Visit the Lake Toba, in Sumatra, Indonesia, Most Beautiful and Biggest Lake in Southeast Asia

Not complete it if you pay a visit to Sumatra Indonesia, and not stopping for a moment to Lake Toba, volcanic lake which is the largest lake in Indonesia, and even Southeast Asia. Exotic scenery, wide the form of landscape the lake looks like a sea with shady trees and hills, charming. Lake Toba, measuring 1700 square meters with a depth of approximately 450 meters and is located 906 meters above sea level, in the middle of the lake there is Samosir Island become the object of not less interesting excursions.

Lake Toba is an immense volcanic lake covering an area of 1,707 sq km (1,000 sq km bigger than Singapore) with an island in the center. Formed by a gigantic volcanic eruption some 70,000 years ago, it is probably the largest resurgent caldera on Earth. Some studies say it might have been associated with causing previous ice age/climate change and the largest human population bottleneck ever. Genetic estimates suggests that there were only a few thousand individuals that survived the catastrophe. The island in the middle - Pulau Samosir - was joined to the caldera wall by a narrow isthmus, which was cut through to enable boats to pass; a road bridge crosses the cutting. Samosir Island is the cultural centre of Batak tribe who are mostly Christians in the modern days.

How to get there?

Most visitors fly to Medan and then travel by land to Parapat, the town by Lake Toba. Parapat is about 4 hours by car from Medan (4-6 hours by public bus). You can get from Medan airport to Lake Toba entirely by public transport if you wish. First, you must go from the airport to Amplas bus terminal. Walk through the car park and go out the main car exit of the airport, cross the road and turn left after the petrol station, and then turn right (about a ten-fifteen min walk altogether). There, you can catch a yellow public bus, number 64, to Amplas Terminal for Rp 3,000 (changes according to the current state). From Amplas terminal, you can get a public bus to Parapat for Rp 22,000 (changes according to the current state). So you can get from Medan airport to Parapat for a total of Rp 25,000 ((changes according to the current state)), and then get a ferry out to Samosir island for Rp 7,000/person (changes according to the current state). The boat drops you at your hotel.

Other Info

To explore this lake, Local transportation around the lake takes the form of boats (cheaper, school boats with limited schedules and more expensive public boats that operate throughout the day).

Public Boats from Parapat and surrounding areas sail from either Ajibata or Tigaraja to Tuktuk or Tomok at Samosir Island. There is also bigger ship which transports Cars and Busses sailing between Tigaraja and Tomok.

Or you can Hire a motorcycle for a day or two and get out. Most of the motorcycles available for rent are the owner's own transportation, so you may need to return it to them before sunset (depends on owner) or you may be charge for an extra fee. Take a map. There are no police checking licenses and there is not much traffic - just watch out for the big trucks, buses and diabolical bridges. Honking around is a norm to indicate that there's incoming car from the opposite or there's a car bypassing you from the back (in driver's point of view). A good journey to take on a motorcycle would be to travel north from Tuk Tuk around to the western shore, stopping at the tourist sites along the way such as the many and varied traditional houses and villages. The roads are very bad in the Centre of the island (bumpy and washed out) and it takes half a day to cross this way (verse 1-2 hours by coast road which is more scenic anyway). You can expect to ride at least up to 100 km in the day. If you're going around the island with motorcycle or bicycle, be sure to put on some sunblock as when you venture out in the morning things can be deceiving due to the cooler temperatures in the morning cause of the higher elevation, but the sun will be intense by mid-day.

It may be obvious but just remember there are no taxis around Tuk Tuk. Sure you can walk the small part of the island in an hour or so but if you are heading out for the night plan ahead on how you will get back home. The locals are very friendly people who will go out of their way to help. However, some corners of the island are very quiet at night and you may find yourself on a long walk.

Most of the cottages and guest houses at Tuk Tuk will rent you a very serviceable bicycle for a nominal fee, this is a very much preferred way to get around, but be very careful for the cars as nobody looks and there does not seem to be any right side of the road, even when it’s the left side.

Here are some exciting views of the lake toba

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