Virungas National Park - Nyiragongo Volcano

The volcano Nyiragongo looms just north of the city of Goma on Lake Kivi in the eastern part of the Congo	Nyiragongo is the most active volcano in Africa, erupting most recently in January 2002	Virungas National Park has been stuck in the middle of civil war, insurgencies, and a refugee crisis	ICCN, which manages Virungas, provides transfers with armed escort, but at a steep price
The 7.5 km trekking route climbs 1476m to the crater rim at 3470m/11,384ft	Historic map of major eruptions since 1938 including the 2002 lava flows (blue) which destroyed a third of Goma	US$300 permit to climb Nyiragongo and spend the night in one of the 12 cabins on the crater rim	Our lead ranger, Benoit from Kisangani
The southern part of Virungas National Park reopened to tourism in 2015	Cautions at the base of the Nyiragongo Trek	The first section of the trail is a gentle climb of just under an hour through jungle	The first stage of the Nyiragongo Trek climbs from 6500 ft to 7400 ft
The lead guide, Benoit, with another Virgunga ranger	The second stage of the trek crosses the lava field of the January 2002 eruption	While covered with small loose lava rocks, footing is relative stable	Vegetation has recovered from the 2002 eruption
Our group was small, just 7 of us from USA, UK, Nigeria, and South Africa	We had 3 armed rangers on the trek, as well as porters and a cook	Virungas National Park Ranger armed with an AK-47	The second stage climbs to 8300 ft while the third state climbs to 9000 ft
The volcanos Mikeno and Karisimbi on the Rwanda-DRC border	At the beginning of the long 4th stage, the summit of Nyiragongo comes into view	Hazy view of the cities of Goma, Gisenyi and Lake Kivu	The climb intensifies during the fourth stage, a 90 minute trek from 9000 ft to 10,600 ft
The porters bring up the rear...$24 each, they can carry up to 15 kg. Well worth it, and you help the local community	Steep climb of the fourth stage	Around 10,000 ft, the vegetation changes with some rather interesting specimens	Vegetation on the upper slopes of Mount Nyiragongo
Fresh on day 1, I rated the 6 hour climb as moderately difficult	More interesting plants on the upper slopes of Mount Nyiragongo	Vegetation on the upper slopes of Mount Nyiragongo	Fourth stage of the Nyiragongo Trek
Vegetation, Mount Nyragongo	Vegetation, Mount Nyragongo	Vegetation, Mount Nyragongo	Shame that the day wasn't more clear, but the bit of cloud cover probably made the climb a bit easier
Our 7 porters, Mount Nyiragongo	Shaheru crater on the south flank of Nyiragongo seen from the cabins at the top of the 4th stage at 10,600 ft	The shaheru crater filled with lava during the 2002 eruption	Nyiragongo means "that which smokes" in the local language
Our destination, a dozen small cabins on the rim of Nyiragongo at 11,250 ft	The 2002 event was a flank eruption on the south side of the volcano at 2800m (9186ft) that lasted 12 hours	The fast-flowing lava devastated the city of Goma 15 km away, displacing 350,000-400,000 people who mostly fled into Rwanda	Around 170 people were killed in the 2002 eruption and 1/3 of the runway at Goma was covered in lava
The fifth and final stage of the climb, a steep scramble up to the crater's rim	After 6 hours of climbing to cover the 7.5 km track, we reached the crater rim at 11,250 ft	Panorama of the crater rim and summit of Nyiragongo around 1 hour before sunset	Panorama of the camp, Goma, Lake Kivu and the Nyiragongo crater rim
The later afternoon sun through the mix of smoke and cloud on the crater rim of Nyiragongo	Smoke rising from the crater of Nyiragongo mostly obscuring the lava lake	Smoke plume rising from the crater of Nyiragongo	Some of the 12 guest cabins atop Nyiragongo
A raven rests on the crater rim with Lake Kivu in the hazy background	Sunset from the rim camp, Nyiragongo	Nyiragongo crater rim camp	Even on the crater rim, the Virunga Rangers stay vigilent
Interior of one of the small cabins.	Dress warm because it gets very cold on the crater rim at night	Too bad there's not a decent path along the crater rim of Nyiragongo	With patience, the crater lake reveals itself
