Lake Toba, Indonesia

Lake Toba, Indonesia (28 April 2006)


Lake Toba, or Danau Toba in Indonesian, is the largest year-round lake in Southeast Asia. It is located on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Although it is smaller in size than the Tonle Sap of Cambodia, unlike the Tonle Sap, Lake Toba is pretty consistent in its size. Also, being a volcanic lake, Lake Toba is much, much deeper than Tonle Sap. Hence, it holds much more water than Tonle Sap, 240 km³ vs about for Tonle Sap.

Lake Toba is approximately 90 km long and 900 m above sea level. The catchment area for Lake Toba includes peaks over 2000 m high. Being in the highlands, Lake Toba enjoys a cool temperature that averages 20ºC.

Lake Toba is said to have been created by the massive Toba eruption that happened about 71500 years ago. It is said to be the largest volcanic eruption to have occured in the last two million years. It threw up 2800 cubic km of volcanic material (a volume equal to over ten times all the water within Lake Toba today). In comparison, the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helen emitted just 1 cubic km of material. More recent movement of the magma chamber pushed Samosir Island and Uluan Peninsula above the surface of the lake. This is due to the upward pressure exerted by the unerupted magma.

Just like at Tonle Sap, a whole civilisation developed on the shores of Lake Toba in the form of the Toba Batak people who inhabits the lake and Samosir Island.

Prapat is a major town on the east shore of Lake Toba. It is located on a peninsula that juts into the lake. On Samosir Island, major villages include Tuk Tuk, Tomok, Simanindo and Ambarita. A scenic mountain road skirts Lake Toba on its eastern shore affording scenic views of the lake. One of the best viewpoints of the lake is located just out of the village of Tongging, close to the Sipisopiso Waterfall.

Getting to Lake Toba

There are ferry boats from Prapat that will take you to Tomok on Samosir Island. In addition, many of the guesthouses on Samosir Island has direct ferry connection. You may also hire a boat from Prapat to take you to anywhere on Samosir Island, or simply for a joy ride on Lake Toba.

Places of interest in Lake Toba

Scenic view of Lake Toba, with Samosir Island on the top left. (28 April, 2006)


Vegetation on the rim surrounding Lake Toba. (28 April, 2006)


Panoramic view of Lake Toba on a clear day. (28 April, 2006)


The rim surrounding Lake Toba, as seen from the lake itself. (28 April, 2006)


Ferry boat crossing Lake Toba from Prapat towards Samosir Island. (28 April, 2006)


A young man rowing a perahu on Lake Toba. (30 April, 2006)


Naked children swimming in Lake Toba. (30 April, 2006)


Lake Toba as seen from a ferry boat. (30 April, 2006)


One of the boatmen operating the ferry boat on Lake Toba. (30 April, 2006)


Ferry boat arriving at Samosir Island. (30 April, 2006)


Timothy Tye sitting at the top deck of the ferry boat in Lake Toba. (30 April, 2006)

List of Lakes in Asia

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Discover with Timothy YouTube Channel

 PG Food Channel

 Learn Penang Hokkien YouTube Channel

SojiMart Videos

Destination Indonesia

Latest from Discover with Timothy: Gurney Bay - what to see and do there

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

Robbie's Roadmap