After visiting Bromo volcano and experiencing the heat over there, we joined our new Dutch friends on their trip. The Dutch couple wanted to travel to the Madakaripura Waterfall. I had no idea what to expect, but the price for transportation divided by us four was decent, including getting back to the city at the end of course.
I of course wasn’t having any information so it was a surprise for me. The ride there went through nature and little villages, which was actually quite cool to see, but due to waking up this early, my focus wasn’t fully on it. The ride was around an hour and then we arrived at a parking spot to get to the waterfall. We left all of our things in the car and were taking a motorcycle ride there. Apparently it should have been a long ride, but that wasn’t the case. Only motorcycles are allowed to park at the waterfall and getting a hitchhiking ride there, not really possible.
We cleared up the price at the beginning and they wanted us to pay them after arriving, but we obviously didn’t because they wouldn’t wait for us, when they receive the money already and then we would need to pay double.
The walk to the waterfall
When we arrived with the motorcycles we went paying for the entry, which wasn’t much, so a fair price for what you are receiving.
They wanted to give us helmets, but it felt like being involved with paying money and/or having a tour guide as well, which of course would have cost even more. We were not taking the helmets, but when you are going there, why not ask if it’s for free?
It is not necessary to wear a helmet, so nobody will be forcing you to wear one. It was fine without, but maybe it could save your life in case of falling unluckily.
We were walking in the direction of the waterfall and there was just one way, so easy to find. You are surrounded by beautiful nature and people wanting to be your guide. We were meeting some tourists along the way and everyone was with a guide, they probably didn’t want to get annoyed anymore. There are also people selling rain protection, which is also not necessary to have unless getting wet at a waterfall is something really bad for you. When we arrived at a point not far away from the waterfall, it started to get a little bit wet already. You need to walk through a little river, to reach the destination. Bana and I left our stuff somewhere hidden, which didn’t feel so good, but we didn’t have other options.
Without shoes it was sometimes quite dangerous, but still worked somehow walking along there. The guides saw our struggle, but were always rejected by us, because we made it so far and didn’t want to be paying at this stage anymore.
Making it to the waterfall
It was at the point where the tourists were split up. A rock foundation, which looked scratchy, needed to be climbed in order to make it to the waterfall. We were getting up there, even though it felt quite scary, at least for me. We were all by ourselves at the waterfall, because all other tourist groups were afraid of making it up there, better for us.
Bana and I were hyped to jump inside, after taking a few pictures, because when there is a waterfall it is always better to be one with the waterfall or something like that. We like to swim, I guess that’s more the reason why you should jump and swim to the waterfall.
We were jumping in and it was hard knowing where to jump in, because it wasn’t clear water, but we’ve done it anyway and ended up being fine. The water was super refreshing, in other words it was cold, really cold. Due to the heat in the country in general it was nice though and I was enjoying it a lot. We were swimming to the waterfall and it was hitting us rough. Some people liked it and for a short moment it was fine for me as well. It was quite risky though standing underneath a 200m waterfall when thinking of it now.
Getting back to Probolinggo
Luckily everything worked somehow, the stuff was still where we left it and the rides with the motorcycles worked as well. Our driver was waiting in the parking spots and all of our things were still inside the car, perfect. The drive to Probolinggo was taking another hour and I was sometimes falling asleep during the ride. When we made it to Probolinggo our time with the Dutch couple was over. I really enjoyed being with them but yeah we were on our way to Malang to stay the night there!
We took a bus from Probolinggo to there and wow, it took like forever. There were better ways of making it, but they didn’t like direct ways. The busride was hell, to be honest. Always people who were singing and trying to get money from us, sadly they didn’t even sing well.
Malang – time for some luxury
I Arrived in Malang at night and checked into a slightly more expensive hotel, compared to before. It cost like 7 or 8 Euros per person and was amazing. We had a good looking bathroom and adding to this, we had a comfortable bed + a pool, but we didn’t use it.
Tried desperately seeking something to eat, but everything was kind of closed or too spicy for me. We started by getting out more cash in the ATM’s which didn’t charge. It felt weird though to take our more money then the people had balance on their account, at least the person before me.
We were getting a Kebab, which sadly wasn’t like a real Kebab, which we are used to in Germany and a fruit shake, which was amazing. Each didn’t cost more than 2 Euros. This sadly didn’t fill up at all, so we were walking further and were getting tacos. So Indonesian right? Nothing really was appealing, open and cheap. We were getting tacos and getting back to the hotel. Honestly the tacos were amazing, better than the ones I was eating in Mexico to be fair.
