Ethiopia: Erta Ale Volcano – Lava Lake at Sunrise
You sleep on the rim of Erta Ale’s crater, about 300 meters away from the lava lake. It’s windy, cold, plus you are in the middle of nowhere (where 5 tourists were kidnapped and killed in 2012). You make up at 5am and go back to the lava lake for the sunrise. As the sky gets brighter, you see more of the crater and it’s walls, although the lava color gets dimmer. An amazing experience all around and definitely one of a lifetime! Notice what looks like hair on the rim of the lava lake crater – this is what’s called “Pele’s hair” – thin glass-like pyroclastic matter that is ejected with the lava eruption. I was probably breathing that junk in all night…
