Madakaripura Waterfall

We were on the way to Bromo when we detoured to Madakaripura, and it’s easily one of my favourite stops of the whole East Java trip so far. We left our hotel in Surabaya in the morning and it was about two hours to get there. Near the end there’s a food area at P2, so we stopped for lunch before the walk. Good call, because you’ll want the energy. The bus can’t go all the way, so you get on the back of a local villager’s motorbike for the last stretch. I thought that’d be a boring little shuttle. It wasn’t. We were told the bridge had collapsed, so they took us on a smaller track through the hills, and it turned into a proper off-road ride. Probably the most fun part of the morning, which is a weird thing to say about a transfer. From where the motorbike drops you it’s a walk of about half an hour. The first stretch is easy, paved path and a few bridges, tropical plants everywhere, and the air was so fresh I wanted to bottle it. I barely exercise and I was fine. Compared to Tumpak Sewu, which we’d also looked at, I’d say this took about a fifth of the effort. It was also nowhere near as crowded. At Tumpak Sewu you’re shuffling along in a line of people. Here we mostly had the trail to ourselves. The path gets rougher the closer you get. The paving stops, you’re wading through the stream and stepping from rock to rock, and some of it is really slippery. It’s not tiring so much as you need decent balance and shoes with grip. Then you reach the end and it’s ridiculous. Water falling off the cliffs in sheets on every side, and the main waterfall right at the back, around 200 metres, which is the tallest in Java. People call it the most Jurassic Park place on earth, and I get it. It’s a ring of cliffs with water coming off all of them. And you don’t just look at it from a distance. You walk right in, underneath it. We were soaked head to toe within a minute, and I loved every second. Our timing was unlucky, though. It had just rained, so the water was a muddy yellow. Apparently on a dry sunny day it runs a clear green. Still looked great to me, but I’d like to go back and see the green. Legend has it this is where Gajah Mada, the Majapahit general, spent his last days meditating, which is where the name comes from. Take a guide. Ours was lovely, helped us over the slippery rocks and the stream crossings, and kept grabbing photos of us without being asked. They hand out raincoats, or you can buy one on the way. Wear it. By the end the mist is so heavy it feels like standing in a shower, and without one you’re drenched. You’ll need a waterproof pouch for your phone too, the guide had to wipe ours down constantly while taking pictures. Proper water shoes or non-slip sandals, not flip-flops that’ll come off in the stream. And bring a dry change of clothes, because we were going straight on to the volcano afterwards and sitting in wet clothes under the van’s air conditioning is a bad idea. If Bromo is already on your list and this is on the way, go. For me it was the most fun place on the whole trip so far.