Finding New Unique Sights
The hike to Balata falls is relatively popular but there are views that are quite unseen especially to me within the area of the falls that I intended to explore with the drone to capture some rare angles that turned out to be even more beautiful that the main attractions themselves! The falls are located in the northern range of Trinidad called Maracas Valley and the hiking trail to the falls is the same as that of Maracas Waterfall which was covered in a previous post! So we will be skipping the trail and focusing on the never before covered Balata Falls!
Here are some shots of the Jacuzzi Pools that are fed into by the Balata falls. Today we weren't too interested in the upper part of the falls but that of the lower part that ends with a steep ledge and harsh drop off with a waterfall that I though was a small one but with the drone, we could see that it was much larger than imagined!
The shots above shows what it was like to sit on the ledge at the lower part of the falls. It was quite relaxing to sit here on the edge and take in the sounds of the flowing water and fly the drone. You can see the lower fall on the left that looked small!
I sent the drone off and flew past the ledge to areas that were quite inaccessible to me before. Slowly as the drone panned, I could see that the waterfall was so much larger that I initially thought. The drop was much more apparent now that I got a good sideview!
Facing the fall head on, you could see how beautifully it spread and bloomed from its single narrow flow point with a small pool at the bottom that lead to more smaller cascades and even larger pools at the bottom. I decided to follow the stream to see what other hidden gems I could find that people seldom think of exploring for!
I descended for quite a while through the canopies of trees while following the stream as it cascaded down the steep rocks. The cascade ended at a large rock that signified the start of a flat river stream that continued on through thick jungle I could not risk flying the drone through. If it looses signal from the controller it would attempt to ascend and return which would not be ideal as I had carefully maneuvered to where it was now through thick branches and vines.
The shot above shows what it looked like where I stopped above the stream. I just loved how there was a lost jungle aesthetic here with amazing vines, scarce sunlight and jagged moss covered cliff faces and the stream below.
The photo above shows what the view looked like when I just turned the drone around without ascending yet back to where I started. It was startled at the height we had descended! The top of the photo is the main first fall of the ledge I was sitting on! What a spectacular view!
It was so much fun flying the drone here and getting to see and explore inaccessible areas that I would not have been able to see before! Not many people would get views like this though, trust me, I've seen a few climb down just for fun. I'm just not sure how I'd fare coming back up. Thanks a lot for coming along, Cheers!