"danau toba" the great lake

The world famous crater lake of danau toba is the third biggest tourist destination of indonesia.the island in the huge lake,pulau samosir,atracts many tourist. Lake toba is the largest lake in southeast asia,once created by an enormous eruption less than 100.000 years ago. The eruption was approximately 8000 times more powerful than the eruption of Mount St.Helen in 1981.The lake covers approximately 1265 square km excluding Samosir and is 90 km long. The depth is in on average 450 m and up to 900 min some place. The lake is situated at an altitude of 906 m above sea level. The steep coastline interspersed with small valleys creates fantastic scenery and isolated areas. The deepest end and the highest mountains are at it's northeastern end. The Dutchman H.N.van der Tuuk was the first European who saw and reported about the lake.in 1847.

There are of course legends how Lake Toba was formed. Once upon a time there was a man living in the area of the present day Danau Toba. No one knew when or from where he came. He lived in a simple hut in a farming area. He had a garden and did some fishing. One day he caught a big fish in his trap. It was biggest catch ever in his life. Back home the fish turned into beautiful princess decorated with jewels. He fell in love with her and proposed to her. Sha nodded romantically,however the princes had one condition. The man had promise never to tell anyone thet she had been a fish. If he would there would be disaster. They married  and got a daughter and lived happily. The daughter always brought lunch to her father out in the fields. The girl was however very greedy and one day she ate all her father"s lunch. Her father got angry and scolded " you dammed daughter of a fish!". The princes started to cry when she heard what her husband had said. she told her daughter to go to the hills, as there would be       disaster. When the daughter had left for safety the princes prayed. Soon there was an earthquake,rain started to fall and springs appeared everywhere. The whole area got flooded and became Lake Toba. The princes turned into a fish again and her father became the island of samosir.

The traditional Batak canoe, The Solu was 10-15 m long. All had the same width. The canoes of the chief were decorated with carvings. The captain the chief, sat in front and gave orders. The solu  had it's own spirit and when a new canoe was built offerings were made for both the canoe spirit and to Boru saniang Naga,The goddes of the water. Bataks feared her as disasters could easily happen when she was angry