COVERING an area of over 1,700 square kilometers, Lake Toba is the largest lake in Southeast Asia and one of the deepest (450 meters) in the world. The mythical homeland of the Batak people, this magnificent body of water was formed as a result of a mammoth volcanic explosion, believed to be the greatest in the planets history. So mighty was this titanic eruption, it is thought that a veil of incandescent ash wrapped around the earth, plunging it