TOUR AROUND SUMATERA

Sumatera indeed has something for everyone - lush rainforest, exotic flora and fauna, cascading rivers, sparkling creater lakes, shimmering white sand beaches, and an incredibly diverse array of traditional ethnic groups who inhibit some of the most spectacular volcanic landscapes in the world. It is neither the largest landmass in the Indonesian archipelago (Irian Jaya and Kalimantan are larger), nor the most popuous (Java has three times aas many people), but by most accounts it is the most varied and interesting island to visit.

Sumatera straddles vital waterways at the western end of an immense island chain. It is truly continental in scope.; vast lowland rainforests and coastal wetlands are cut by a network of broad, silt-laden rivers that snake across the island for up 800 km before emptying into the South China Sea. Unlike all the other islands of a similiar scale, however, Sumatera is also volconic - its lofty range of western peaks forming a longitudinal "spine" dotted with lakes and fertile upland valleys.

Sumatera is the fourth largest island in the world after Greeland, New Guinea and Borneo, with a land area of some 473,481 sq km - roughly the size of Spain.

Well over a dozen major ethnic groups live on the island, speaking more than 25 different languages and hundreds of dialects. Sumatera today supports 40 million people -- over 20 percent of Indonesia's population -- with a land area and population density similiar to that of California, though far less urbanized.

Found here are some of Indonesia's most dynamic peoples. The Acehnese of the north are fervent Muslims renowned for their fierce resistance to Dutch rule. The Minangkabau of West Sumatera have migrated throughout Indonesia and today form the economic and intellectual elite in many areas. Sumatera's largest group, the Malays, were the great seafaring traders of Asia in pre-modern times., and their tongue forms the basis for the national languages of Indonesia and Malaysia. Last but not least, the Batak of the northern highlands around Lake Toba are one of the nation's most resourceful and flamboyant groups.