Weekuri Lake, Angel's Lagoon in Sumba

Saya ingat cerita dari teman saya yang datang ke pameran travel di salah satu mall di Jakarta. Saat itu MC sedang mempromosikan salah satu destinasi wisata di luar Indonesia, namun bukannya fokus pada keindahan destinasi yang ia promosikan, MC itu malah menjelek-jelekan negara ini sendiri. "Danau di Indonesia keruh, coklat dan hanya satu warna," ujarnya.

Tolol. Idiot. Bego.

Ini blog saya jadi saya bisa menulis tanpa sensor. Thank God for that. Orang idiot macam apakah yang bisa berkata demikian? bahwa Indonesia tidak punya danau indah, danau di Indonesia warnanya coklat, satu warna?

 

Sentani lake in Papua, yes it is one color but is it look like brown? nope

Marah? Pasti, saya marah cukup panjang di sosial media kepada travel agent yang menggunakan jasa MC tersebut, tapi tidak mendapat respon. Namun lama kelamaan mungkin sebaiknya kita mengasihani MC tersebut, bukan marah kepadanya. Kenapa? Dia pasti tidak pernah keliling Indonesia sedikitpun, tidak pernah melihat keindahan Indonesia dan danau-danau di Indonesia yang begitu mempesona.

Habema lake in Papua, maybe it's too blue to meet her expectation

Ia terkurung di dalam box nya sendiri tanpa pernah membuka mata dan melihat Indonesia itu indah. Yes, indah tanpa koma, tanpa titik karena saya dapat terus berkeliling dan bercerita tentang Indonesia tanpa habisnya.

Danau Weekuri "sayangnya" tidak keruh, coklat dan satu warna seperti ujar MC tersebut. Datanglah ke Kodi Utara di Sumba Barat Daya, Nusa Tenggara Timur entah di saat pagi, ataupun sore hari. Weekuri mempesona di jam berapapun kedatangan anda, kecuali saat malam tentunya. No need further explanation ;)

Terletak 60 kilometer dari Tambolaka, Sumba Barat Daya, perlu sekitar dua jam untuk sampai ke Weekuri. Saya dan teman-teman berangkat dari subuh untuk mendapatkan pagi hari di Weekuri dan inilah hasilnya.

The colors of the lake is just mesmerizing!

love it when the sun splash hit the lake :)

Saat matahari mulai bersinar warna danau mulai terlihat, sangat jernih dan terdapat beberapa kombinasi warna karena perbedaan kedalaman dan kontur di danau.

Weekuri dikelilingi tebing karang yang langsung bersebelahan dengan laut. Air di danau ini payau, campuran air laut yang masuk dari celah-celah tebing dengan air tawar dari mata air sehingga jika anda berenang di sini akan terasa kombinasi hangat dan dingin di beberapa area danau, thermocline.

Air danau sangat jernih sehingga saya dapat melihat jelas pasir putih di dasar, ataupun batuan yang membuat "corak" di Danau Weekuri.

View from the top

these view are just relaxing!

sea at the left and lake on the right side.

Dari danau, kami menuju tebing yang mengelilingi danau. Kami naik ke area yang bersebelahan dengan laut dan dari sini Danau Weekuri terlihat jelas. Kombinasi danau dan tebing karang serta kehijauan membuat laguna yang sangat indah. Saya rasa malaikat akan senang bermain di danau ini, it's a paradise indeed. Dan sekali lagi, saya kasihan dengan mereka yang berpikiran bahwa Indonesia tidak punya danau yang indah..

@marischkaprue - spectator of how beautiful lakes in Indonesia are..

 NOTES:

• Danau Weekuri terletak di Kodi Utara, Sumba Barat Daya, Sumba. 
• Untuk menuju ke Danau Weekuri, perjalanan dari Tambolaka, Sumba Barat Daya sekitar 2 jam perjalanan dengan mobil atau motor.
• Harga tiket Jakarta - Tambolaka PP sekitar Rp. 3.000.000,-
• Rental mobil di Tambolaka, hub Sinar Tambolaka +62387 2524086

More about Sumba:

• Tarimbang Beach, East Sumba

 See more beautiful lakes in Indonesia:

• Sentani Lake, Hot Like Heaven
• Fell in Love with The Habema Lake
• Kakaban Stingless Jellyfish Lake

• Making Fun Photos at Kakaban Stingless Jellyfish Lake
• Ijen, When You Think Your Life Is Hard
• Telaga Biru, Dangerously Beautiful Blue Lake in Papua

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Telaga Biru, Dangerously Beautiful Blue Lake

One day an old man said to me "What seems beautiful usually dangerous," well this is actually true in some ways and in nature. Lets not talk about how dangerous a beautiful woman is that she might took logic out of man's head, I'm talking about dangerously beautiful things in nature.

So in my trip to Wamena, Papua, we went to the beautiful lake in Maima District. I should’ve prepared my trekking shoes since the trek is not friendly for my flat shoes. It was muddy, we must carved a way though trees and coppices for about an hour.

This sight is just truly beautiful!

Then I saw a beautiful beautiful blue river. "We're not arrived yet," the guide said. I heard her but still, this view is just mesmerizing. A small bridge with blue water, it just perfectly combined frame.

Then we moved on, walking about 10 more minutes then we arrived. Light green bluish lake, surrounded by trees and hills as its background. This breath taking view stunned me for a while and then I saw the crystal clear blue water and washed my dirty feet there.

"I really wanna jump there right now" I said that while looking at the blue lake. But well, actually it was forbidden, even what I've done which was washing my feet is also forbidden. "Nobody swim there," the locals said.

The lake is more green than the river

"Telaga Biru" or the blue lake, that’s what the locals called this green lake, is a sacred place for people in Wamena. They believe this is where their ancestors came for the first time.

This kind of color on the lake usually came from algae, the green blue color came from cyanophyceae, one of the microscopic bacteria that are photosynthetic and occur naturally in the surface of water, make the water look green blue, as in Telaga Biru.

Well one thing I didn't aware is that these algae might be quite dangerous. Some species might produce toxin and can be dangerous when exposed to human body.

Then I tried to connect the dot with the local beliefs. It might be because of some local long time ago went swimming here and exposed to toxins, the locals with their lack of scientific knowledge would accept it as superstitious power that forbid the them to touch the water, then the lake became sacred.

It was my own theory; of course I won't debate the local beliefs. For me, traditional beliefs are as important as religion, it put people in order and sometimes, we should be scared then we can obey. Consider if they don't believe this lake is sacred, maybe a lot of people and tourist might swim and exposed to toxins.

The lake is behind me, okay, no better spot to pose I can find :)

Now I think too much and distract you from enjoying the true beauty. This lake is a perfect example of what the old man say. Beautiful but dangerous (might be, no further research as far as I know held in this place) and one more thing, my feet, despite had exposed to the water and algae, is fine until now :)

@marischkaprue - traveler with healthy explorer feet

Thanks to:

Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Republic of Indonesia for this amazing trip. 

NOTES:

• Akan jauh lebih menarik jika mengunjungi Wamena dan sekitarnya di saat Festival Lembah Baliem. Tahun ini Festival Lembah Baliem dilakukan di tanggal 12 Agustus - 15 Agustus 2013.
• It would be way more interesting to visit Wamena and Baliem during the Baliem Valley Festival. This year the festival will be held on 12 August until 15 August 2013.

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• Avatar World in Wamena 
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