Touring Babeldaob

On Sunday, Todd, Christy, LB and family, and I toured around Babeldaob. We first drove up to Melekeok, the site of the new Capitol. While we had seen the new Capitol building, we had not visited the little hamlet nearby. It is a nice little village right on the ocean with a long dock and beaches. There are some really nice houses (for Palau) along the road. We parked next to the dock and then walked up a small stone path up a hill. At the end of the path was a traditional Palauan Bai. It is the traditional men's meetinghouse and is triangle shaped raised building with detailed engravings and paintings. The current Melekeok Bai was built in 1992, but nearby are the foundations for older Bais. Also nearby was a Rekelai cemetery, where the local clan chiefs (Rekelai) were buried. If their tombstones were to be believed, they are gifted with extremely long life, each living well over a hundred years. It was all very interesting to get to see some of the Palauan culture.

We continued north to the very tip of Babeldaob to tour the stone monoliths in Ngarchelong. They are Palau's version of stonehenge. Ancient Palauans placed the stones in a rectangular formation and also put some stone faces nearby. No one is really sure of its original purpose, but it is considered a sacred site. It was interesting and its site on a hill overlooking the ocean was gorgeous.

Continuing on the compact road, we headed to the western side of the island. In Ngardmau State is one of Palau's real treats, the Ngardmau waterfalls. After parking, we started down a trail into the interior. Babeldaob is covered in jungle and it is deep and thick like one would expect a tropical jungle. The surprising thing is there is not a lot of animals or insects. Just lots of trees and roots and vines. The trail took us down to a small valley where off in the distance is the falls. The trail continued down back under the canopy until it emerged at a river cascading over a rocky terrain. We walked down the river and there was small pools and waterfalls along the way. Being hot from the walk down, we all stopped and took a dip in one of the pools. It is fresh water and was very refreshing. We continued along another path which was muddy and covered in roots. Palau's version of poison ivy is poison tree and Todd, who had a run in with it last year, showed us what it looked like so we could avoid it. We had to ford a small river with water up to our waist, but there was no current so it was an easy path. The trail then opened up to reveal the main waterfall. It is a massive waterfall. Tons of water was cascading over it and falling below onto the rocks. I was able to get underneath the falls and the force was unbelievable. It was like being in a really strong storm with water and wind flying everywhere. I've seen some big waterfalls, but this was by far the largest I was able to approach and stand under. The water was cascading over a cliff, so there was an area behind the falls which I spent some time exploring. It was absolutely gorgeous and a really enjoyable slice of paradise. A definite must see for my visitors. The walk back to the car was not too difficult and then we headed back to Koror.

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