When you say Samboan, the first thing that probably comes to people’s mind is Aguinid Falls. But due to the drastic commercialization of this tourist destination, a lot of people are now searching for less crowded waterfalls in this town. There are a lot of less trodden waterfalls in Samboan, but one of them is Binalayan Falls.
I happened to visit this waterfall the day after my unfortunate trip to Negros Oriental. My friends and I didn’t want to waste our time in the province so we decided to head off to the municipality of Samboan, which is the next town from Santander. We had no destination in mind, and we just wanted to wander a little bit in the town to check out some less trodden destinations.
My sister then suggested Binalayan Falls which is located just a few meters away from Aguinid Falls. None of us have visited this waterfalls so we decided to give it a go. Upon arrival, we managed to befriend a local and asked him to be our guide to Binalayan Falls.
About 15 – 20 minutes of hiking, you will reach this spot where benches and makeshift swings are located. My friends and I stopped for awhile to play around. We were like kids laughing and giggling for several minutes!
I was never the outdoorsy type of person when I was a kid, and I never had the chance to try playing in a makeshift swing, so I made sure to do it this time. It was so tiring but fun!
We continued hiking upstream and passed by several turquoise basins along the way. We arrived at the first tier of Binalayan Falls which is really great spot for diving as it was already deep enough, but we didn’t spend much time there since we wanted to go swimming at the last tier.
At long last, after passing slippery carved steps, we arrived at the enchanting Binalayan Falls. To be honest, the waterfall is not as majestic as I expected it to be. But it has this mysterious aura which makes it more appealing to me.
There were people climbing the slippery boulders and jumped off the cliff. It was exciting to look at, but because I don’t know how to swim, I just watched them in awe from a distance.
The only downside I saw in this place is the number of graffiti’s carved into the rocks. It looks totally unappealing.
At any rate, it is still a must-visit destination in Samboan. I would highly recommend visiting this less trodden waterfalls. It’s a perfect place to wind and chill if you want to escape the crowd.
