The Stunning South Pagai Island in Mentawai
Mentawai Archipelago is an island in West Sumatra that has many the stunning islands. One of them is South Pagai Island. This island had gone through a terrible disaster in 2007. At that time, there was an earthquake near the island. The earthquake caused coastal uplift, enlarged the islands nearby and even produced 6 new islands. The disaster didn’t stop at this terrible incident. In 2010, another more terrible earthquake occurred and caused tsunami. The tsunami swept the entire island leaving the people homeless. Almost all houses and buildings were severely damaged. The government of South Pagai is trying to rebuild the island up to now. Today, the most densely populate towns in this island are Penempet, Bulasat, Bake, Talopulai and Tapak. The number of population is difficult to estimate because of the lack of infrastructure and communication.
The island lies off the west coast of Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The nearest island of South Pagai is North Pagai. The distance between the two islands is only about 2 km. There are several smaller islands near South Pagai. They are Saumang, Sibigau, Labajau, Pitojetsabeu and Kainangmuri Islands. The island has prominent stream, like Simatobat River and mountain, like Mount Muntai. The mountain stands high above the surrounding island. The steep sloped and local relief of the mountain are 300 m and more.
When visiting the island, you can plan to do various activities. The activities vary from jungle adventure to marine activities. You can do hiking or trekking in beautiful natural forests of the island. While hiking or trekking, you can observe the primates living in the forest, such as macaque. You can also do marine activities such as swimming, snorkeling or diving.
