Sumatra : Lake Toba and Samosir Island, Map and Info

Lake Toba and Samosir Island, Map and Info

Lake Toba Map, Lake Toba, toba, samosir, batak,ambarita, tomok, siganindo, pangururan, tuk, tuk,

Lake Toba and the Bataks
Danau Toba, with it's mystical island Samosir, forms the heart of the beautifull, usually rough Toba Batak highlands - a giant caldera high in the treeless mountains mountains of northern Sumatera. The lake was formed about 100,000 years ago after a giant eruption. This biggest lake of southeastern Asia measures 100 times 31 km and coveres an area of 1146 sq.km. It's also the deepest lake in the world, it's exact depth still is not known, but is for sure deeper than 450 metres. Oddly enough the lake does not fulfill it's job as irrigational system for the rivers which mouth in it; all the water from the environment flows to the coasts. The thick layer of fragile stone of the Toba explosion has formed a steep border around the lake, which blocked all earlier irrigation. The water surface of the lake is 906 meters above sealevel, but has probably been 150 metres higher. Thousands of years ago the water of the caldera flooded in the southeastern corner and eroded the soft stone layer. The water cut it's way through spectacular ravines with steep sides and over the Siguragura, Harimo and Tangga falls to create the river Asahan. The water level dropped again over the recent history, a good explaination is not found.
The homeland of the Toba Batak, of which Danau Toba forms the centre, consists of five regions: the island Samosir, the Uluan (upstream), a fertile area along the southeastern lake banks between Prapat and Porsea, where the river Asahan mouths in the lake; Habinsaran ('the east'); of the Toba word binsar which means 'sunrise'), a very accidental, mountainous area around the upstream river of Kualu; the Silingung valley in the southwest and the Hombung area west of the lake. Everywhere there is enough water, there are ricefields, broken up by Toba villages with their characteristic houses, churches and graves. The volcanic soils are remarkably fertile and the Toba highlands have been inhabited for centuries.
Berastagi to Prapat
The main road towards Toba from Medan runs through Pematang Sianter and the Simalungun Batak areas. The picturesque small roads over the Karo plateau from Berastagi, close to the northern border of the Toba caldera, does enjoy a bigger popularity of busses and individual travelers. This route is longer, but also much more interesting.
Fourteen km south of Berastagi, is Kabanjahe ('Ginger garden'), the lively district capital in the heart of Tanah Karo, surrounded by rice fields and gardens. Here the highways from the Alas valley in Aceh and the road to Medan merge. 24 km more south the road reached the northern border of the Toba basin near Merek, from here a small road lingers downhill towards the bank, along the spectacular Sipisopiso ('Like a knife') falls. This comes out of a cave at the edge of the plateau and falls for 120 metres into a small, wild river. A viewpoint offers a splendid view over Tongging village at the banks of the river. From Merek, the road runs to Prapatm close to the border of the old caldera, the lake and the bald mountain slopes of Gunung Singgalang (1865 m), just north of the village Seribudolok ('Thousand peeks'). A turn to the left leads to Bangunpurba, in the plantation belt along the eastern coast. Fifteen km ahead is Tinggi Raja with a number of terraces, hot sources and a small but interesting flora.
Back on the road that brings you to Prapat, about 40 km after Seribudolok, a road on the right. This road lingers down towards Haranggaol at the lake, a picturesque marketplaces which is known for it's garlick. On Mondays and Thursdays there is a ferry to Samosir and there are hotels, canoe's and speedboats with fishing equipment.
This is the area of the Simalungun Batak with the nice village of Pematang Purba (eight km past Seribuluk), once the residence of the ruler of Simalungun. The wooden palace was built around 1810 in the style of a traditional adat house. It has been restaurated and repainted in the traditional colors red, black and white, and is now in use as a museum. However the earth and bamboo walls have disappeared, the old entrance tunnel can still be zeen. The raja and his twelve wifes lived in the main building; the dark furniture gives a good picture of the royal power. From here an old path leads to the lake. With a guide, you can also visit the closeby Marjanji tea plantation. Five km past Pematang Purba, near Tigarunggu, a turn leads to Prapar over a bad but picturesque road This follows the forested ridge and offers a view over the lake. At a small crossing in Simarjarunjung is a restaurant with a magnificent view.
Near Sipintuangin, three kilometres ahead, a turn leads to Tigaras, a market place at the lake as well, and also a connection to the ferry to Samosir. The main road takes you to Huta, to reunite with the road towards Pematang Sianter to Prapat.
Prapat
Prapat stretches over a small rocky peninsula on Danau Toba, and expanded towards the south against Ajibata village. Before the war is already was a popular tourist destination, but in the recent years new hotels were built rapidly.
The old Prapat Hotel, which views over the harbor, was known in the entire Dutch Indies in the time of the colonial time. The first President of Indonesia, Soekarno, was kept prisoner for a few months in Prapat, together with Haji Agus Salim and Soetan Sjahrir.
