages where visitors can eat. so it’s advised to bring food and drinks since they don’t have a canteen at the site. you’ll only see the water falls naturally doing its wonders and the machineries of the hydro-electric plant doing its work.

i am so fortunate that i was able to visit the place all expenses paid. more than fortunate because we went there on a thursday and NAPOCOR opens the whole dam. mists were all over  us. it was like you’re treated in cold mists courtesy of nature’s, not a commercial, spa. we even threw joke of using the goat’s milk soap we harvested from the farm in Naawan, Misamis Oriental.

aside from those, we were only treated with a sumptuous lunch at the NAPOCOR Picnic Cottage where the Maria Cristina Falls serves as the backdrop. sumptuous lunch because it was just a lechon-baboy from iligan. many people claimed that the savory and crispiest lechon-baboy in the philippines can only be found in iligan city. so ironic since iligan city residents are mixed christians and muslims.

the dam doors at the top of the water falls are a sore eye. anyway, that is only my observation.