Lake Toba is the
most province’s interesting tourist destination, situated in the center of the
mountain resort of Brastagi and Samosir Island are the other holiday resort.
Lake Toba, at 906 meters above sea level, is Sumatera’s biggest lake. It is
ringed almost everywhere by steep, high walls beyond which are the towering
peaks of volcanoes. Mountain and Lake resort lies on the eastern shore of Lake
Toba. Lake Toba and the surrounding lands are the home of the cheerful,
extroverted Toba and Simalungun Bataks. The hills around the lake offer some
breathtaking vistas. For example the
Sipisopiso waterfall plunge from the heights on to the floor of the valley far
down below. Driving the road with the endless view of rubber, oil palm and
cocoa plantations throughout the journey.
Lake Toba is a lake
and supervolcano. The lake is 100 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and
505 metres (1,666 ft) at its deepest point. Located in the middle of the
northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatera with a surface elevation of
about 900 metres (2,953 ft).Lake Toba is the site of a supervolcanic eruption
that occurred 69,000-77,000 years ago,a massive climate-changing event. The
eruption is believed to have had a VEI intensity of 8. It is believed to be the
largest explosive eruption anywhere on Earth in the last 25 million years.
According to the Toba catastrophe theory to which some anthropologists and
archeologists subscribe, it had global consequences, killing most humans then
alive and creating a population bottleneck in Central Eastern Africa and India
that affected the genetic inheritance of all humans today. This theory however,
has been largely debated as there is no evidence for any other animal decline
or extinction, even in environmentally sensitive species.However, it has been
accepted that the eruption of Toba led to a volcanic winter with a worldwide
decline in temperatures between 3-5 degrees C.
Samosir Island
Samosir island. To
Samosir island as island in the island we will take 40 minutes voyage by motorboat,
in the middle of Lake Toba from Parapat. The village of Tomok, across the lake
from Parapat, has a number of old Batak houses standing in a cluster yard. And
nearby we could visit the Tomb of King Sidabutar and the Batak Toba village at
Tomok, to the stone furniture at village Ambarita in front of traditional
house. More megalith tombs and sarcophagi are found in the vicinity.The
remnants of an ancient court are found near Ambarita village, with stone chairs
surrounding the stone table. This is where justice was meted out and important
matters concerning the community were discussed by the king and his counselors.
Parapat on Lake Toba
Parapat on Lake
Toba,North Sumatera’s main tourist resort town. Parapat, with it’s cool,
invigorating climate, lies on Lake Toba’s northern shore. The town has many
hotels, restaurants and water sports facilities. Ferry to the island of Samosir
depart at regular intervals from Parapat. Boats could also be hired.
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