Sumatera, Indonesia

Sumatra (Indonesian: Sumatera) is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. 

Sumatra forms an elongated landmass spanned diagonal northwest — southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders the west, northwest and southwest sides of Sumatra with the island chain of Simeulue, Nias and Mentawai bordering along the southwestern coast. On the northeast side the narrow Strait of Malacca separates the island from Malay Peninsula, an extension of Eurasian continent. On the southeast the narrow Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java. The northern tip of Sumatra borders the Andaman islands, while on the lower eastern side are the islands of Bangka and Belitung, Karimata Strait and the Java Sea. The Bukit Barisan mountains, which contain several active volcanoes, forms the backbone of the island, while the northeast sides are outlying lowlands with swamps, mangrove and complex river systems. The equator crosses the island at its center on West Sumatra and Riau provinces. The climate of the island is tropical, hot and humid with lush tropical rain forest originally dominating the landscape.

Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit names of Swarnadwīpa ("Island of Gold") and Swarnabhūmi ("Land of Gold"), because of the gold deposits of the island's highland. The first word mentioning the name of Sumatra was the name of Srivijayan Haji (king) Sumatrabhumi ("King of the land of Sumatra"), who sent an envoy to China in 1017. 

Lake Toba is a lake and supervolcano. The lake is 100 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and 505 metres at its deepest point. It is located in the middle of the northern part of Sumatra. It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. Lake Toba is the site of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred an estimated 69,000 to 77,000 years ago, a massive, climate-changing event. It is the largest known explosive eruption anywhere on Earth in the last 25 million years.

Samosir Island, is a large volcanic island in Lake Toba, located in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. At 630 km², Samosir is the largest island within an island, and the fifth largest lake island in the world

Another island in Lake Toba as seen from Samosir Island.

Extremely dense clouds over the island. 

 Rice cultivation on the island.

 The ferry ride from Parapat to Samosir Island.

Mount Sibayak is a small stratovolcano overlooking the town of Berastagi in northern Sumatra, Indonesia.

Text References:

www.wikipedia.org

- Ashwath