Let’s go to the next waterfall
Getting up early for the next destination. Bana wanted to drive to the Tumpak Sewu Waterfall, so why not? Didn’t know what to expect, but that didn’t matter. We went to the bus stop, which we expected to be correct, but after arriving we found out, it is not the place to be at. Sadly were in the wrong station.
We now went all the way to another stop, at the other side of the city, which was quite annoying to get there, especially due to the fact that it was quite hot already.
The right bus was there after a half hour of arrival and it was small and shitty, but not fully packed, so we had some space, which was great. We were kind of a attraction at the bus stop, because usually tourists are going differently to the waterfall. We just chose the second cheapest option, the cheapest would be Hitchhiking of course.
Full of hunger we arrived there, after quite some time, couldn’t fully recall the time, but several hours took, with all the curves and traffic. At the place where we ate something, we were able to leave our stuff as well. They didn’t want money for taking our bags, but we gave them something anyway, because they of course had some value and we didn’t want to lose them.
Viewpoint Tumpak Sewu Waterfall
We paid like 2,5 Euros for the entry of the view point, which was a bad road downhill to have a view of it at the end. I flew over it with the drone and when being completely honest, the viewpoint was useless and not worth it at all. That is sometimes with tourist attractions. I mean when you wouldn’t have interest in seeing the waterfall from the bottom, then the viewpoint is a way of seeing the waterfall, but in all other cases, it is kind of not worth it, because what you see there isn’t close to be as impressive, as from being down there and seeing it from the bottom.
Let’s see the Tumpak Sewu Waterfall proper
To be fair, even Bana didn’t fully know what the experience would be like, we just went to the entry and went for it. First we paid a little entry fee, but had to pay later on another entry fee for getting to the final section, because apparently it belonged to the Malang region and not the one this whole place was at.
We were walking down to the valley and honestly it felt super dangerous. There were many tourists though, who didn’t look like doing this kind of hiking, so we were surprised about that. When they are so badass, then we can be the same.
After we were down in the valley we realized that our shoes won’t stay dry this time and doing it barefood was also not a real option, due to the rough surface. We went through all the little waterfalls and rivers standing in our way. But like real explorers nothing was too tough which some power, will and swearing couldn’t overcome.
Sometimes we went a worse way than needed, the group guides clearly enjoyed watching us struggle, but that didn’t matter if we kept going.
The final section, which was like less than a fifth of the walk before, it was annoying that we needed to pay again, but we wanted to see the waterfall. There was a French girl with us rushing even quicker to the waterfall, she was in a rush because of getting back on time. What this meant, we would find out later.
Finally at the Tumpak Sewu Waterfall
Reaching the waterfall was just stunning. We were looking up and seeing the pure beauty of this place. Sadly swimming wasn’t an option due to really dirty water and not the best entry point. We decided to just take a lot of pictures and being alone there was just great.
The water was coming from all sides and you are just standing in the middle of it and don’t know which one is looking better.
We went slowly back after a while and the way back was actually easier than getting there, to our surprise.
Our shoes were soaked and we were exhausted from the day, just wanted to take this bus back to Malang and then to Surabaya, due to our flight the next day.
When we arrived, the last bus had already left. We were over five hours away from our final destination, which wasn’t good news.
Rushing to Surabaya
We were standing on the street and just started hitchhiking, due to no other option. Both of us haven’t tried it in Indonesia yet, so I expected a loooong night. We put our thumbs up and the first car stopped and took us. The driver wasn’t speaking English, but smiled at us, which was nice. He was driving a truck, so I already knew it would be a long ride!
First he started driving really quickly but slowed down a lot, we took more than four hours to the outside of Malang and arrived in the darkness. We were still too far away to get to the bus stop in Malang so we had to take another shot and find a ride. This worked again extremely quickly. This time it was finally a car, a pick up truck. We were sitting, or better laying down, in the back of the car with the open “fresh” air.
They drove us into Malang and helped us a lot with it. When getting out of it the driver wanted to take pictures with us, which was totally fine and actually a cool feeling. We were taking a cheap taxi to get to the bus stop, where we reached perfectly on time to catch the last bus to Surabaya for the day.
We actually got into the premium bus, due to no other options. The bus was so much quicker than the economy one, such a great thing. We were dropped close to the airport where we were getting a room near it.
What is next?
Finally laying down was amazing, such an unnecessary rushing, but a good experience and more stories to tell afterall. We were grabbing some dinner and then prepared for the flight to Kupang. This is also what the next blog post is going to be about, so stay tuned!
