The long and winding road to spectacular Lake Maninjau
The long and winding road to spectacular Lake Maninjau
By Simon Marcus Gower
MANINJAU, West Sumatra (JP): Local people will tell you it's
better to visit on a sunny day. Guidebooks warn against traveling
there when skies are gray and clouds are low.
But local people and guidebooks do not always consider the
possibility that inclement weather might be appealing. True, on a
clear day spectacular views may be enjoyed of Lake Maninjau
sitting in a deep and wide crater, but if peace and quiet is
sought then breathtakingly spectacular views are not necessarily
a priority.
Lake Maninjau lies 50 kilometers north of Padang in West
Sumatra. Less famed than Sumatra's largest lake, Lake Toba, and
more remote than Singkarak, Sumatra's second largest lake that
lies only 20 kilometers away, Maninjau boasts a quite different
appeal. Both of those vast inland expanses of water have a scale
and mountainous landscape that inevitably impress. Maninjau,
Sumatra's third largest lake, has a more enclosed and secluded
appearance, the effect of which is added to by a misty and cloud-
covered day.
Traveling to Maninjau, rice fields intermingle with thickly
forested hillsides. Volcanic outcrops of rock silhouette the
skyline and farmers work the fertile land with their buffaloes
heavily plodding through the muddy, shimmering soil as they pull
aged ploughs. The hilly and volcanic terrain has forced road
builders to cut their roads into hillsides and weave them around
beautiful but uncompromisingly difficult terrain.
One soon becomes used to the pitching and rolling from side to
side as these often-precarious roads are negotiated. Short crash
barriers line many of the sharper twists and turns but often
there is no barrier between the asphalt road edge and a sharp and
long fall to the rice-fields below. Occasionally small villages
are encountered sitting in sheltered valleys. One such village
being particularly noteworthy for its large domed mosque.
As one sweeps up and around it on the road cut into the
surrounding hills one is glad of expert driving and a good road-
holding vehicle. A moment's lapse in concentration could easily
see a vehicle plummet into the mosque's dome that shines so on a
misty day. These winding roads are, then, quite a challenge but
the road down to Lake Maninjau is quite a unique challenge.
It is far down too to get to the lakeside. Houses and mosques
lie deep down below, and from the crater's edge they look like
tiny toys or models on a child's train set. Eyes cannot rest long
on these villages because as soon as the descent to the lake
begins the challenge of the road ahead is met. Hairpin bends
weave their way down the steep slope, but not just one or two but
44 complete U-turning bends.
At first these turns are a novelty, but after the first 10 or
so queasiness may begin to set in. At times the road drops by as
much as a 45-degree angle. No great speed can be made up as you
take these turns, but the swinging back and for as the road goes
in one direction and then makes a turn to be heading in the
opposite direction is quite disorientating.
Some local inhabitants have worked out the honking of horns of
vehicles navigating the turns may have another meaning, namely
food. Dozens of monkeys emerge from the surrounding undergrowth.
Some frantically run alongside the passing vehicles while others,
perhaps older and wiser, simply stroll along and patiently wait.
The change in altitude and air pressure combined with the
dizzying, twisting road means that the straightening of the road
to finally reach the level of the lake is a real relief. The
stillness and calm of the lake and the feeling that one has
arrived at a different, almost time-forgotten part of Indonesia
increase this feeling.
Nearer to the lakeshore there are small homestays but they are
mostly deserted.
"We still get backpackers here," claimed the owner of a small
cafe with a full menu of Indonesian, Chinese and Western dishes.
However, he was interested to know that we had traveled from
Jakarta and complained about all the upheaval in the capital.
Village life
It is a village and a small, community atmosphere resides over
and around the lake. On the shores of the lake are relatively few
concessions to tourism. There are small hotels and homestays but
local amenities are as prominent. A local school stands near the
lake and thus red and white uniformed children are more in
evidence than foreign visitors. Also, about 100 meters from the
lake's waters is a small prison, which is not likely to attract
visitors but does attract local people who are directly employed
there or are able to sell their cooked food or grocery supplies
on the jail's doorstep.
Down by the lake there is evidence that Maninjau is a place of
natural beauty, unspoiled by tourist developments. There are no
boats for hire or speedboats or jet-skis here. The waters are
quiet and calming as they lap up to the lakeshore. This huge mass
of gently rippling water is almost entirely devoid of vessels.
Occasionally tiny one-man canoes paddle across the vast
stretch of water. The fishermen cast their nets and gather their
catches but are so distant that they are seen but not heard. On
the pebble-strewn lakeside a gaggle of geese or two may be seen
waddling by but little breaks the calm.
Even with the onset of gentle drizzle shelter under a nearby
tree allows the contemplative peace to continue. A mist lightly
dusts the thick greenery of the trees that cover the surrounding
hills. The slowly rolling cloud cover seems to act as a lid on
top of the crater. Watching the one or two fishermen paddle,
almost in slow motion, across the lake, the soft splashing of the
water on the pebbled shore creates a meditation-like
peacefulness. The rest of the world seems remote and even a
distant memory.
Soon, however, this must come to an end and one must face the
challenge of those 44 hairpin turns to get up and out of
Maninjau's crater. Maninjau will remain in its restful, nearly
timeless way, and anytime peace and time out from our busy and
often manic world is needed Maninjau will offer a meditational
kind of relief. The road may be long and winding but it is worth
the ride.