There is nobody that never heard about Toba Lake in Indonesia. This tourist destination is famous across the country, everybody have heard about it. Toba lake is located in North Sumatera province. From the administrative perspective, it is belong to North Tapanuli region or known as Tobasa [Toba Samosir]. It's a bit far from Medan, and requires long drive to reach the Toba Lake. The trip is similar as the Trip from Jakarta-Bandung, about 3 hours drive. On the way there, we will pas Pematang Siantar, the second biggest city after Medan.

	[navigasi.net] Danau - Toba

If we depart in the morning, we will arrive in Prapat at noon. Prapat is a town along the road side and plays an important role that connects Medan and Toba Lake. Initially, I didn't realize that trip would be that long. I thought it was like trip from Jakarta-Sukabumi or Surabaya-Malang.

Arriving in Parapat with empty stomach that started to sing made me had to rushed out to strecth-out after driving too long during the trip. Prapat, is a beautiful town located at the skirt of Toba Lake by the mountainside. From the top we can see beautiful view of Toba Lake lies between the hillsides. It is a huge lake with an island in the middle, called Samosir. This place is quite high above the sea level. My hungry stomach, feeling tired and weary after long trip was vanished by looking at the lovely scenery and chilling atmosphere.

For Batak people, this place is the origin of the 'genuine' Batak. Here, we will see many Batak clans live in Prapat which believes as the genuine Batak

Batak-people devides into 5 ethnics, which geographically divided as follows:

1. Batak Toba (Tapanuli): lives in Toba Samosir province, North Tapanuli, Central Tapanuli and speaks in Batak Toba dialect.
2. Batak Simalungun : lives in Simalungun province, part of Deli Serdang, and speaks in Batak Simalungun dialect.
3. Batak Karo : lives in Karo province, Langkat, part of Aceh, and speaks in Batak Karo dialect. They call themselves as Malay people.
4. Batak Mandailing : lives in South Tapanuli province, Pakantan region, Muara Sipongi and speaks in Batak Mandailing dialect, geographically they are closer to Padang.
5. Batak Pakpak : lives in Dairi province, South Aceh, and speaks in Pakpak dialect.

Nias ethnic group lives in Nias province (Nias Island) claimed that they are not Batak-nesse since their ancestors are not Batak mainland. However, they family name similar to Batak people. Area called Batak land or Tano Batak is the area surround Toba Lake, North Sumatera. If only they didn't follow allotment by The Dutch [devide et impera political tricks] like now, people say Batak main land is up to South Aceh and South-East Aceh.

BATAK ALAS GAYO
Several dialects in Alas and Gayo area are similar to Batak language. Likewise, named like Alas and Gayo, exist in legend and Batak folktale. In Batak folktale called Bona Laklak [folktale of Beringin Tree] which is beautifully painted by L. Sitio [1921] the name of Si Jau Nias, and Si Ujung Aceh, emerge equally as Sorimangaraja (King of Batak I). Followed by Si Gayo and si Alas which is equal to Si Raja Siak Dibanua (King Siak Dibanua) the ancestor of Sorimangaraja, the grandfather of si Raja Batak (King of Batak).

BATAK PAKPAK
A small group of Pakpak people reluctant to be called as Batak since the term of 'MPU Bada' is not related to the term of 'OMPU Bada' in Batak language. According to Pakpak ethnic, the term of MPU is equal to MPU in from Java [MPU Sendok, MPU Gandring]. However, in general, Pakpak language is similar to Batak language, just like their ideology and way of life.

BATAK KARO
This ethnic is also does not wish to be identified as part of Batak Ethnic. According to Prof. Dr. Henry G. Tarigan [IKIP Negeri Bandung] they are 84 citation genus name of Karo people. That's why, Karo people is not entirely come from Batak ethnic, since many newcomers joining in the later year, i.e. genus Colia, Pelawi, Brahmana, etc. Throughout the years in, Karo land widely known having Merga Silima [5 genuses].

BATAK NIAS
The Nias ethnic group that lives in Nias province [Nias island] claimed that they are not Batak, because their ancestors were not coming from in Batak mainland, not from Pusuk Buhit. It's understandable, since geographically, Nias island situated a bit remotely in Indonesian Ocean, at the West side of North Sumatera. However, they are having family name just like any other Batak people.

A friend has told me a unique story. When the Japanesse came during the war, there was one Japanesse officer liked to feed fish that lived in Toba lake. Every mornsing and evening, he paddled his sampan, and chimed the bell repeatedly and scattered food. Hundred of fishes came and eat it. He was doing it for years until he passed away. The fishes kept showing up at the same time every single day and people in that village became aware of that. They followed the Japanesse by doing the same thing and brought fisher net with them every morning and evening. They also chimed the bell and many fishes were caught at that time until finally no more fish left.

Nobody can confirm the above story. Today, Toba lake is no longer producer of ground-water fishes in North Sumatera. The government is trying to stimulate local people by providing fish seed so they can be a fisherman for living.