Can you imagine a place where waterfalls fall all around you and you can feel the power and greatness surrounding you! Sounds like something you would only find in a movie right? Luckily for you there is a place just like I described above! It´s called Tumpak Sewu and it lies near Malang, in East Java, in Indonesia! It is one of the most amazing and breathtaking places I´ve ever been!
Getting to Tumpak Sewu
From Malang it takes around 2 ½ h to get to the waterfalls. The easiest way to get there is to hire a private driver, we got ours at a tourists information center and it costed 650 000IDK for the whole day. You can also rent a car or motorbike and drive there, but remember to drive on the left side!
Be sure to plan an entire day for this waterfalls, if you want to enjoy them to its fullest!
Hike to the waterfalls
Once at the site of Tumpak Sewu you have to pay a 20 000IKD entrance fee at the parking lot.
From the parking lot, take the road towards the viewpoint for the waterfalls. It takes around 10min to get there. Walking towards the railing of the platform, your jaw will drop, it´s one of the most amazing sceneries you will ever see! Below you there will be the 180° waterfall, with Semeru, an active volcano, on the background! You will feel like you´ve stepped into a movie!
If you are an adventurer at heart, you will surely want to see the waterfall from below, so instead of going back and ending your trip here, take the path down to the waterfall!
It is a very rustic path, with ladders of bamboo, very narrow ways and made of dirt. We could see the broken bamboo ladders that had been there before, below the one we were stepping on! It was kind of scary, but it was fine, we never felt like it was going to break under our feet! You should be aware, that you will have to cross over waterfalls and get you feet wet, and you will have to rely on the strength in your arms to keep you up against the railing while crossing this waterfalls, because they are slippery! But if you decide to take this 40-50min walk down (and up again afterwards!), you will never ever regret it!
Once down, take the path to the left, you will have to pay a 10 000IDK entrance fee to get to the waterfall. Standing there in the canyon, with the huge walls hovering above you, you get the sense of what is about to meet you. When you finally round the last corner you will be left speechless with the view of the countless waterfalls thundering to the ground before you! It is a moment you will never forget!
Once at the waterfall you can wander around as you like, you can climb to the foot of the waterfalls, get under them, wade through the river to get to the other side, all of course without causing any damage please! We went on dry season, so we were able to cross the low river, but I´m not sure if you are able to do this in the rainy season, when the water is higher and the current stronger.
We took so many pictures and spent so much time just marveling at the water falling all around us! But when you´ve had enough, which I honestly is something difficult to happen, then get ready for the next surprise.
Goa Tetes Waterfall
This waterfalls isn´t the only treasure that Tumpak Sewu hides. If you go back to the end of the way you came down, instead of going back up, walk straight, following the sign that says Goa Tetes Waterfall. You´ll have to pay a 5 000IDK entrance fee.
Walking towards this side you will be surprised that you can still be amazed by something else, after having seen the huge waterfalls. But on this side, the water runs down a beautiful colored wall, all in reds, oranges and greens! And it goes on and on and on. You reach a pool where you can swim in and after that you can start climbing the waterfall, but be careful because it´s steep and somewhat slippery!
Going up you arrive at a cave in the stone. The water runs down, creating a curtain between you and the cave, it is something magical to see, there´s no other way to describe it!
After that Alex and I kept on going up an dup and up, until we came to a point where we could no longer see if there was a path on the waterfall, that´s where we stopped to take in the view and have a break, before going all the way back to the viewpoint.
Back at the viewpoint we eat some fried bananas at a lady´s stand, they were very good and cheap, and the lady was very generous, she ended up giving each of us a banana for free! And we also had a fresh coconut. It was the perfect snack before getting back.
Tumpak Sewu was one of the most amazing places I´ve ever been and I hope you get to experience this beautiful place too!
If you want to watch our travel-video of Tumpak Sewu click here!
