Lake Toba
The Largest Volcanic Lake In The World, Filling The Caldera Of A Supereruption Around 74,000 Years Ago; Samosir Island In Its Centre Is The Heartland Of Batak Culture · Parapat, North Sumatra
About seventy-four thousand years ago the Toba volcano erupted with a force that has few parallels in the record, throwing out thousands of cubic kilometres of material and affecting the global climate for years. WHAT IS LEFT IS THE LARGEST VOLCANIC LAKE IN THE WORLD - a hundred kilometres long, thirty wide, and over five hundred metres deep, sitting in the collapsed caldera a thousand metres up in the Sumatran highlands. In the middle is SAMOSIR, an island the size of Singapore pushed up by later magma, and Samosir is the heartland of the BATAK, whose distinctive high-gabled houses, stone tombs and ferocious pre-colonial reputation make the cultural half as interesting as the geology. It is cool up here, the water is warm and swimmable, and it is a long way from anywhere - which is precisely why it stays quiet even in August, and why a lakeside room here costs what a hostel bed costs in Bali.
Lake Toba and Samosir Island, North Sumatra, Parapat, North Sumatra, Indonesia
THERE IS NO GATE AND NO ADMISSION - Toba is a lake, a region and a working landscape. GETTING THERE IS THE PLANNING PROBLEM: the usual route is a flight to MEDAN, then FOUR TO FIVE HOURS BY ROAD to PARAPAT, then a passenger FERRY TO TUK TUK on Samosir Island, which runs frequently through the day and stops in the evening. Silangit airport is closer and has limited flights, which shortens the journey considerably if the schedule suits. GUESTHOUSES AND HOTELS CLUSTER AT TUK TUK and most have their own jetties. BATAK CULTURAL PERFORMANCES, museums and the stone tomb sites at Ambarita and Tomok keep their own casual hours. The lake is at around 900 metres so EVENINGS ARE GENUINELY COOL - visitors arriving from sea-level Sumatra are regularly caught out.