Dem Rep of Congo: Virunga NP – Nyaragongo Lava Lake

Nyrangongo is an active stratovolcano at 3470 m (11382 ft) high with a permanent lava lake on top. The volcano has erupted 35 times in the last 150 years. The lake varies in size and depth – it was 600 meters (almost 2K feet deep) in 1977 before a massive eruption. It reached a large size in 2002 again when the volcano erupted through a side vent and lava flowed 15km to destroy half the city of Goma. The lava flowed at over 60 mph! You can see the varying sizes as cooled lava benches beneath the rim walls – one at 3,175 m (10,417 ft) and another at about 2,975 m (9,760 ft). The size of the lake is near its lower limits now, but it’s still an insanely spectacular sight in the evening as darkness falls, in the middle of the night when the entire sky is lit red, and with the first rays of sunrise when the sun is dirty red behind the volcano’s toxic fumes. The lava bubbles, explodes, moves around the lake, and releases massive amounts of smoke.