This the trip i took with my photography club, TPC - Toba Photographer Club. The spots is Balige, Tara bunga, Muara Nauli, its located at the south end of lake toba, 6 hour drive from Medan, 2 hour from Perapat, but we took the midnite trip so there were no traffic at all.
We reach the town of Balige at around 5am and stop by the best gas station in the entire town that is owned by one of our member, with the local knowledge he is gonna be the one bringing us to this various spot with the killer view. And from Balige we drive for another 30min to this place called Tara Bunga, some of you might heard about Tara Bunga hotel before, the hotel owned by T.B Silalahi, one of the former minister in indonesia, and owner of the T.B Silalahi centre here in Balige, check out the site here
and here is us going in to the spot in Tara Bunga to catch the sun rise, its a small village road where you can see from the pics below its kinda a problem for a big tourist bus to get trough.
P.S click to view photos in bigger size
this roof is getting in our way
this house is actually build illegally on the wrong place
this is the owner of the house
our friend the local Balige, Mr. Sebastian Hutabarat get into action to get us out of this pickle. I am actually getting my own hand in pushing this roof too right after i snap this one shot.
this is the aftermath of the roof.
all the huntersand soon the sun come out to break the cold, all the freezing photographer start to warm up and get their gears ready, oh and having a friend who is kinda a local public figure is great because he arrange for some bull and some farmer to come out and "pose" as our model in the padi/rice field
the hunters in action
this is the same location but on the other side, Tara Bunga is kinda a peninsula, and we simply switch side for this view.
loving the diff layer of blacks on the cliff
having a brekkie with a killer viewthis is prob about time i show the spots in a map, so you can get a lil idea of where is where. Perapat here is on No.1, and Balige (2) is about 2 hour drive from Perapat, Tara Bunga, this 1st location where all the sun rise shots took place is No.3. and for the sun rise we were facing east or facing the town of Balige (1) itself, and for these 2nd view we simply swtich to face west.
group shot
we donate some trees and some money to the locals to take care of all the trees.
the planting of the tree, Im not part of the officialls member given the chance to symbolically plant the trees, but no crime in snapping one photo right :p
from this side we were actually facing samosir island, but its kinda mysty so samosir is hiding behind all those myst.
With samosir gone behind the myst the horizon looks like those of a sea
some local kids is washing her toys and stuff, its good that they actually have the sense to clean their stuff, but its bad that there weren't many clean water resources and they had to clean it in a river thats not very clean, as you can see the water is drak brown!
the cousin of one of our member who is not a photographer decide to tag along the trip and try her talent on being a model, good for us as we can take a break from snapping landscape shot and have some model shot.
the office of the village chief. You get the idea of how basic this village is when the office of the village chief is smaller than the garage of most city houses.
and now we make our way to muara nauli (spot #4) and location of our hotel. as you can see from the map, there is a small island in front of the spot, its Pulau Sibandang (#5) and its right in front of the hotel we were staying, here we make our way down to the valley and you can see pulau Sibandang from above (yes, its the one with the arrow pointing at it)
the road on the way down to hotel (#4)
the valley of Muara Nauli. Its so hugh and beautifull, can't get it all fit in a cam lense. you just have to see it with your own eyes to really appreciate the beauty of it all.
reaching the hotel. check them out here
the back side of the hotel.
and thats Sibandang island (#5) opposite from us
the furthest out part of the hotel which is now covered in water and plenty of small Pori-Pori fish (specialty of Lake Toba) swimming around
Sibandang island
looking back at the hotel
With samosir gone behind the myst the horizon looks like those of a sea
some local kids is washing her toys and stuff, its good that they actually have the sense to clean their stuff, but its bad that there weren't many clean water resources and they had to clean it in a river thats not very clean, as you can see the water is drak brown!
the cousin of one of our member who is not a photographer decide to tag along the trip and try her talent on being a model, good for us as we can take a break from snapping landscape shot and have some model shot.
the office of the village chief. You get the idea of how basic this village is when the office of the village chief is smaller than the garage of most city houses.
and now we make our way to muara nauli (spot #4) and location of our hotel. as you can see from the map, there is a small island in front of the spot, its Pulau Sibandang (#5) and its right in front of the hotel we were staying, here we make our way down to the valley and you can see pulau Sibandang from above (yes, its the one with the arrow pointing at it)
the road on the way down to hotel (#4)
the valley of Muara Nauli. Its so hugh and beautifull, can't get it all fit in a cam lense. you just have to see it with your own eyes to really appreciate the beauty of it all.
reaching the hotel. check them out here
the back side of the hotel.
