Gone over the edge of

Buruwisan Falls
Article and Photos by: Ian Martinez

You sit at your office day dreaming about surfing, trail

biking and Mr. Cruz’s new secretary when all of a sudden
your attention is snatched by outbursts from colleagues
in a middle of an argument. You sit exasperated and
wonder: “There has to be a better way. These bickering
have got to stop!”

It is a great feeling to belong in a team. But as anyone

who has worked in the modern workplace would know, it
is easy to get on each other’s nerves and on each other’s
throat for that matter. If you are tired of all the team-
building seminars and lackluster bar-beer-cues to get
everyone feeling warm and fuzzy about everyone else in
the department, perhaps it is time to take a different ap-
proach?

Leave Everything Behind

Why not pack your backpacks and shove everyone into
a van or two and make your way to Buruwisan Falls?
There, everyone will be treated to a two hour challenging
hike through lush rainforest and picturesque grassland
trails. Your destination is a large campsite along a shal-
low but swiftly flowing river. Both upstream and down-
stream offers challenging terrain, exquisite natural pools
and cascades, and awe-inspiring falls.

But why stop at hiking and wading through neck-deep

water when you can avail of the services of a jump master
and rappel the freaky four-storey high Buruwisan Falls?
This activity may prove to be life changing and the answer
you’ve been waiting for.

Group Dynamics with a Difference

If you can picture it, then perhaps it will bring a smile to
your face: You and your colleagues on top of a dizzy-
ingly high waterfall, taking turns in fitting and checking the
equipment for those next in line, assisting, feeding the
line from below, working as an organic whole to ensure
everyone’s safety and enjoyment as they descend Buru-
wisan Falls by rope and harness.

You will all have to lean back over the chasm, com-
mit yourself to fate, navigate an overhang and struggle
through a curtain of vines and moss only to emerge twen-
ty meters above the water. You might never have seen
your colleagues function like this before but here they are,
precise, cooperative, communicative and purposeful.
“Rappelling is an activity that
demands exactness in skills,
specialized equipment and
professional guidance.”
This newfound appreciation towards each other would last
even after you set foot back in the city. Fear has a way
of etching memories into minds, and the bond formed by
facing death together in Buruwisan will form lasting friend-
ships among otherwise perpetual acquaintances. No
longer will pointless bickering plague your team because
once, your lives depended on each other.

Finding Your Way

Buruwisan Falls is part of a series of falls in Mt. Famy, Sini-
loan, Laguna. It is a mere three hours drive from Quezon
City and another two hours hike from Barangay Macatad
- the staging area or jump-off point for your hike. Brgy. Ma-
catad is along the Famy-Infanta Highway, making it very
accessible via private vehicles or public transport.

Campsite
The campsite is conveniently supplied by a number of
Sari-Sari stores and maintained by the local barangay. Toi-
let facilities are also available. It is implored from visitors
to practice low impact camping activities at the camp site.
Bonfires are not necessary and everyone is responsible to
ensure that no trash is carelessly thrown into the river or
left behind. The use of soap is discouraged in the river as
this will promote algal bloom further downstream thereby
affecting the clarity of the water and adversely affecting life
in the river.

Safety
Rappelling is an activity that demands exactness in skills,
specialized equipment and professional guidance. Vari-
ous mountaineering organizations offer guideship services
which include rappelling in the itinerary.

University of the Philippines Mountaineers (UPM) offer

such guideship services and may be contacted at their
website: http://www.upmountaineers.org.ph/

Clockwise from leftmost

picture: Decending
alongside the curtain of
water from Buruwisan
Falls; an adventurer
effortlessly going over
the lip of the falls; tools
of the trade: carabiners,
eight-ring , harness and
rated ropes.