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20-24 Sep 2017: Sinabung Volcano Special - Sumatra (Indonesia)
20-25 Sep 2017: Sinabung Volcano Special - Sumatra (Indonesia)
23-28 Sep 2017: Aegean's Hidden Gem: Isle of Milos - Milos Island (Greece)
1-16 Oct 2017: From Krakatau to Bali - Java (Indonesia)
7-14 Oct 2017: Pearl of the Aegean - Santorini - Santorini Island, Greece
16-19 Oct 2017: Indonesia Specials - Java-Komodo-Bali (Indonesia)
14-27 Nov 2017: Expedition Papua - Papua New Guinea
23 Dec 17 - 5 Jan 2018: Desert, salt and volcanoes - Danakil desert (Ethiopia)
30 Dec 17 - 6 Jan 2018: Nyiragongo Lava Lake & Mountain Gorillas - DR Congo + Rwanda
13-26 Jan 2018: Desert, salt and volcanoes - Danakil desert (Ethiopia)
: spaces available / : guaranteed / : few spaces left / : booked out
 
Random pictures
Erta Ale + Dallol expedition Nov-Dec 2010 - photos:
VolcanoDiscovery stayed on Erta Ale between 25 and 28 November. We were surprised to find the south crater filled with fresh flows, and the lava lake overflowing onto the caldera. The following photos, arranged in chronological order, give an impression of the activity and the changes of the lava lake in the south crater. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Erta Ale volcano Nov 2010: overflowing lava lake (32 Images)
Bas bubbles bursting on the surface of the lava lake. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Erta Ale volcano Nov 2010: lava fountains (32 Images)
Erta Ale volcano Nov 2010: lava colors (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Erta Ale volcano Nov 2010: lava colors (34 Images)
Expedition photos taken during late Nov 2010 when we stayed 3 days on the crater of Erta Ale volcano in the Danakil desert. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Erta Ale volcano Nov 2010: people on the volcano (16 Images)
Yellow sulfur ponds, green acid lakes, towers, salt geysers, black and red salts - Dallol is perhaps the most alien and bizarre landscape on earth! (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Dallol Dec 2010: bizarre landscapes (95 Images)
Dallol Dec 2010: the grand salt lake (Lake Assale) (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Dallol Dec 2010: the grand salt lake (Lake Assale) (24 Images)
Danakil expedition Nov-Dec 2010: Rift Valley & Danakil desert (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Danakil expedition Nov-Dec 2010: Rift Valley & Danakil desert (52 Images)
Photos taken between Addis Ababa, the Danakil desert and Mekele town Nov-Dec 2010. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Danakil expedition Nov-Dec 2010: tour photos (74 Images)
Erta Ale volcano (Ethiopia):
Impressions from our February 2015 expedition into the Danakil desert in Ethiopia with Erta Ale volcano and Dallol hydrothermal deposits & springs as highlights - a selection of tour photos by Dietmar Berendes. (Photo: Dietmar)
February 2015 tour photos: Desert, salt and volcanoes by Dietmar Berendes (90 Images)
Desert, Salt & Volcanoes November 2011: Erta Ale and Dallol photos by Reinhard Radke (Photo: Reinhard Radke)
Desert, Salt & Volcanoes November 2011: Erta Ale and Dallol photos by Reinhard Radke (6 Images)
One of the participants of our latest Expedition to Erta Ale & Dallol, Domini Voegtli from Switzerland, kindly shared the following pictures with us. They show that the level of Erta Ale's active lava lake in the south pit crater has risen considerably during recent months. Photos copyright: Dominik Voegtli (dominik DOT p DOT voegtli AT mail DOT com) (Photo: Dominik Voegtli)
Erta Ale volcano, Ethiopia - the lava lake in Dec 2013 (10 Images)
The first of our Danakil expeditions of the 2016-2017 winter season turned out to be an unexpected success - not only because of the flawless logistics and organisation or the friendliness with which local Ethiopians welcome international travelers, but also thanks to the very high activity at Erta Ale and Dallol! At Erta Ale, the lava lake has been overflowing multiple times a day, sometimes even continuously, constructing a large new area of fresh pahoehoe lava flows on the caldera floor. Our main guide and organiser, Ethiopian geologist Enku, has been regularly visiting this location but never saw it this active and impressive in his 20 years experience. And also Dallol seems to have stepped up its game: after the slow drying out and shrinking of the hydrothermal activity at this unique location between 2010 and 2015, last year´s rains had transformed it back to is former colourful and fascinating self - and this active area is still growing even in the past few weeks. Below we gladly share with you a number of images that our participants Hans en Jooske kindly send us days after returning home from their Danakil volcano adventure. (Photo: Hans and Jooske)
