Lake Maninjau

A trip to a beautiful lake is always a nice idea to spend a relaxing vacation, take a break from our busy days while enjoying the view, hear the water, and feel the fresh air could be the best way to forget about our daily activities for a while.


This time we'll take you to one of the most amazing lakes in Indonesia, Lake Maninjau in West Sumatra. lake Maninjau is a vulcanical lake which lies 461 m above sea level with 100m2 wide and maximum depth of 500m. The location is not far from Bukit Tinggi, a fascinating city which is also one of the main tourist destinations in Indonesia with so many point of interests you can find.

By the lake there is a village called Maninjau Village. This village is well known because it was the birth place of two famous figures in Indonesia, Buya Hamka (a fenomenal literati), and Rangkayo Rasuna Said (one of Indonesia's national hero), to honor this woman there is a street in Jakarta that named after her.

Visiting this lake, you're gonna be pompered by it's fresh air and stunning view of the lake that has clear water. But unfortunately tourists are not allowed to swim in this lake, that's because the local people here hold a very strict moslem tradition so you cannot wear a swimsuit or dresses that looks too open. But you can swim in the resorts or hotels around this lake that has swimming pool facilities though.


Beside in the lake area you can also find many good accomodations in Bukit Tinggi, this might be a good idea because by staying here the next day you can visit various tourist attractions in the city. You can also find many restaurants serving various kind of food, but usually you can only find European or other foreign food in hotel restaurants. Be careful if you would like to try traditional cuisines of this area, West Sumatra is known for its delicious but spicy food. So if you don't have a very strong stomach you better ask carefully first before you make your order. There are also many stores here selling high quality Songket which is a traditional woven of West Sumatra that is so famous around the world.

To get to this place you have to take a flight to Padang, then continue to Bukit Tinggi by land, there are a lot of public transportations that can take you from Padang to Bukit Tinggi then to Lake Maninjau.

Read more!

Dieng Highland, A Nirvana In The Mist

Dieng is the second highest highland in the world after Nepal, and the largest in Java. It lies 6.802 feet / 2.093 km above sea level. The average temperature in this area is 15 celcius degree, but during July - August which is the coolest period in Dieng, the temperature could drop to zero.


Administratively, this highland is divided in two large areas, Dieng Kulon (Western Dieng) in Banjarnegara district, and Dieng Wetan (Eastern Dieng) in Wonosobo district, Central Java Province.

Dieng highland is a complex of volcanoes which has 11 cones, Bisma, Seroja, Binem, Pangonan Merdada, Pagerkandang, Telogo Dringo, Pakuwaja, Kendil, Kunir, and Prambanan. There are also 9 fumarola fields, Sikidang, Kumbang, Sibanteng, Upas, Telogo Terus, Pagerkandang, Sipandu, Siglagah and Sileri.

Another name for Dieng highland is Dieng Plateau. That's because this area is actually a plateau that was created after a huge explotion of a volcano. that's why the geological condition of this area is relatively unstable and the ground is oftenly moves. We can see the trail of this geological activity through broken roads and the cracks on the ground which spray toxical gas into the air. Sometime ago, this geological activity even made a village disappear.

An a tourist destination, Dieng Plateau has everything. It has many kinds of natural tourist attractions like caves, craters, waterfalls, lakes, and don't forget the unforgetable beauty of its view with various kind of plants growing everywhere you see. It also has cultural tourist attractions like a hindunese temple complex and traditional dance called kuda lumping that frequently performed by the local people.

Here are a bit information about those tourist attractions in Dieng :

Pagerkandang Crater
If we see its morfology, it can be concluded that this was once a crater of a volcano which shaped like a cone. The body of the mountain has already collapsed because of an explotion.

Sileri Crater
This crater is a basin which filled by materials from Pagerkandang explotion in 1944.

Sikidang Crater
This crater is more like a sulfur hole, because it's always move from places and the water is always boiling.

Candradimuka Crater
Candradimuka is not a crater of a volcanoe, but it's sulfur which came out of a cracking ground. There are two cracks that still active releasing sulfur, one crack releases sulfur continously and the other one frequently.

Merdada Lake
This is once a volcanoe crater which was then filled with water from the rain. This lake then used by the occupants of Karang Tengah village as a water source for their everyday needs.

Sewiwi Lake
This pretty lake was not formed from a crater, but from the water source in the ground coming out.


Balekambang Lake
Located in Pendowo Temple complex, this lake makes the scenery around this temple complex even more beautiful.

Warna Lake and Pengilon Lake
These lakes was once merge, but since Tulis River was dammed by lava these lakes were splitted in two.

Dringo Lake
This lake was also formed from a volcanoe eruption in 1786. It's called Dringo lake because there are plenty of dringo plants (Acorus calamus Rumph) that grow wildly all around the lake. Dringo is a tuber kind of plant which has so many useful elements to cure inflammation.

Cebong Lake
cebong is abeautiful lake surrounded by hills. The water from this lake is also used by the local inhabitants from nearby village - Sembungan village, for their everyday needs.

Jimat Cave and Upas Cave
these caves were once a crater, and the wholes were used to be the place where the lava floated. these caves still continously spraying toxical gas, that's why the tourists can't go near these caves. not so far from the cave, there is a tomb of a germany (Herman Kelier) who died in 1883 because he was standing too close to the cave. Now the place where the tomb lies is set to be the save distance for the visitor to watch these caves.

