Lake Ranau

Danau Ranau covers about a hundred and twenty-five square kilometres in a caldera on the boundary between South Sumatra and Lampung, which makes it the second largest lake in Sumatra after Toba, with the cone of Gunung Seminung standing on the southern shore. It sits at around five hundred metres and the surrounding country is coffee, pepper and paddy. Hot springs come up on the Seminung side and at Pulau Marisa, a small island in the lake, and the water is used for fishing - the mujair and other species are netted and served fried in the shore warungs. It is a domestic destination almost entirely, with cottages and simple guesthouses on the shore and very few foreign visitors, and the roads in from either side are long.

What's there

• Sumatra's second largest lake - a hundred and twenty-five square kilometres in a caldera.
• Gunung Seminung - the cone standing on the southern shore.
• Hot springs - on the volcano side and on the island in the lake.
• Coffee and pepper country - the smallholdings around the shore.

When to go

May to September; drier and clearer. Two days.

Practical notes

The roads in are long and rough from either province. Accommodation is simple and mostly domestic. Facilities and English are limited. There is little organised for visitors.

Nearby

Mount Dempo is north-west; Liwa and Bukit Barisan Selatan are south.

Key facts