The Long Walk – Bukittinggi to Lake Maninjau
I met up with Coing at 8 the next morning. I deposited my bag with his friend so he could take it all the way to some guesthouse in lake maninjau, which one I didn’t have a clue. It was a friend of coings so I figured sure it will be worth at least a look. We took off down the canyon like before though this time we headed west when we reached the bottom.
The canyon is beautiful, it really is. Last year a 7.8 earthquake hit the region and caused alot of damage as you can imagine to the canyon. Lots of growth from along the sides crumbled into the canyon floor leaving the place a lot more barren than before. We weaved our way through rivers, some so deep I had to toss my bag across to the other side to stop it from getting wet. We climbed up the sides of it, I dunno how I managed to get up some of the embankments they were so slippy. There was the obligatory dazzling array of wildlife as we went, the scenery again I have to say was just something else. You really do feel like you are in a david attenborough documentary at times, you need to pinch yourself to make sure it is real. We turned out of the main canyon into a smaller one, it was really claustrophobic with the canyon walls rubbing both shoulders, after about 200 metres we get to a dead end, a waterfall. Not for coing though, he insisted that we climb up through the waterfall and persevere beyond. After another 500 metres or so, through which you had to weave your way through hanging vines we found the climbing route up to the canyons edge. It was pretty precarious up there, the path was barely the width of my sandles so the going was slow as I tried not to slip over the edge. Everything was so green, greener than green. It broke eventually when we arrived at a tiny rice farming village and stopped for a cup of coffee.
After the rice fields we came across a trio of guys searching for gold in the river bed, we sat down to watch them for a few minutes before bumming a lift on the back of a bike to the local peanut, coffee and suger cane plantations. Coing talked me through the various processes. I got to see first hand the farmer process the sugar cane from scratch to produce loafs of brown sugar. The used a buffalo with coconuts on his eyes to spin a thresher which grinds the juice from the cane. It is then cooked and cooked again then cooled to create the rank looking but lovely tasting loafs. Out on the street, sheets on the ground are covered in coffee beans, gardoman, cinnamon, cloves and peanuts drying in the warm sun. I asked coing how far we were from the sea here, but he didn’t answer. Instead he dragged me right up through the steep sugarcane field, we walked for the guts of a mile before finally emerging at the crest of the hill, the view was stupendous, beautiful. We had reached the volcanos crater edge. We could see the entire volcano, the lake, it was massive. The lake is 17 km long and 8km wide so that should give you some idea of the sheer scale. We rested there for an hour before making our way down to our lodgings for the night in the middle of the jungle.
I really dislike descending in a rain forest, the grips in my sandals are pretty shoddy. And please do note that it is sandals that I am wearing, as I got molested by several leeches on the way down, they are not painful nor dangerous at all but they do make your feet bleed alot and for a long time so are a pure nuisance more than anything else. Plucking them off is not a nice task either. As we approached our lodgings we could hear a bit of a roar, reckon it was 100+ yards away, curiously I asked coing what that was. He told me, matter of factly that its just the Sumatran Tiger!! TIGER??? Panic, fock, Panic some more. A bloody tiger, I didn’t sign up to be tiger meal!!! He reassured me that they keep to themselves, so much so one hasn’t been seen in years, they are only heard. Still I was glad to make it to the lodge house where there was a dutch dude called arnold supping on a beer with his own guide. We all joined up, ate our food and enjoyed a spectacular sunset before settling down to the real business of the night, cards jenga and beer 🙂
I got up the next morning to take in a wonderful view of the lake, it was completely settled so reflected the volcano edge and sky perfectly. Devoured a much needed banana pancake before setting off with coing again. We took a round about way to get down, more leeches and some really nasty nettle like plants which left my ankles still stinging 4 days later. We searched for a waterfall but the jungle was thick plus we heard reports of a group of locals getting attacked by bees in the area the previous day – figured it was best to leave it. So we turned down towards the village, eventually the jungle cleared – much to my relief!! into rice paddies and fish farms. We made it to the lake shore for around 3 in the afternoon in time to catch a ride out to the lodge house where my bag was stowed. It was perfection, hammock heaven along a beautiful volcanic lake perfect for swimming. The owner a guy called Bam Bam, welcomed me and got me settled in. Reckon this will do for a week or so 🙂
All the best,
Phil
Tags: bukittinggi, Indonesia, lake maninjau, sumatra
Phil Gill
Hello Philip, Just got a new computer. Enjoyed reading your blogs. Only took 1 hour to catch up. Some experience you are having. Sounds intrigueing, cant believe its Philip Gill that is going through all that hardship. Talk soon Mam.
Only an hour! Good going… it’ll take me 3 or 4 at this stage…