You can play tennis, waterski, rowing and explore the lake with a speedboat. The climate is very flat: many flowers have colors year-round. Shops sell Batak fabrics, woodcarvings, ceramics and much more. Real searchers can sometimes even find a real piece of antique around here. Too bad the sellers are kind of pushy. The local market offers a variety of fruit and vegetables. The local mango, which is known as kueini, has an interesting taste but does not taste as good as the harum manis of Eastern Jawa. In the immediate environment of Prapat some geological formations can be found. A little more south, in the valley of the Naborsahon, some beautiful terraces show that the level of the lake used to be much higher.
Samosir
Samosir, the giant, dry "Island of the Dead" in the middle of Danau Toba is a grim reminder of a second powerful eruption, about 30,000 years ago. In that time, a secondary peak formed, which split later, and came back down again. The eastern part now forms the peninsula of Prapat and the shores until Porsea, and the western border of Samosir. The island measures 45 by 20 km, and originally was a peninsula. It only became a peninsula after the Dutch arrived and dug a canal across the small piece of land of 200 metres in 1906. This action seemed to have a lot to do among the local population, because they thought the island would slip away towards the middle of the lake and simply disappear.
The eastern coast of the island rises steeply from a small bank towards a central plateau with an altitude of 780 meters. This gradually descends towards the southern and western coast of the island and is scattered with small villages which dangerously lean against the rock, and cross ravines.
Try to be awake when the bus arrives in Bonjol. This city is named after Imam Bonjol, the famous islamic leader of the Paderi-wars. His statue, high on a horse and waving fierce with it's sable, decorates the city (on the right). A monument just past Bonjol marks the equator.
Now the road ascends towards Lubuksikaping to descend there towards a long river valley with on the right side sawah's. The road lingers downhill towards Muara Sipongi and Hutanopan. Steep descends belong to the past, however there are many cliffs covered in forests. Ricefields covered with small houses, and bridges over the river mark the transition to Northern Sumatera.
Northern Sumatera
From Muara Sipongi the road follows the river Gadis until past Hutanopan. The village of Purda Baru has the biggest pesantren (islamic boarding school) of Indonesia, with students from all over the country. Hundreds of small huts give home to boys from six to twelve years, which spend their elementary school-time here. The people in this area belong to the Mandailing Batak, which changed to islam about 150 years ago.
Panyabungan is a crowded market place which has much activity on Mondays, the market days. Remarkable becaks and the motorized becak mesin give some extra color to the colorfull marketplace and also add multiple decibels of noise. After Panyabungang the roads runs across ricefields with white mosques. Passing brick factories this continues until Padangsidempuan, which is reached in the evening. Otherwise get on another bus for the one and a hour drive to Sibolga.
Outside some very strange curves the next stage, to Prapat and Danau Toba, takes about five hours, and is fairly hard. The route to Tarutung takes about three hours, and leads along markets and deforested hills with in some places a pine tree. After about one hours the pass at the bottom of Gunung Sibualbuali (with a big hotel) the border betwen the Islamic and the Christian Batak, and mosques are gradualy replaced by churches. From here it's half an hour on a straight road to the crowded market place of Siborongborong.
A little further the curvy descend towards Danau Toba starts, alon spectacular rice fields and impressive graves with statues ofmen with big eyes on horses, and elderly clothed in adat-clothes. On top of some traditional graves are houses, one almost big enough to live in. The enormous grave on the right, just a little from the road past Balige, is from the Batak king of Raja Tano. Next the road lingers through the hills around the lake, to recover again near Prapat.
The journey from Prapat to Medan takes about four to five hours, with just after Prapat a tremendous view over Danau Toba. After that, a meandering descend through the mountains follows, which end almost in the sea. Wealthy ricefields and rubber- and oil plantations decorated the nearby scenery. Mosques take their places again.
Sarcophagus
Just a little of the shore, covered up in a bamboo forest under an old waringin tree is the most famous sarcofagus of the Toba. This giang grave monument is made from one stone and dates back until the early 19th century. It belongs to a king of the Sidarbuta clan. A big singa-head is carved out in the front, a mythological creature, half buffalo half elephant. On the saddle-shaped roof is a woman's-figure, probably an paranggiran which is used during sacrificional rituals. It is most likely the wife of the deceased clan leader.
There are also more modern graves and stones, under them the ancestral seats from 1950, covered with moss and a modern sarcophagus from 1979. The adat houses are in a row at the other side, the back towards the lake and the very important rice sheds at the front. They are decorated with leave motives, painted in the holy Batak colors black, white and red, and their traditional ijuk (palm fiber) roofs are replaced with corrugated iron.
The small peninsula Tuktuk Ni Asu ('Peninsula of the Dogs'), just north of Tomok does have sand beaches and dozens of hotels with cheap accommodation; a flourishing holiday place and Samosirs answer to Kuta Beach on Bali. On Pulau Pasir of the coast is an old coffin.
Four kilometers north of Tuktuk over a small road is Ambarita, a nice village with old stone walls on which used to be tight pagar or sharp bamboo fences. Inside are seats and modern statues, the work of Siallagan, about 1960. Don't believe all the stories they make up about this village.
