Samosir, or Samosir Island, is a large

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

island in Lake Toba, located in North Sumatra Province on the island of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Administratively, Samosir Island is governed as six of the nine districts within Samosir Regency. The lake and island were formed after the eruption of the Toba supervolcano some 75,000 years ago. At , Samosir is the largest island within an island and the fourth largest lake island in the world. It also contains two smaller lakes, Lake Sidihoni and . Across the lake on the east of the island lies the Uluan Peninsula. The island was historically linked to the mainland of Sumatra on its western part by a narrow

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

connecting the town of Pangururan on Samosir and Tele on mainland Sumatra, but it was split by the Tano Ponggol Canal and bridge in 1906, which was widened in 2019. Tele consequently offers one of the best views of Lake Toba and Samosir Island. One of the most important objects on the island is a Lutheran church, and opposite it is a huge hill.

Tourism

Samosir is a popular tourist destination due to its exotic history and the vistas it offers. The tourist resorts are concentrated in the area. The island is the centre of the

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo people ( ...

culture and many of the Toba Batak traditional houses (rumah adat) remain on the island. Most of the tourist accommodations are concentrated in the small town of Tuktuk, which is located a one-hour ferry ride across the lake from the town of Parapat. The passenger ferry leaves from Tiga Raja harbor every hour between 8.30 and 19.00. For those running late, there is an option to take the passenger boat from Ajibata to Tomok until 8.30 pm. A car ferry leaves the mainland from Ajibata and lands in the small town of Tomok, about a 10-minute drive from Tuktuk until 9 pm. There are also other passenger ferries and individual hotels may also have ferries available.

Gallery

File:Samosir Island - Lake Toba.jpg, Samosir Island File:Graves on Samosir. Low-res.jpg, Graves on Samosir Island File:Tano Ponggol Canal 02.JPG, Tano Ponggol Canal File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een sarcofaag op Samosir Res. Tapanoeli TMnr 10016784.jpg,

Sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

in Samosir c. 1916

References

{{Authority control Batak Lake islands of Asia Islands of Sumatra Lake Toba Populated places in Indonesia Asahan Toba basin