The volcano of Erta-Ale

"Smoky Mountains" - this is how the name of the volcano Erta Ale is translated from the Ethiopian, but those who saw it with their own eyes prefer to call it less exalted and more specifically - the road to hell. And this is by no means an exaggeration: Erta Ale is one of the few on the planet of permanent volcanoes with regular eruptions and two whole lakes of hot lava "bundled". Such a stormy temperament is not at all surprising: Erta Al is located in the heart of the Afar triangle - a zone of the strongest volcanic activity, where, like billions of years ago, the formation of the Earth's surface continues. However, the infernal conditions of "rest" on Erta Ale do not frighten inveterate travelers: every year thousands of tourists come here to stand on the edge of a red-hot crater, admiring the game of fiery lava lake breaks, wander the black slopes from frozen lava and simply breathe the air of Erta Ale, the temperature Which reaches +50 ° C.

The Erta Ale volcano is located in the northeast of Ethiopia in the remote Afar region of the Danakil Desert, the center of the volcanic activity of East Africa and one of several places on the planet where to this day survived active volcanoes with lava lakes in the crater. Erta Ale is also famous for the fact that there are two such lakes near the volcano - this makes it the only volcano of its kind on Earth. The incessant activity of the volcano has been observed since 1967, before there were several large eruptions, the earliest mention of which dates back to the 1600s. Regular emissions of lava are one of the characteristic features of Erta Ale. Thanks to the volcano pouring out onto the slopes and then solidifying lava, it grows up to 613 m (its base is 75 m below sea level). Caldera - the hollow of the volcano - stretches for 1.6 km at a width of 700 m and includes two lava lakes 350 and 65 m wide.