and thats Sibandang island (#5) opposite from us
the furthest out part of the hotel which is now covered in water and plenty of small Pori-Pori fish (specialty of Lake Toba) swimming around
Sibandang island
looking back at the hotelthe hotel is good, clean, friendly staff and everything, its just the lack of activity that might kill it one day (actually i heard they are bleeding money already). Muara Nauli is a small valey in this part of Lake Toba, and unlike Tuk-Tuk or Tomok where its a cultural centre and everything, here there aren't much going about. The hotel does have a tour package where they take you to Tarutung (another town around 1hour drive from Muara) for sightseeing and some soda water spa. Too bad this trip we didn't went there, so can't tell you much about it. But if you are up for a bit of exploring and love a killer view, a 3-4 days trip down this region wouldn't be so bad.
later the afternoon we go around a different spot around Muara.
and thats Samosir up there near the horizon
some of the road condition here
not a pretty sight, looks like the only way this villager know hot to get rid of their rubbish is to burn 'em. you can see all the smoke spot down at the valley all over the places.
another spot in Muara, this is late in the evening, suppose to get some sunset fun, but the sky decide to let rip a heavy rain instead
later the afternoon we go around a different spot around Muara.
and thats Samosir up there near the horizon
bulls is everywhere in this part of the world
some of the road condition here
not a pretty sight, looks like the only way this villager know hot to get rid of their rubbish is to burn 'em. you can see all the smoke spot down at the valley all over the places.
another spot in Muara, this is late in the evening, suppose to get some sunset fun, but the sky decide to let rip a heavy rain instead
the room of the hotel, very clean, with hot shower
and thats about it for day 1, day 2 start early morning for another sun rise action. and i will post it later here....(should have know that it will take me hours to finish this post)
here come part 2 of part 3 :p
sunrise hour, this spot is only about 10min from the hotel.
nope, thats not the sun up there, its the moon
fisherman with their canoe come along, actually we pre-ordered them the day before.
this kids were having a camping and a nice sleep when suddenly even before the sun break the sky 24 photographers with all their gears and stuff invaded their turf.
reaching Bakkara village.some of them suddenly more interested in model shot than landscape
fish market
and this is the pori-pori fish they sell
working hard harvesting the rice
the padi/rice field
the local children is in shocked being "attacked" by a bunch of photographers
and finally had lunch at the
house of the village chief, barbeque pori-pori fish and the best sambal (chilli sauce)
i ever tasted in my life called sambal andaliman, it was made from some local ingredients.
local boy looking at a boat full of photographer, not an everyday sight in this part of the world. and his water buffalo is equally shocked
a series of birds shot, all kind of birds hang around in the tree in this area, and they were scared away by the loud boat's machine.
here come part 2 of part 3 :p
sunrise hour, this spot is only about 10min from the hotel.
nope, thats not the sun up there, its the moon
fisherman with their canoe come along, actually we pre-ordered them the day before.
this kids were having a camping and a nice sleep when suddenly even before the sun break the sky 24 photographers with all their gears and stuff invaded their turf.
after this, we hired a boat to take us around the area and finally stopping at this little village called Bakkara.
view of the hotel from inside the boat
live free!!!
this is a mango tree. its called mangga udang (shrimp mango) a specialty of this area. Its much smaller in size than your average mango. everywhere in the hill you see the mango trees.
mango trees everywhere
view of the hotel from inside the boat
live free!!!
this is a mango tree. its called mangga udang (shrimp mango) a specialty of this area. Its much smaller in size than your average mango. everywhere in the hill you see the mango trees.
mango trees everywhere
reaching Bakkara village.some of them suddenly more interested in model shot than landscape
fish market
and this is the pori-pori fish they sell
working hard harvesting the rice
the padi/rice field
the local children is in shocked being "attacked" by a bunch of photographers
and finally had lunch at thehouse of the village chief, barbeque pori-pori fish and the best sambal (chilli sauce)
i ever tasted in my life called sambal andaliman, it was made from some local ingredients.
and below is just a selection of shots from my tele lense, it started with the day 2 sunrise and the rest of the shots is mostly of area and activity around the route of our boat riding taken from inside the boat itself, and some after we reach Bakkara.
local kids having fun
happy to be photographed, and happy to shoot back, and the 3rd one looks like just finish peeing
a very simple fishing net made out of tree branches
local kids having fun
happy to be photographed, and happy to shoot back, and the 3rd one looks like just finish peeing
a very simple fishing net made out of tree branches
local boy looking at a boat full of photographer, not an everyday sight in this part of the world. and his water buffalo is equally shocked
a series of birds shot, all kind of birds hang around in the tree in this area, and they were scared away by the loud boat's machine.
thats it folks, i think this is the longest and with most pohotos post ever. and it took me 2 days to finish posting it. hopefully it will tempted somebody enough to come to this region. its truely is a very beautiful place.
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