The beauty of New Zealand at Lake Toba Coastline

Who has not heard about the beauty of Lake Toba which is one of the priority tourist destinations of Indonesia. However, who would have thought that there is a village as beautiful as New Zealand along the Lake Toba coastline.

Green landscapes, hills with cool air and the view of Toba Lake from small hills at the Meat Village, Tampahan District, Toba Regency of North Sumatera.

The Meat Village which is nearly 300 years old, is one of the villages with extraordinary natural beauty. The village under the community development program of PT Inalum (Persero), Member of MIND ID, the State-Owned Enterprise Holding for the Mining Industry, is located under the hilly landscape with about 900 people living on more than 300 hectares of land.

Meat Village people are fishermen and ulos (traditional cloth) weavers. Not only that, the Batak traditional houses which villagers live in, are the unique characteristics of the village.

It takes 30 minutes of driving in four-wheeled vehicles to get to the village. It is not far from the Sisimangaraja XII or Silangit International Airport, currently projected to become the arrival and departure of tourists who want to visit Lake Toba.

The road is not wide, however, during the journey towards Meat Village, we can see green rice fields, nearby villages amidst the background of hills. The green hills, and the terraced rice fields as well as the Toba Lake landscape give Meat Village extraordinary views that are equally beautiful compared to New Zealand.

The Meat Village is one of the tourist sites which has been declared and entered as the super priority site by the Toba Administration and approved by the central government as one of the tourist development zones in Toba Lake.

Meat Village is also one of the locations for the “1000 Caldera Tents” annual event which is one of the community-based festivals aimed at promoting tourism through arts and culture.

Inalum implements a community development program at Meat Village to support tourism. Inalum and the local people have initiated a dancing studio to train Meat Village children to preserve the Batak culture.

Head of the Rumah Karya Indonesia, Ojak Manulu, explained that a culture which needs to be protected by the Meat villagers is the Sipitu Cawan dance. This dance has been handed down from generation to generation of Batak people. Wearing the ulos which is woven by themselves giving it special characteristics, the Meat villagers believe that this dance is a cultural heritage and one of the rituals to be preserved.

“The sipitu cawan dance aims at cleansing matters which are not right and not correct, and to pave the right way,” said Ojak.

Aside from dances, the Meat Village people are also weavers of the ulos cloth and sarongs. One of the weavers, Hertati, said that she entered the sarong weaving group at Meat Village, making sarongs such as Sibolang Rastra, Maulana Tarutung, Tobu-tobu and other types of sarongs.

“Sarongs are different than ulos, as ulos is specifically used for traditional ceremonies. Sarongs, however, can be used by the young, old, also to wear to church, attend traditional ceremonies,” she explained.

Meat Village Head, Janri Simanjuntak, also described the villagers as very protective of Batak traditions. Aside from protecting the mandate of ancestors, the Batak culture needs to be preserved, moreover, this is a promising tourism potential.”

“That includes weavers, traditional houses, together to promote tourism, both are still strong. That is why we are also in the process of creating homestays to support our guests,” said Janri.

Aside from promoting arts and culture, Inalum also established creative rooms and reading corners for village children. The program, which began in December 2019 to March 2020, is in collaboration with Rumah Karya Indonesia, to create a center of creation, reading and preservation of cultural values.

“We extend our appreciation to Inalum who has assisted us in preserving our culture, while at the same time, promoting tourism in Meat,” said Janri.

Janri hopes that the traditional community’s efforts to preserve culture and wealth of the Batak tradition will keep alive their ancestral heritage. Also, to maintain culture as one of the assets to develop Meat Village in future.