North Tapanuli Regency (''Tapanuli Utara'' - in Indonesian, "Utara" means "North") is a landlocked regency in

North Sumatra North Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan on the east coast of the island. It borders Aceh to the northwest, Riau to the sou ...

province,

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, ...

. Its capital is

Tarutung Tarutung (Dutch: ) is a district, town and the administrative capital (Regency seat) of North Tapanuli Regency (''Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara''), North Sumatra, Sumatra, Indonesia. in the Batak language means "durian The durian () is th ...

. The regency covers an area of 3,793.71 square kilometers and it had a population of 278,897 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 312,758 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 323,102.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2024, ''Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara Dalam Angka 2024'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1202)

Administrative districts

The regency is divided into fifteen

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

s (''kecamatan''), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 Census,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. together with the official estimates as of mid-2022.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2023, ''Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara Dalam Angka 2023'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1202) The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (totalling 241 rural ''desa'' and 11 urban ''kelurahan''), and its postcode. Note: (a) including 7 of the urban ''kelurahan'' of the district's 11 ''kelurahan''. (b) except for the two ''desa'' of Jambur Nauli and Sihujur, which have the postcode of 22452.
(c) Muara District is a northern near-exclave of the regency, mainly situated on the southern shore of

Lake Toba Lake Toba (, Toba Batak: ᯖᯀᯬ ᯖᯬᯅ; romanized: ''Tao Toba'') is a large natural lake in North Sumatra, Indonesia, occupying the caldera of the Toba supervolcano. The lake is located in the middle of the northern part of the island of ...

and connected to Siborongborong District by a narrow strip of land.
It includes the island of ''Pulau Sibandang'' (12 km² in area, with 2,357 inhabitants in 2020), which is situated in the lake.

Soda Pond

Soda Pond, or ''Aek Rara / Air Soda'' is located at the bottom of Parbubu I Hill village. The pond's natural spring water generates bubbles and a soda aroma can be smelled. It is safe for swimming, but the use of goggles is recommended. The locals regularly use the water from the pond to water nearby rice paddy fields.

References

Batak {{NSumatra-geo-stub Barumun Bilah basin Batang Toru basin