Simanindo
Ancient Toba Batak Village, Lake Toba, Indonesia
This sight is located in Lake Toba, Indonesia. For travel information about Lake Toba, read the Lake Toba Travel Guide. To prepare for a trip to Indonesia, read also the Indonesia Travel Guide. Looking for budget accommodation there? Use AsiaExplorers Budget Accommodation Guide, the no-frills website to cover your budget accommodation needs.
Traditional dance performance of the Toba Batak of Simanindo.
Simanindo is a small Toba Batak village on the northern part of Lake Toba, about 16 km from Ambarita. Tourists come here to view the restored house of the Toba Batak king. This house has since been turned into a museum. In front of the museum is a row of ancient Toba Batak tombs of the ancient Simanindo kings. Just as in Pematang Purba, the Batak kings of Simanindo are Christians. Hence there are Christian motifs in the design of their tombs.
Next to the Simanindo king's house is a replica of a traditional Simanindo Batak village. Here, traditional Batak dances are performed daily at 10:30am and 11:45am to a crowd that is almost always exclusively foreigners, and most likely Westerners. When I was there with a group of AsiaExplorers members, we were the only Asians watching the show.
I enjoy the visit to Simanindo as it provides an opportunity for visitors like myself to find out more about the unique Batak culture. We arrived here by boat from our hotel in Tuk Tuk. On our way here, we stopped over on tiny Tao Island.
Simanindo Photo Album
The pier at Simanindo where we arrived.
Traditional Toba Batak houses in Simanindo.
Replica of the traditional Batak village where the dances are performed.
As we were watching the show, we noticed that there were birds up in the tree, so I took a shot of them.
Intricate design on the Toba Batak traditional house.
A carved Batak totem pole.
Musicians playing traditional instruments.
After the performance, we were allowed into the hut where the musicians performed.
This is where we sat to watch the performance.
Tombs of the ancient Toba Batak kings are keep in good order.
The king's house which has since been turned into a museum. On its left is a boat house.
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