Lake Ranau
Sumatra'S Second Largest Lake, In A Caldera Under A Volcano, With Hot Springs Running Into It And Almost Nobody On The Shore · Banding Agung, South Sumatra
LAKE RANAU IS THE SECOND-LARGEST LAKE IN SUMATRA and hardly anybody has heard of it, which after Toba is a fairly remarkable thing to be able to say. It fills a caldera on the South Sumatra border with Lampung, with MOUNT SEMINUNG RISING STRAIGHT OUT OF ITS SOUTHERN SHORE and HOT SPRINGS RUNNING DOWN INTO THE LAKE at the foot of it - you can sit in hot water with cold lake a metre away. THE SHORE IS COFFEE COUNTRY: this is robusta heartland, and the drying tarpaulins are spread along every road. There is a small island, WISATA PULAU MARISA, and a scattering of simple guesthouses, and that is essentially the whole tourist infrastructure of a lake roughly a hundred and thirty square kilometres in size. IT IS SEVEN OR EIGHT HOURS FROM PALEMBANG on mountain road, which is why it has stayed like this. Come midweek and the shore is empty; come at a weekend and Lampung and Palembang have got there first. It is cold at night at altitude, and visitors routinely arrive with nothing warm at all, having driven up through lowland heat to get here.
Danau Ranau, Ogan Komering Ulu Selatan, South Sumatra, Banding Agung, South Sumatra, Indonesia
THE LAKE IS REACHED BY ROAD - roughly SEVEN TO EIGHT HOURS FROM PALEMBANG, or a shorter run up from BANDAR LAMPUNG, on winding mountain routes that are slow in any weather. THERE IS NO GATE AND NO ADMISSION; villages and guesthouses line parts of the shore, with BANDING AGUNG the usual base. THE HOT SPRINGS at the foot of Seminung are open and charge a small local fee. BOATS TO THE ISLAND AND AROUND THE LAKE are hired informally at the shore. MOUNT SEMINUNG IS CLIMBED from the southern side and is a serious half-day up with a local guide. IT IS COOL HERE at altitude, especially at night. WEEKENDS AND INDONESIAN HOLIDAYS BRING DOMESTIC VISITORS; midweek it is empty. Bring cash; banking around the lake is minimal.