Bedugul, Bali's Mountain and Lake Views

Bedugul is a mountain lake resort area in Bali, Indonesia, located in the centre-north region of the island near Lake Bratan on the road between Singaraja and Denpasar. Bedugul is located at 48 kilometres (30 mi) north of the city of Denpasar. Other nearby lakes are Lake Buyan, and Lake Tamblingan.

Bedugul is located about 50 km north of Denpasar on a main route from South Bali to North Bali. The area is served by regular bemos which depart from Batubulan terminal in Denpasar in the south, and from Singaraja in the north. The Perama bus company has a local office in central Bedugul at the Sari Artha Inn.

There you can see one of Indonesia's four official botanical gardens. Located in Candikuning. The entrance road is identified by the presence of a giant stone corn on the cob statue! From the information centre buy a copy of an excellent little pamphlet called Six Self Guided Walks in the Bali Botanical Gardens and set off on your way. The gardens are huge covering some 160 hectares and any visitor with an interest in plants and trees could easily spend a whole day here.

Jatiluwih, A startlingly beautiful area of verdant, terraced rice paddies nestled in the shadow of Mount Batukaru. Take your time and explore thoroughly. There are a number hikes thorough truly stunning terrain. When you have had your fill there a couple of cafes for refreshment and yet more views.

For some souvenir, you can buy in Bedugul (Bukit Mungsu) Traditional Market in Candikuning. Bedugul is the highland garden of Bali, producing lots of cool climate fruits and vegetables. In the market here you can find strawberries plus a myriad of tropical fruits, vegetables, corn and orchids. This is a great place to buy exotic spices, with mixed gift packs being especially popular. There is also an art section of the market with lots of handicrafts.

Samosir Island. The Vulcano Islan at Lake Toba

Samosir, or Pulau Samosir, is a large volcanic island in Lake Toba. Lake Toba is located in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Administratively, it is governed as 6 of 9 districts within Samosir Regency.

The lake and island were formed after the eruption of a super volcano some 75 000 years ago. The island was originally connected to the surrounding caldera wall by a small isthmus, which was cut through to aid navigation.

At 630km², Samosir is also notable as being the largest island within an island, and the fifth largest lake island in the world. It also has 2 named lakes, Lake Sidihoni and Lake Aek Natonang. Across the lake on the east from the island lies Uluan Peninsula.

Samosir is a popular tourist destination due to the fantastic vistas it offers. The tourist resorts are concentrated in the Tuktuk and Tomok area. The island is the centre of the Batak culture and many of this people's artifacts remain on the island.

PEOPLE & THE ETHNIC

Most of the people who live around Lake Toba are ethnically Bataks. Traditional Batak houses, which can still be seen nowadays around Lake Toba, are noted for their distinctive roofs (which curve upwards at each end, as a boat's hull does) and their colorful decor. "Batak" include several groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and customs (adat). While the term is also used to include the Toba, Karo, Pak Pak, Simalungun, Angkola and Mandailing groups.

TO GO THERE

The closest town to the lake Toba is Parapat, about 3 hours driving from Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra; Ferry can be used to cross over the lake and reach a few ferry docks of the Samosir island. But the major one is Tomok, which is the center of tourism area of Samosir island.

Lake Toba. The Biggest Volcano Lake In The World

Lake Toba is a lake and supervolcano, 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 Sumatra with a surface elevation of about 900 metres (2,953 ft), It is the largest volcanic lake in the world. In addition, it is the site of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred about 74,000 years ago, a massive climate-changing event. The eruption is believed to have had a VEI intensity of 8. This eruption is believed to have been the largest 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.




The Toba caldera complex in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia consists of four overlapping volcanic craters that adjoin the Sumatran "volcanic front". The youngest and fourth caldera is the world's largest Quaternary caldera (100 by 30 kilometres) and intercepts the three older calderas. An estimate of 2500-3000 cubic kilometres of dense-rock equivalent pyroclastic material, known the Youngest Toba tuff, was blasted from the youngest caldera during one of the largest single eruptions in geologic history. Following the "Youngest Toba tuff eruption", a typical resurgent dome formed within the new caldera, joining two half-domes separated by a longitudinal graben.

There are at least four cones, four stratovolcanoes and three craters visible in the lake. The Tandukbenua cone on the NW edge of the caldera is relatively lacking in vegetation, suggesting a young age of only several hundred years. Also, the Pusubukit volcano on the south edge of the caldera is solfatarically active.



Lake Toba offers a nurturing environment for fish such as tilapia mossambica, aplocheilus panchax, lebistes reticulatus, osphronemus goramy, trichogaster trichopterus, channa striata, channa gachua, clarias batrachus, clarias nieuhofi, clarias. sp., nemachilus fasciatus, cyprinus carpio, puntius javanicus, puntius binotatus, osteochilus nasselti, lissochilus sp., labeobarbus sora, and rasbora sp

Many other types of plants and animals live within the boundaries of Lake Toba. Flora organisms include various types of phytoplankton, emerged macrophytes, floating macrophytes, and submerged macrophytes. Fauna include several variations of zooplankton and benthos.