Spending New Years Eve By The Largest Lava Lake In The World
Hi I'm Danny! I'm travelling around the world! Follow me.
When we booked our trip to the Democratic Republic Of The Congo I knew about the volcano in Virunga National Park, but I had no idea that the lodge we'd be staying in for NYE overlooked Nyiragongo.
Mount Nyiragongo stands over 11,000 ft tall in the Virunga Mountains. Inside the 2km volcanic crater there is a lava lake. This lake has been measured at times to be over 600m deep.
In 2002 Nyiragongo erupted, causing a massive fissure in the volcano to open. The lava flow went right through the city of Goma, and in some places was 1000m wide and 2m deep. The city was split in two - when we drove through Goma on this trip we were driving over this molten rock for miles upon miles. The evidence of its disruption was all around.
Some people that are braver than me choose to stay right on the edge of the Volcano in one of the many lodges that look right into the Volcano.
We climbed a pathway up to the lodge and as we dumped our bags and turned around all we could see was the volcano. We settled down in our seats and as the sun went down the plume of smoke from the lava lake started to glow bright red.
It was such a vivid and surreal experience as this volcanic smoke illuminated the whole sky.
This New Years Eve we didn’t need bars or pubs, we just sat around with a couple bottles of wine, around our fire. It made for an incredible and unforgettable experience.
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nice place :D
Wow, what an amazing place to spend a night! When we went traveling to Africa, we missed DRC but heard lots of awesome stories from people who went there... I think next time, this would be a place to go! Thanks for sharing!:-)
Wow this looks amazing. Awesome shots!
I’d love to go to the Congo but how safe is the Congo? I’ve been to some rougher countries and cities but for some reason thought the Congo would be too dangerous. Am I completely off in thinking this?
These shots are stunning. I may have to consider this in my travels.
Wow, that's amazing. Keep it up!
Really cool travel journal! I do travel photography as well, you can check it out @romanian-abroad . Keep up the good work :)
Very nice pictures! Are u traveling a lot?
Such a shame I haven't been to Africa yet. Are you there right now? How would you rate the safety situation?
That looks perfect!!!
That sounds perfect!!!
Some very cool pics, but not sure about the lava parts 😳 yikes...