A Bali high

A very beautiful walk to a great waterfall is the walk on Bali, Indonesia to Blahmantung waterfall (or Blehmantung). On the cross island road from Antosari to Seririt roughly half way is the village of Pujungan. A side road in the village goes slightly uphill eastwards. In better times one can continue driving over the road, but there are very steep patches as well as muddy areas.

So when we visited in January 2009, we parked the car not far from the main road and continued on foot. From the crest one then descends back to the lowest place in the valley, the river. Shortly before the river there is an irrigation canal on your right, take this and follow until it’s inlet. From here one needs to continue on passing through a plantation and forest until it’s obvious where the 50m high waterfall is, some say Bali's highest.

There is a smallish pool, great to plunge in nudey style with the thundering fall behind you, especially after the hour long trek. And a full body search for leeches picked up on the way there …

Another good first hand description by Cornish Travellers.

It’s quite untouristed (still). The nearby town of Pupuan has some facilities. Back south, about 5 kms is the excellent Bukit Sanda’s Villa resort built on a coffee plantation. Though a bit stiffly priced it is certainly worth it. Fine lunches are also to be had. They also provide maps of the walk to visitors.

Additionally Bukit Sanda has an info sheet on how to get here:

'Are the falls named Blahmantung or Blehmantung? Who knows and the locals can’t make up their minds either, as a matter of fact, they call them Slingsing'.

Then follows a whole historic account of the erection of a number of signboards and some advice on shoes and transport. Finally the trek starts:

'You are ready to start your trek. The first couple of hundred metres or so take you out past dozens of barking and yapping dogs. Ignore them completely and they will lose interest in you. Out on the track you will pass large rice paddies on your left. You will also walk past a ‘mandi’ on the right of the road. You should ignore bathing beauties (of either sex) unless they call out a greeting to you'.

The info sheet then guides the visitor exactly to the falls. On the flipside it has a very accurate map.

Other visitors enjoying the same falls as nature decrees, by Balilogue