June 10, 2019. Not a lot of travelers go to Bali to trek its jungles and hike to its waterfalls. I realized it’s one of the things I that makes Bali a great travel destination–there are activities that cater to different types of travelers. For the more adventurous types, there are numerous cascades to trek on the island. For this particular adventure, we chose Sekumpul.
Before narrating further, I note that the night prior, Robby, one of our friends arrived from Manila to catch up with our trip. He couldn’t make it sooner, so for the first two days, it was just Rap and I. Henceforth, there were three of us buddies exploring the island.
We started our day early because it takes three hours to drive from Seminyak (where our hotel was) to Sekumpul far north of Bali. That morning, Joe, our driver, was sure to make a stop-over halfway through the drive, at a roadside shack that resembled your regular Filipino sari-sari store. There was your typical junk food and snacks. We had, aside from coffee, ta-da, more pork skewers! What’s with Joe, or Bali in general, and their penchant for babi (pork)?
Anyhow, after three hours on the road, through verdant rural landscapes and mountain passes, we arrived at Sekumpul. It was around midday, but we decided to postpone lunch and begin our trek into the jungle. It wasn’t really a trek trek, because much of the way has been paved with concrete. Although the climb down to the valley to the base of the waterfall and the hike back up was still as strenuous as it could be because a hundred vertical meters is, still, a hundred meters of pure physical effort.
The climb down and then the hike back up was a fair price to pay for the sight of what is touted as Bali’s best waterfall. The experience at the base of the waterfalls was particularly rewarding. As one trekked closer and closer to the falls, you realize how enormous–and thus, awesome–the cascades are.
On the way back to Seminyak, we had late lunch at a roadside restaurant before queuing up at the Handara Gate, which really was just for the ‘gram. It was nothing but a photo opportunity. We had spent almost half an hour in line before we realized how it was not worth the wait, but we had already invested our time lining up so we decided to have our photos taken anyway.
Before reaching Seminyak, we decided to stop by Canggu to visit the popular Tanah Lot temple. I wasn’t able to enjoy the visit, primarily because it had already gotten dark by the time we got there, and I was exhausted from the ‘hike’ at Sekumpul.
