 Ricky Bobby on his way to Tadake Falls On a hot summer day in Okinawa during Memorial Day weekend, we decided to drive up north to Tadake Falls to go hiking with our dogs and neighbors. Tadake Falls is one of the popular waterfall hikes in Okinawa but get ready to get wet! It's a mix of hiking both on land and in the water (mostly water) in order to get there - not for the faint of heart. It only takes around 30 minutes or so but is a fun mix of easy water trekking to having to traverse large boulders (don't worry there's ropes to help).
After our nice trek through the river, you walk across a pebble/sand bar and hear the rushing water before you see it. The waterfall is about 50 ft tall and powerfully beautiful. There's a nice little "swimming hole" in front of it and you're able to climb behind and below the waterfall to feel the rushing water. There are also nice little areas to sit and relax/eat lunch around the water.  Tadake Falls
Remember if you do the hike, wear water shoes, sunscreen, and be prepared to be in the water a majority of the time!
Another fun activity of Okinawa is Okinawa World (おきなわワールド). There are lots of fun things to do here including Habu Park, Gyokusendo Cave, a traditional Ryukyan village with crafts, a souvenir shop, a restaurant and Nanto brewery. The Ryukyan village has activities like glass making, Ryukyan photo, paper making, weaving, and a bingata studio. You can also watch Eisa dance (one of my favorite things about Okinawa!) The souvenir shop has great little Okinawan gifts to buy. Nanto brewery has some Okinawan craft beer, Habu sake (of course!), and awamori. You're able to do little tastings here to try a bit before you buy.  Okinawa World At the park, you can go into the Habu Park - named for of course, the infamous Habu (poisonous snake on Okinawa). Here you can watch a snake show where they talk about the Habu snake and even have a race between the snake and the mongoose, which was brought over to Okinawa to hunt the snakes. The show is 5 times a day and lasts around 20 minutes.  Habu show! One of the main attractions at Okinawa world is Gyokusendo Cave. It's the second longest cave in the Japan, and the biggest in Okinawa, 5 km long. At Okinawa World, you're able to walk through 850 meters of it. This cave also contains over 1 million stalactites (the largest amount in Japan), with 20,000 in the Speared Ceiling section of the cave. This was the highlight of our day and pretty impressive to walk through. The Speared Ceiling (pictured below) has over 1 million stalactites (the largest amount in Japan)  The Speared Ceiling in Gyokusendo Cave
The Golden Cup is 2.5 m high and 31 m wide, making it the largest stalagmite like this in Japan.  The Golden Cup in Gyokusendo Cave
 Gyokusendo Cave The Gathered Drapes is made of many stalactites, taking thousand of years to grow to this scale and pretty rare.
Check out Okinawa World and Tadake Falls while you can! Follow in our Footsteps:
Tadake Falls 1636 Tsuha, Ogimi, Kunigami District, Okinawa, Japan GPS Coordinates: 26.634079, 128.09470899999997 Okinawa World Japan, 〒901-0616 Okinawa, Nanjo, 玉城前川1336 +81 98-949-7421 Hours: 9am - 6pm Cost: 1650 yen (everything), 1240 yen (cave & village), 620 yen (village), 620 yen (Habu Park)
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Megan Bond - AUTHORJust a girl raised in California and loved exploring Southeast Asia with my husband! We're back in the States but still exploring the world as much as we can! Archives
February 2019
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