Ngardmau

Ngardmau Waterfall

Last Saturday, we went up to Babeldoab and took the Compact Road to Ngardmau State. The Ngardmau waterfall, elegantly pictured as the banner of my blog, is the exciting spot where a roaring river running through the center of Palau drops off hundreds of feet in a cascade of white water. No. That’s not true. This is Micronesia. So there is a stream that drops tens (maybe two?) of feet to make the largest waterfall on the islands.

But even though it’s not Niagara Falls, or even Havasu Falls, the Ngardmau waterfall is beautiful. And after only six weeks of being in Palau, it is refreshing to take a dip in cool fresh water!

The drive to the falls was only about 40 minutes – everything is blessedly close here, especially compared to California or Colorado. It turned out to be the rare cool day for hiking. It was sunny, but somehow the temperature just didn’t seem to climb sky high as usual. There is a little tourist center set up at the top of the hike to the falls. You can actually take a (ridiculously, criminally expensive) series of ziplines or a small train/monorail thing to the falls. Being snooty hippies, Megan and I elected to walk.

The hike definitely conjured up the southeast for me. The ground was red clay (very different from the brittle coral everywhere else) which reminded me of Georgia. The flat, wide streambed was rather like the random streams you come across hiking in the Smokies. Even the trees seemed different from the rest of Palau – in particular, fewer palms.

Arriving at the falls, there is a little picnic area and a bizarre display that is an odd cross between Palauan legend and touristy schmaltz designed to appeal to the predominantly Asian crowd. We passed two trees that were labeled the “love” trees. The trees didn’t even seem to particularly like eachother, let alone love eachother. Nonetheless, on a plaque in front of the trees, there was a short, odd poem about the one-eyed fish. For the truly curious, you may check out Anna’s blog from last year here.

The purported Palauan legend is a perversion of an actual Palauan story, repackaged with a Korean tale by the folks who manage the trail to the waterfall. The English translation was aided by Anna, one of last year’s court counsel.

Almost as confusing as the one-eyed fish legend, and with no seeming connection to the place, once we arrived at the picnic area near the waterfall, we saw the following display.

Whodawhat?

The idea is that you put a lock (bought at the trailhead, of course!) on this fence and that…does something. Maybe this is some kind of bondage thing I don’t get? In any case, I found the schmaltz to be a little distracting from the waterfall, but mostly just amusing.

The waterfall itself is quite incredible. I have no words, only pictures.

The mighty Mississippi of Babeldoab.

There were many rainbows.

It was nice to be able to get under the waterfall to take pictures...

...and a much-needed shower.