Once in a while I come across a waterfall that's really interesting, like the wide Tinuy-an Falls, or the multi-layered Kaangrian Falls. This time its a waterfall with a very colorful character.

The town of Valencia in Negros Oriental has several waterfalls, the more popular of which are Casaroro Falls and the Malabo (Pulang Bato) Falls. I only had limited time so I decided to visit the latter.


Valencia is an adjacent town to Dumaguete. Getting to the falls is surprisingly easy, I just rode a jeep near public market and asked to be dropped at the junction heading to the falls, though there was a bit of confusion at first. My conversation with the jeepney driver went something like this:

"Where are you heading?", driver asked

"Pulang Bato, can you drop be off near Pulang Bato falls?"

"There are no waterfalls in Pulang Bato", he bluntly replied.

"But there is", I said. Showed him a photo of the falls.

"Ah I recognized that ... that's not in Pulang Bato (there is a barangay of that name), that's in the next barangay".

Didn't bother explaining the name of the falls could have come from the color of the rocks. So Pulang Bato falls is not in Pulang Bato. And its name is actually Malabo Falls. So there.




Here's another interesting bit: you'll know if you are near the road heading to the falls if you see this "smokey mountain". Turns out Valencia has a lot of these geothermal vents spewing sulfuric smoke.  There is a geothermal plant nearby and I heard is worth a visit.