November 2016 tour photos: Erta Ale & Dallol by Hans en Jooske (19 Images)
Our guest Jens-Wolfram E. who participated (for his second time!) in the most recent Danakil expedition, although still traveling, sent us a first selection of "fresh images" from both Erta Ale and Dallol: (Photo: Jens-Wolfram Erben)
Erta Ale volcano + Dallol hydrothermal field Dec 2016 - Jan 2017 impressions (8 Images)
Paul Reichert who took part in one of our latest Volcano Specials in January 2017 was lucky to witness one of Erta Ale volcano's most spectacular and intense eruptive phases in decades. A surge of magma from depth (probably a small rifting episode) caused the lava lake in the southern pit crater of the caldera to overflow, build up a broad shield, before it collapsed, following the draining of the lake through a system of flank fissures 2-4 km downhill from 21 Jan - a mere day after Paul and his group had left. The following is a selection of pictures of Paul, in approximate chronological order and annotated using the valuable field reports by Richard and our geologist expedition leader Enku who, along with Paul, were lucky enough to see this once-in-a-lifetime event. A big thank you goes to all of the three for sharing their information and images! Watch the videos: 16 Jan | 17 Jan | 18-19 Jan (Photo: Paul Reichert)
Erta Ale volcano (Ethiopia): overflowing lava lake 16-19 Jan 2017 (56 Images)
Subsets:
Dallol volcano (Danakil desert, Ethiopia):
Yellow sulfur ponds, green acid lakes, towers, salt geysers, black and red salts - Dallol is perhaps the most alien and bizarre landscape on earth! (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Dallol Dec 2010: bizarre landscapes (95 Images)
Dallol Dec 2010: the grand salt lake (Lake Assale) (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Dallol Dec 2010: the grand salt lake (Lake Assale) (24 Images)
Dallol Dec 2010: ghost town & potash factory (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Dallol Dec 2010: ghost town & potash factory (16 Images)
Selection of photographs taken on the 23rd of November 2015 during our first Danakil volcano expedition of this winter season! Image credits to Jim Keir, who participated on this tour and kindly shared these images with us. (Jim´s Ethiopia 2015 gallery) It seems that this phenomenal hydrothermal system is increasingly becoming drier (more shades of yellow-orange-brown and less green colours) in comparison to the photographs taken in December 2010 following a particularly rainy period. What could be causing this gradual ´´dehydration´´ of the Dallol hot springs? Despite the fact there are currently 3 companies which will be extracting groundwater for the mining of potash from the local salts (used as fertiliser), neither one of them has actually started the production phase of their mining activities. So it is unlikely that they are the (main) reason for the slowly drying out of the Dallol hydrothermal field. A conversation with the chief of the local Afar village of Hamadela, discussing the influence of growing tourist numbers on his people and their ways of living, brought to light the area´s staggering drought problem. Whereas 18 months is the longest time span within his life (ca 45 years) over which there was no rain falling in the Dallol area, there has now been no rain for over 50 months... The fact that the only influx of water over the past 4 years has been rain run-off from the surrounding plateaus into the Dallol depression, instead of locally falling rain, therefore seems to be a more likely cause. After all, the colourful Dallol hotsprings have only been regularly visited and photographed over the past decade, so not a lot is known about the hydrothermal system´s long term life cycles and changes. Careful monitoring will hopefully result in a better understanding of this hydrothermal system so that it can be preserved as well as possible for future generations. (Photo: jimkeir)
Danakil expedition Nov 2015 - Dallol photos by Jim Keir) (44 Images)

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