About 19 km further north is Simanindo with it's richly decorated house of Raja Sidauruk. It is currently in use as a museum. Visitors can see a traditional tortor-dance and the sigalegale-puppets, also including a lively gondang sabangunan-ensemble. The sigalegale (big wooden puppet) was used for people which died without having children. The images would be used as stay for the spirits of ancestors. The usage of this has only appeared just over a hundred years ago in the Balige-area. The rocky island of Pulau Tao has a shallow bay and a small hotel.
Harangmalau, about two km past Simanindo, is the northeastern point of Samosir. Nearby are Situngkir and Sialangoan, with the remarkable graves of the capital Sihaloho. One of the coffins is decorated with a buffalo-head in relief. The part above the buffalo head with a boraspati ni tano, the holy lizard, and a much used symbol of luck.
A few km ahead, past Parbaba, is Suhisuhi, with an old sarcofagus and a number of modern graves. More south, towards Hutaraja, are five old sarcofagussus from the Simarmata-clam. The one of Raja Ompu Bontor is located in Hutaraja itself. In front of the house of the village head a small statue marks the spot where a young girl was sacrificed when the house was built. Human sacrifices were fairly common in the early times. For this, an innocent victim was killed; it's spirit would change in an allmighty protection spirit.
Another five km ahead is Pangururan, the governmental centre of the subdistrict, with a bridge as connection to the main land. Just over the bridge a small road on the right leads to a popular hot source on the slope op Gunung Pusuk Buhit (1981 m), the holy mountain of all Batak. It is said that the ancestral father, Si Raja Batak, descended here. The main road acsends towards Tele, 900 metres above the lake, with a very nice view over Samosir.
South of Panguruan the road follows the coast until Nainggolan and Sungkean. Just north of Sombolon, near Pansur Duggal (probably the Pancur from Schnitger), are three modernsarcofagussus and a number of old urns. On the slopes above Simbolon is the sarcofagus of Raja Ompu Silo Simbolon with the remarkable statue of a woman with her arms under the singa. Near Huta Godang, close to Nainggolan, is the old sarcofagus of the Parhusip-clan. Sipinggan and Huta Na Bolon also have important sarcofagussus.
South of Tomok
Just south of Tomok, a small road brings you from the coast to the Samosir Plateay (1689 m) , with a nice view over the lake. After that it follows the peak of the plateau due south. The village of Parmonangan houses a copy of the Situmorang-clan house. One side has remarkable woodcarvings: four female breasts and an entire woman with her hands in the air. From here the roads leads towards the south, towards Onan Runggu.
For a change, also watch the coast south of Tomok from a boat. This area is rich of nice small bays with white beaches and picturesque villages. Rows of low stone pillars along the coast near Panjomuran and Pagar Batu indicate the location where once were the boat houses for the giant Situmorang war canoes (solu). With this, the Batak attacked neighboring villages. From Pagar Batu a path leads towards a terrace on the plateau. Once there was a village. Just a number of lesung batu or stone grinders remain. Close to the southeastern tip of the island, near Sitamiang, are decorated concrete graves, in the shape of miniature Toba houses.
From Prapat to Porsea
The Uluan area, south of Prapat, also has fascinating villages and graves. From Prapat, a secundary road crosses Ajibata. It ascends against a slope and offers a nice view over the lake. Small villages with nicely decorated adat houses are from the road in bamboo forests; too bad most 'loose' decorations are looted for trade.
22 km from Prapat is, left of the road, the village of Hutagaol of the Manurung-clam, and some km ahead is the small village of Lumban Simariasonak of the Sitorus-clam, 8 km more south, they house some of the best examples of adat houses in traditional Uluan style, with animistic and human decorations in woodcarvings. Luban Tabu is on the monumental care list.
The area south of here, around Porsea, irrigates Danau Toba in the sixty-meter-wide Asahan river towards the east. The river flows with other smaller rivers from the north (Aek Mandosi) and south (Aek Bolon). Together they form a very fertile plain, covered with flourishing villages. The road which runs through the Asahan valley, turns left about three kilometers before Porsea. One kilometre ahead, at the right side, there is a group of very nice villages, under them Lumban Kuala. Here is a very nice sarcofagus which belongs to Raja Pabalubis of the Manurung clan.
Hydroelectric plant
The road runs towards the Asahan valley in a steep descend. The river cuts through the small ravain with vertical walls of 250 metres high, which are cut out of the soft volcanic stone. Here is the Inalum hydroelectric power plant, the biggest of it's kind in Indonesia, which produced 500 mW power and electrolyzed 225,000 tonnes of aluminum every year. The complex, which was built by the Japanese, was finished in 1975 and cost over 2 billion US dollar. A special permit which is needed to enter the terrain and the roads around it, can be obtained at the office of Inalum.
Past the power station near Siguragura the ravain changes into a small street through the mountains. There the river descends 200 metres over the Sampuran Harimo (Tiger fall) and the Tangga Fall, into the Tangga-valley. Formerly, the southern slopes of this valley could only be reached by a number of small stairs, therefore the valley is named tangga, stairs. The road descends further to the Asahan plantation area along the coast, and adds to the road to Medan near Bandar Pulio.