Jalatunda Wail
it used to be a crater which shaped round like a wail. Sadly, nobody knows why oftenly happens an accident that people fall into that large wail. If it happens nobody can rescue the victim because the wail is too deep. The local people believe there is an unseen beast in the wail, and they also believe whoever succeeded to throw a rock from the west side to east side of the wail, he will get all his wishes.

Bima Lukar
Bima Lukar is a natural shower that has its water from the water source of Serayu River. The ocal occupants use it for their everyday needs. The people believe this water can make them stay young.

Kalianget Hot Spring
this place is formed from a crack on the ground as the cause of magma activity. The water from the ground get a reaction from the magma before it emmerges and makes it hot.

Tempuran Hot Spring
It's not formed from a magma activity but through a geothermical gradien. every 100m the temperature will increase as much as 3.3 C degree. The water came out because there a gas pressure from the ground.

Lagetang Village
As a prove that Dieng is a vulcanical area. Ground movement oftenly happens in this area.

Mangli Hot Spring

Sikarim Waterfall


Hindunese Temples
There are several temple complex in Dieng which confirmed built during Hindunese kingdoms rule. from the inscription found here, there is a year 1210 AD but it doesn't mention who built it. The architecture of these temples are different from the most hindunese temples found in Java. These temples were named after an old epical story characters of Mahabharata; Arjuna, Gatotkaca, Dwarawati, Bima, Semar, Sembadra, Srikandi, and Puntadewa. The experts believe that these names are actually not the original names of these temples, and these names given after these temples were abandoned. Inside these temples we can find the statue of Hindunese Gods; Siva, Wishnu, Agastya, Ganesha, and others.

Beside those interesting tourist attractions, Dieng has all the facilities and infrastuctures as a tourist destination, as well as plenty of accomodation we can find here.

Dieng can be easely reached from Wonosobo or Banjarnegara city, we can even take a regular public transportation to Dieng. If we travel by plane, we should land at Jogjakarta or Semarang then we continue our journey to Wonosobo or Banjarnegara through land.

Read more!

Kelimutu

Now this is the scenery that you won't find anywhere else in the world. Kelimutu, a beautiful tropical mountain which is the habitat of many unique flora and fauna. But the magical part of this mountain lies on the top, you'll see three colorful lakes that keep changing their colors through out the years. these lakes once was stated as one of the seven wonders of the world. some of the experts say that the color replacement could be the effect of the mineral contents inside the lake and some other say some kind of weed that grows inside the lake is the one that effects it, but until now nobody really sure what causes that color changing. At the beginning, after the eruption in 1886 which finally formed those lakes, the colors of these lakes are red, white and blue. Throughout the years they keep changing their colors, and today the colors are green, dark blue and dark brown.



As for the natives, they really believe that these are the magical lakes with every myths that's been told from generation to generation. They believe that Kelimutu lakes are actually the sanctuaries of the spirits of the dead. The green lake is considered to be the place for teen spirits, the dark blue lake which is located side by side with the teen spirits lake is believed to be the place for witches or bad people, and the dark brown lake is believed to be the sanctuary of the elder or old people spirits.

The best time to watch Kelimutu lakes is in the morning, during the day or in the afternoon, these lakes are covered by thick fog so you wouldn't be able to see it clearly. That's why the tourists use to spend a night in Moni village at the feet of the mountain and continue their journey at dawn. This journey will take about 45 minutes to get to the lakes for 13 Km walk.

This amazing place is located in East Nusa Tenggara Island, not very far from the famous Komodo Island. To get to this place you can take a plane from Denpasar to Maumere, from Maumere you can take a bus or car charter to take you to Moni Village, it will take about 3 hours journey from Maumere to Moni Village.

There are many cozy cottages and homestays in Moni Village that you can rent with very low prices from $2.00 - $8.00 a night before you continue your journey to Kelimutu.

* If you wish to visit Indonesia, please go to Indonesia travel tips page.

Read more!

Lake Toba

With 100 Km long and 30 Km wide Lake Toba is the biggest lake in South East Asia. This lake is formed as the cause of the eruption of Mount Toba which is consider to be one of the biggest eruption throughout the history of the world. This lake is located in North Sumatra - Indonesia and has become the favorite tourist destination in this province for many years.



The eruption was not only formed lake Toba, it also formed an island in the middle of the lake called Samosir. This beautiful fertile island is occupied by the natives called the Batak people who still maintain their traditional way of life.Visiting this place you will find a beautiful scenery, amazingly fresh air and of course friendly natives.

While for you action seekers, this place has a wonderful spot for paragliding and there is also a mountain bike track on Samosir Island, sometimes the local government held paragliding or mountain bike championship whether it is held in local scoop or International.

As for the accommodation you don’t have to worry, there so many hotels around the lake and if you want something with a natural touch you can stay on wooden cottages on Samosir.To get to this place take a plane to Medan (the capital of North Sumatra) and then you can continue through the land, if you charter a taxi the journey is approximately 4 hours from Medan to Lake Toba, but if you take a bus it would take about 6 hours.

* If you wish to visit Indonesia, please go to Indonesia travel tips page.

Read more!