View of the Kapas Biru waterfall in Central Java, Jawa island, Indonesia

A fall among the ferns

Not far from where the ‘thousand waterfalls’ of Tumpak Sewu spill down a massive cirque, this single-stream plunge cuts a striking swath through a fern-lined tropical ravine. Fluttering like fluffy fabric, the fall bears the descriptive name Kapas Biru – meaning ‘blue cotton’ in the local Javanese tongue – after the azure tint its mists often take on. The top of Kapas Biru is about 136 metres above the valley floor, fed by springs that originate even further up on the slopes of Mount Semeru, the tallest peak here on the island of Java.