One of our main reasons for going to the Ethiopia was to see the semi-permanent lava lake at night on the Erta Ale. Erta Ale is about 600 meters high and is located near the north east of Ethiopia. It’s actually very close to the law-less country Eritrea. It is notable for holding the longest-existing lava lake, present since the early years of the twentieth century (1906). Volcanoes with lava lakes are very rare: there are only six in the world (Erta Ale, Ethiopia – Ambrym, Vanuatu – Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica – Kīlauea, Big Island, Hawaii [there are actually two in Hawaii: Halemaʻumaʻu and Pu’u O’o craters] – Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo).
The largest one is the Nyiragongo but is now quite dangerous to get to. In addition, the lake is shrinking versus the Erta Ale is actually growing. We could get very close as the top of the lake was about 7 meters from us. During the day the crater is covered by a dark crust and there are irregular explosions. In the next image, you can see how close we can get. We are litteraly at the edge.
Erta Ale lava lake during the day.
Our trip was customized to include two nights on the Erta Ale instead of one. The idea was to give enough time to fully explore the best light.
After sunrise you lose the lava color and the lake is a shiny black.
This image shows you how intense some of the eruptions can be, we were at the base camp, outside of the caldera, when the volcano had a massive eruption. I was taking pictures of the night, the stars and the volcano at the time (the top image was a couple minutes before this one). The eruption was so intense, you can see the top of the hill next to it.
Erta Ale during an intense activity
The movement of the lava and the eruptions are really mesmerizing. I have only spent a couple of hours looking at this lava lake but Guy de St Cyr, the owner of the organization that brought us there, has been there over 50 times and he still can’t stop watching it. The details are fascinating, here are a couple of examples:
Lava explosion
Details of the lava explosion
There is a small crust on top of the lava and when the pressure increases, the crust gets broken up and flips over and melts again. It all starts with small cracks, that become big cracks, that become zebras in the crust.
The lava get broken regularly
This is the image I had in mind before going to the Erta Ale. I was planning to get the lava lake with a small explosion with the stars above it. The first night I could not capture the images, my settings were not correct. The lava was too bright or the lake was too dark. After looking at my images the next morning, I noticed that when the lake is getting quiet after a big explosion the luminosity tend to match the sky. I did also look at the time when I like the color of the night sky. With this information, I knew I had exactly two 15 minutes windows at sunset and at dawn where the things could work. Now I had to hope for some lava activities during the beginning of the windows. Here is one image from each of those two time windows.
Stars and lava lake
Lava explosion at sunrise
At the end of the windows, the sun was already rising and the stars were gone.
Details of the lava explosion
Was it dangerous? Yes and no. Yes this is an active volcano and you should know what you are doing or hire someone who knows what he is doing. For safety, we had gas masks and we could put ourselves in a safe spot relatively quickly. So no, it was not dangerous, I have hired a reputable travel agency that specializes in visiting volcanoes. They have been doing it for over two decades, all over the world. They know the area, they have guides who come here several times a year.
Explorer wearing a gas mask near the lava lake
It’s hard not to be mesmerized by the spectacle
Last image for this trip, sunrise above the Erta Ale. What a spectacle!
Sunrise over the Erta Ale, Ethiopia.
Part 1 of this trip: Danakil depression and Dallol.