TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - One day, a friend of mine uploaded photos of a waterfall named Parangloe. The name sounded strange as I never heard of it before. To satisfy my curiosity, I joined an open trip by Pajappa community to visit the waterfall that looked so tempting in photos.

I joined 35 other travelers in Hertasning on Sunday and we departed at 10:00 in the morning. The waterfall is located in the east of Makassar downtown, in Bili-Bili region about 42 km from Makassar. Our trip was uninterrupted although the road was severely damaged.

The waterfall cannot be accessed by vehicles so we had to continue to walk on foot about 1.5-km distance. The terrain was heavy, sometimes uphill and uneven, with stones on the 2.5-meter wide road. On our side, there stood out various kinds of trees that gave us shade during the on-foot trip in the mid day.

After almost half an hour, we heard the sound of water flowing in the distant. A small monument with a name written on it was planted on the side of the road. The monument held a story of a traveler who lost his life in the waterfall area. In fact, several people had died in this place. The waterfall is a point where two river streams met and the stream is rough during the rainy season.

Before reaching the waterfall, we had to walk down the ridge that was slippery due to the falling leaves, one slip and we could all fall into the more-than-30-meter deep ravine.

After the challenging down-climb, the waterfall was revealed before our eyes. The water flow was not too strong so we did not waste any time to jump into the water. In front of the waterfall, there were many rocks where we could step on. Some parts of the pond were deep enough to swim. This calm part of the pond is more than 3-meter deep.

We enjoyed relaxing in the Parangloe waterfall. However, eventhough this place is calm, it still have hidden mysteries and danger that can cost one’s life.

After quite some time, the other travelers just realized then how beautiful the area surrounding the waterfall. They started to gather around the waterfall and spent some good times there before departing.

INDONESIANA