Asik-Asik Falls — waterfall
Jyppe A. Quidores · CC BY-SA 4.0

Asik-Asik Falls

  • 1 min read
  • 7.561° N 124.535° E

Interesting facts

  • The falls rise on the slopes of Mount Ragang, a 2,815-metre stratovolcano regarded as the most active volcano on Mindanao, last erupting in 1916.
  • Mount Ragang, the seventh-highest mountain in the Philippines, is also known locally as Mount Piapayungan and the Blue Mountain.
  • The village councillor who stumbled on the falls in late 2010 was Jun Miranda, and the site was opened to the public in 2012.
  • Some local people believe the spring water pouring from the cliff has healing properties, a belief that drew many of the earliest visitors.
  • The photograph that won the 2013 national contest was taken by Ernestina Jacinta, in a competition run by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
  • Before recommending monument status, geologists carried out geomorphological mapping, geophysical surveys and laboratory analysis of rocks from the falls and their surroundings.

Why it is worth it

Asik-Asik Falls looks less like a waterfall than a wall that is quietly leaking. Instead of a river pouring over a lip, hundreds of separate threads of water burst straight out of the fissures of a cliff about 60 m high and some 140 m wide, running down through a dense coat of ferns and moss. The effect has earned it the nickname of the Curtain Waterfalls, and its name comes from the Hiligaynon word for sprinkle.

The falls sit on the slopes of Mount Ragang in the municipality of Alamada, in Cotabato province on the island of Mindanao. There is no visible stream above the cliff, and the most widely held explanation is that the water emerges from an underground river. At the foot of the face it gathers into a pool that drains into the Alamada River, which feeds the Libungan River and eventually the vast Liguasan Marsh.

For a long time the cascade was known only to the people of Sitio Dulao, the small settlement nearest to it, because the forest around it was thick and hard to reach. In late 2010 a member of a village council came upon it while surveying damage from fires, landslides and floods, and photographs shared online soon spread its reputation. In 2013 a picture of the falls won a national photography contest. Geologists from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau studied rock samples from the site and in 2019 recommended that it be declared a national geological monument.

Getting there

The falls lie in barangay Upper Dado, Alamada, Cotabato. The nearest town in a straight line is Wao in Lanao del Sur, about 20 km to the north-east, though the falls belong to and are approached from the Alamada side. The nearest airport is Cotabato (Awang) Airport (CBO), about 57 km away in a straight line.

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in the Philippines 15The Most Beautiful Water Wonders in the Philippines 6The Most Beautiful Waterfalls 90The Most Beautiful Water Wonders 429

From the encyclopaedia

Asik-Asik Falls, also known as Curtain Waterfalls, is a waterfall near Alamada in Cotabato, the Philippines, on the slopes of Mount Ragang. It is known for an apparent lack of a river feeding the fall, with water coming out of crevices on a 60-metre (200 ft) cliff instead. Asik means "sprinkle" in the Hiligaynon language. Much of the falls are surrounded and covered by lush vegetation, such as ferns and moss. It is theorized that the source of the falls is an underground river. The pool at the bottom flows into the Alamada River, a tributary of the Libungan River, and then into the Liguasan Marsh.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

7.56150, 124.53540per Wikidata