2 places to visit in North Sumatera to enjoy nature and plants…

The importance of nature, especially when it comes to trees and plants in our life is definitely inexhaustible…

Though nowadays humans only think about their greed and themselves, there is no denying trees and plants are the one thing we cannot live without.. If you but take the time to think, you will realise, these trees and plants are the ones that provide us with food, shelter, clothing and medicine… They also purify the air we breath and maintain balance in the ecosystem…. And so let’s learn to take care of our trees and plants and stop or at least minimise deforestation…

Here are two must visit places in North Sumatera for those who love nature, trees and plants….

And personally for me, I just relish those moments I get to spend in the rainforest as much as I do by the beach

Eden 100 Park

This forest park is also known as the Toba Caldera Geopark, the site one of the huge rocks from the Toba Volcano eruption that fell some 74,000 years ago…

This North Sumateran botanic garden/Park has over 100 flowering/fruiting/herbal plants grown here.. And whoever comes here will be mesmerised by the views..

We had a guide who took us around pointing out unique plants such as the Andaliman, a type of Batak pepper and so on….

He then trekked with us to where the Lumbanrang Waterfall was the very waterfall with the huge volcanic rock from Mount Toba was embedded…

It was raining so we headed on the trek clad in raincoats and waterproofed bags… It was cold and wet…. But the freshness of the environment and the air we breathed in was just heavenly…

Someone said that if you were here on a lovely day you can find butterflies and dragonflies flitting around…

There is even a nice little coffee hut along the trail where you can indulge in some nice hot coffee or tea…

There is also a tree-planting program in this park and our group were given the Andaliman seedling to plant.. But it was cold and wet, so they had to plant it on our behalf…

I cannot wait to come back to this beautiful park on a nice day on my next visit to North Sumatera or Danau Toba… Maybe our Andaliman seedling would have grown by then…

Address – Taman Eden 100 Lumbanrang, Ps. Lumban Julu, Lumban Julu, Kabupaten Toba Samosir, Sumatera Utara 22386

Website –https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/National-Park/tamaneden100tobasa/

Eco Village Silimalombu

This is an interesting place for those who love nature, organic stuff as the Eco Village Silimalombu is all that…

Run and operated by Ibu Ratnauli Gultom, the granddaughter of the King of Silimalombu (who owned 500 acres of this lush and verdant land…) and husband Thomas…

She warmly invites guests to her little Eco Village and gardens which are rich with mango trees… And they also grow cacao, coffee, coconut, avocado, durian, soursoup, jackfruit, guava, passionfruit, strawberries, tapioca, onions, eggplant, zucchini, salad, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, groundnuts, lemongrass, citronella, cinnamon, ginger, thallas, cloves and other herbs….

And there are an assortment of farm animals such as the water buffalo, pigs, ducks, chickens, dogs, cats too though we did not go to see them..

Ibu Ratnauli and her husband serves 100% natural food that is made from the produce in their garden as well as the lobsters, tilapias and cat fishes they fished from the lake itself….

The location of the Eco Village Silimalombu is at the beautiful Danau Toba, and the scenery is sheer picturesque…

You can hike up the mountains or swim in the lake and just be one with nature… We had the opportunity to hike up the hills to see the natural produces of the land as well as admire the magnificent view from the top…

On the way down the hill, we stopped at a small plot of greenery and Ibu Ratnauli made us harvest our own groundnuts… These groundnuts were then taken back to the main building where her staff helped cleaned the soil off and then boiled it for us to eat…