Trip to Tanna Part 2 and Mighty Mt Yasur

I have just returned from dinner which was preceded by a coup le of shells of kava at the Felix Nakamal (Bislama for kava bar) on the Second Lagoon in Port Vila. Felix is known as an expat nakamal principally because they serve beer and food. The kava was quite good as far as kava goes. Two shells was probably my limit although I know of locals, white men as they are referred to, who manage up to five shells in one session. I don't think I would be able to turn the computer on let alone write a few words if I had had five shells beforedinner and coming home tonight. The perfect combination for me is kava and a beer chaser and tonight it was Tusker beer. But I digress as this post is really about the second half of the trip in Tanna and more specifically the visit to (Mighty) Mt Yasur, I say mighty as it is the most accessible active volcano in the world and although I usually eschew cliches, a visit to Mt Yasur is truly amazing and an opportunity to see nature at its most powerful.

In the previous post I talked about the trip from Whitegrass International Airport in Lenekal to Mt Yasur along the unsealed road. Well at a certain point we turned off that road and headed along iomething even more basic and finally drove up the side of the volcano for about 300 metres. There we had to exit the vehicle and make the climb (about 1 km) to the rim of the volcano. In this picture (below) I stopped at the base of the walkway to post a couple of postcards. I can't remember who I sent them to so if you recieve a postcard this year (judging by the speed of Vanuatu Post) it came from this very postbox. Oh and I forgot to mention that owing to the late onset of the kava effects I cannot be held responsible for the lucidity of this post.



There are two crazy postboxes in Vanuatu - one underneath the water at Hideaway Island and this one on Mt Yasur just before the walkway leading up to the rim of the volcano.



As you can see in the picture above I am wearing a raincoat, I also had a torch. The climb to the rim of the volcano is quite steep and high and windy. I would recommend sturdy footwear and a raincoat regardless of the time of year. As you walk up the ash hill that is Mt Yasur nothing prepares you for your first experien\ce of erupting volcano. When it first went off I think I was about 200 metres from the crater's edge and this is the first picture I took. I think the drop in the volcano edge gives you some idea how close I was to the crater and how steep the edges were all around the crater. Fortunately, Sam was as good a guide as he was driver and he was on hand to guide me all the way to the viewing area which was another couple of hundred metres from this spot. I was standing there thinking to myself this is pretty impressive and then all of a sudden there was this enormous bang, the earth (or volcano to be exact) under my feet shuddered and a spew of red hot lava shot into the air - right in front of me. I can't describe the feeling or impression accurately but it is still quite vivid in my imagination...

Mt Yasur about to erupt, almost on cue as I arrived to look down into the crater

The quality of this picture is not fantastic but it gives you some idea of the red hot lava shooting into the air. We arrived in daylight about 17:30 and had about one hour of daylight to enjoy the volcanic fireworks before the sun set and then the show really began. We stayed until 19:00 and then left partly because Sam wanted to beat the traffic so to speak and get a head start on the five other vehicles parked at the base of the volcano. I remembered the section of the road earlier where we emptied the vehicle to get past and I thought just as well only three of us were returning but I was still a little concerned we would not make it up that particular hill. As it was Sam floored for about 300 metres before the hill and we slid and swayed all the way up the hill and made it in one piece.

Another eruption from Mt Yasur, by this time I was standing directly above the crater; frightening but fascinating at the same time

I think the picture on the left is one of the best I took while standing above the crater. I can't describe the noise accurately but is was like a low grumble and then an enormous bang followed by complete silence as the hot lava fell to the ground or back into the crater. When it was dark I watched one piece of lava shoot high into the sky and fall slowly and gracefully and hit the ground, not far from us, with a dull thud. It looked the size of a car wheel, I have no idea what injury it would have caused if the wind was blowing in our direction and it landed among the 15 or so spectators gathered around the edge of the volcano.

I can't see what the picture above is as the internet has just dropped out (for the umpteenth time this evening) but I think it is another shot of an eruption. The volcano erupted more than 20 times while I was there and each time it was different in terms of colour and movement, ash cloud and sulphur cloud, noise and spectacular lava shooting into the air. As the sun set and it become dark you could see the second crater glowing menacingly in the background and then all of a sudden it too erupted and we received two for the price of one with both craters erupting in unison - now that was spectacular. I was particularly taken by the colour of the glow around the very edges of each crater - more like a hot orange than a red glow - and I can only imagine the temperature down in the crater if it can melt whatever it melts (showing my geological ignorance I know) and then spew it into the air. I feel another cliche coming on.

Anyway the kava is taking its effect and so it's time for bed. I will leave you with one more picture, here I am standing at the top of the outer crater - you can see how high it is by looking at the landscape in the background. The ground is ash that is firm to walk on but the edges are very steep and I thought it was safer to remain standing rather than sit and run the risk of sliding down the front or back of the outer crater. Next post will be boring by comparison - a few of my favourite things in Vanautu.

Standing on the "viewing deck" at Mt Yasur, as you can see the OHS police haven't ruined this attraction with myriad fences and safety controls. The drop to my left is about 90 metres at the base of which is a small plateau and then...the crater.