Samosir Island on Lake Toba

 Samosir Island on Lake Toba 

A view across the valley from our homestay. 

We were going to see an old Batak village and a waterfall. The village is in the distnce but the camera automatically focused on the bollard and the tree.

I tried again but couldn't get the close up that I wanted from the moving vehicle...

...but I did get a view of the flat valley bottom as we descended from a ridge back down to the valley.

an old mud built house with a wooden roof with storage under the rafters for produce. The owner, sitting on the doorstep is 102 years old. 

There was a concrete path leading out of the village up to a valley. There were views back to the flat agricultural land that we had passed earlier. 

There were several lookout points but we didn't stop. We passed a small waterfll but this wasn't the one we were climbing up the valley to see.

We wanted to see the big waterfall further up the valley. It was impressive but rarely visited by local tourists. 

As we descended, there were better views of the valley with its flat bottom.

We passed Bird Hill. It is supposed to look like a bird but none of us could see the resemblance. It had seen better days. There were a number of picnic areas, roof covered raised platforms overlooking the lake. There were several stalls and some buildings advertising drinks and food but all were shut and dilapidated. There was car parking spaces but there was no one here. It was another victim of the drop in visitors due to COVID and had not yet recovered.

Another view of the lake from Bird Hill. 

We followed the road down from the tops of the hill and crossed the Aek Tano Ponggol Bridge between the mainland of Samatra and the island of Samosir. 

We stopped at a village, gets gov oney to preserve way of life and traditional houses. Guide lived here in one of them. We visited and the accomadation was explained. 

Just one of a dozen traditional houses in the village. 

A detail of the front. 

Some of the intricate carving and pauntwork on the front of one of the houses. 

A traditional house without the artwork. 

Our guides house.. The bottom level is for animals. The fron is for water buffalo of which she had three,

, The back section is for smaller animals such as goats and chickens. 

Up the steps is the min living area. At the front is the raised sleeping area.

At the back is a raised area for storing produce. 

A view of the living area with a fold away table to the left. The doorway at the back is a modern extension to house a shower, a gas fired kitchen and a toilet.

Then we walked down the road to another traditional building used as a homestay but also providing food in a traditional environment. The pots looked the same but there were various green vegetables, chicken, tofu, roasted sweet potatoes and rice. Plus an array of spicy sauces.

The front of the house was beautifully presented with a mass of colourful flowers. 

A view of the flowers and the tall pointed front of the house.