The Enchanting Madakaripura Waterfall

Probolinggo Jawa Timur Indonesia 
Thursday, 5 June 2014

On the day of our trip, I got an unexpected news about our trip, "semeru is closed" due to missing of one hiker. No wonder lah, I got a bad feeling before our trip. Memang, feeling yang aku rasakan, something is going to happen. Tapi memang aku tak tahu apa yang tak kena masa tu. And that feeling slowly haunted me until I got the news on the day of our trip. Kenapa lah masa aku nak pergi ni... ada pulak penghalangnya, why not before or maybe after our trip. Emmhh... Kita ni hanya merancang, Allah juga yang tentukan. Honestly, memang agak kecewa juga tapi our trip has to go on. So, plan has changed & we agreed to proceed with bromo tour first. Initial plan, bromo is supposed to be our last day.

Madakaripura Waterfall

After taking the heavy breakfast, we went to our unplanned trip for today to Madakaripura Waterfall, a nice waterfall not far from Bromo. Located in Sapih village, Lombang district, Probolinggo, this waterfall is believed to have related historic with a great, Gajah Mada, who strongly struggled to unify the whole territory of the nation under span of control of Majapahit, and said as “the last residence for Gajah Mada”.

Beautiful Morning at starting point Madakaripura waterfall

Preparation to Madakaripura Waterfall

Our transport for first day tapi aku hairan lepas jer Ranupani terus bertukar size dia, emmhhh... why?? I thought we already agreed with 12 seater

Di pintu masuk akses jalan ke air terjun Madakaripura, pelawat akan “disambut” patung Patih Gajah Mada dalam posisi duduk bermeditasi

The distance from the starting point to reach this waterfall is approximately, 1.3km. But to reach this waterfall, you need a short trekking crossing a few stream before you could reach the real destination. Trekking duration depends on the individual, maybe, kalau tak banyak amek photo, 30 minutes dah boleh sampai. Tapi faham-fahamlah kalau gadis semasa yang trekking, so, duration kena double, hehehe. Yes, almost 1 hour trekking juga. But be carefull, certain cross of river could be slippery and risky. And for that, we need to hire a local guide. Masa diskusi with Mail our tour guide, we only need to pay IDR70K, mana tahu bila sampai herge dia terus jadi IDR200K. So, kami argue juga & finally they agreed with IDR100K for one guide. Bagi aku depends lah korang nak kasi berapa pun. Tapi aku rasa sepanjang trekking kami banyak dibantu oleh our guide, Mail & Imam. 

Our first river crossing... boleh tahan juga deras air dia

Hiking route to Madakaripura Waterfall

Next river crossing... there were few streams you need to pass thru

Rilek jer guide kami berkaki ayam kan lepas dah kasi sandal dia kat Fad Gojes

Trekking route to waterfall

Arghhh geram jer tengok sungai kat sini

Madakaripura waterfall from far

The last river crossing....

We finally reach the waterfall but before we can really hike up further, kami diharuskan memakai raincoat. To me, this is a must unless korang memang plan nak mandi-manda. Tapi jangan risau sebab ada raincoat dijual disini dengan harga IDR5K. Kami semua beli except Cik Amy sebab masing-masing tak bawa raincoat, ada bawa tapi dalam beg kat dalan van kami lah. Mana tahu pulak kan kena pakai raincoat. Al maklum, plan terjah, so, memang tak sempat nak google apa-apa lah about this waterfall. And this is my first time trekking with my baju ofis. Al maklum, semalam lepas kerja terus ke airport, so, mana sempat nak salin baju bagai & I was trying to minimize the load, kata hiking trip kan. 

Yang ni unofficial guide kami kat sini yea... His task was to ensure that gadis semasa crossed the river safely

Preparation to the real trekking to Madakaripura

Posing terbaik dari kami (credit to Bj)

The hidden valley

Tapi memang aku akui... this waterfall is really spectacular. One of the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen. Dah macam berada dalam set filem Avatar pun ada. Unfortunately, the rain and water spray has limited my camera to explore this beautiful hidden treasure of Probolinggo to its maximum.

Rasa macam dalam set filem Avatar jer

Rasa tak puas menikmati keindahan Madakaripura waterfall ni

Hai Si katak... kalau lah kau bertukar menjadi prince charming

Try to escape from photographer yang cute

Madakaripura berasal dari kata Mada Kari Pura yang bermaksud “Tempat Tinggal Terakhir”. Nama ini diabadikan sempena kepercayaan masyarakat setempat yang mengatakan disinilah tempat persemadian terakhir Gajah Mada.

Trekking heading to last waterfall

Apakah yang mereka cuba lakukan

Air Terjun Madakaripura diyakini sebagai tempat meditasi terakhir Patih Gajah Mada dari Kerajaan Majapahit

Us in the middle of the main Madakaripura waterfall

Subhanallah...

what makes this place so unique

This spectacular waterfall lies hidden at the end of a deep valley in the foothills of the Tengger range. The water has cascades from the dense forest above. The primary attraction of course is its natural environment that is encircled by 7 waterfalls and caves.

Gadis-gadis semasa

Tak sangka ditengah-tengah hutan ni masih ada keindahan yang mengasyikkan

Setelah puas menikmati keindahan Madakaripura, kami kembali semula ke van dan meneruskan perjalanan menuju Bromo, which is our main agenda for tomorrow.

Still praying for a good news.

 To be continued...