The interior of the crater has a large flat area at 10,400 ft with a smaller depression containing the lava lake	Mount Nyiragongo contains the world's largest lava lake around 2500 ft below the crater rim	The crater of Nyiragongo is around 1300m in diameter	As evening falls, the molten lava lake becomes more defined
Lake Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, from Nyiragongo	The lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo, June 2017	The bright fissures between the cooler dark crusty surface are in constant motion as the seething lake churns	On this visit, the lake would alternate between totally obscured are various levels of clarity
Wikipedia: "Nyiragongo's lavas are made of melilite nephelinite, an alkali-rich type of volcanic rock"	Zoom in on lava fountains bursting through the surface of the lava lake, a true vision of hell	A pair of visitors silhouetted against the fiery glow of Nyiragongo's molten interior	Next time, I'll bring a drone to fly into the crater for a closer look
Mordor in Africa	When clear, the lava lake resembles a massive bloodshot eye	Zooming in on the active area of the lava lake bubbling away	It's truly an otherworldly place, Nyiragongo
Lava fountains along a fissure crossing nearly the entire lava lake	From Google Earth measurements, I'd estimate the lake to be 200m in diameter	Turblelent volcanic activity within the crater lake of Nyiragongo	Despite the freezing temperatures on the rim, you can feel the heat radiating from inside the crater
The sound emanating from the crater lake is an indescribable din of noise	The lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo is an amazing sight to behold	The trip is incredibly worth it despite the steep charge of $300	It was rare for the entire lake to be clear at once during the evening of my visit
Inspiration for the Eye of Sauraon perhaps	The wind this day was blowing generally from east to west preventing any of the sulfurous odors from reaching the camp	An almost-clear view of the whole lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo	Geyser-like eruptions from the turbulent surface of the lava lake
The ever-changing surface of the lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo	Lava Lake, Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo	I brought my sleeping bag to the crater rim to observe the lake in relative comfort	My tripod broke so I had to balance the camera on the rim with rocks
Lava Lake from the crater rim of Mount Nyiragongo	Lava Lake from the crater rim of Mount Nyiragongo	A wind shift within the crater clears up the west side of the lava lake	Lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo, DRC
The wind shifts again	This experience is truly worth the hardship	Lava lake, Mount Nyiragongo, Virungas National Park	Nearby there is a second active volcano, Nyamuragira, but it is apparently seldom visited
Nyiragongo has erupted at least 34 times since 1882, yet people continue to rebuild in the danger areas	The size and depth of the lava lake varies	The eruption in 1977 drained the lava lake	The activity warning sign in Goma stated condition yellow
Mount Nyiragongo is a large stratovolcano, similar to Mount Fuji and Mount Etna	Lava fountain, Mount Nyiragongo	Worth the wait, a clear view of the entire lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo	Unobscured view of the lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo
From high on the rim, it's difficult to estimate how high these lava fountains shoot up from the lake surface	Active volcanic activity, Mount Nyiragongo	The highly fluid lava of Nyiragongo can flow down the steep slopes at speeds up to 100 km/hr	A portion of the crusted surface of the lava lake breaks apart and a large area of molten lava appears
Around 10 pm, I retired to my cabin for an uncomfortably cold and sleepless night	Foggy morning after a restless night	The $75 food package offered by the national park is expensive but it was nice to have hot meals on the cold rim	IMG_5325.jpg
The descent from the rim began around 6:30 am and took us almost 5 hours	I actually found the descent more difficult than the climb and the next day my thighs were in major pain	We didn't see much wildlife during the trek...	...apart from this guy...who I could have done without!
Rhinoceros viper (Bitis nasicornis), one of three species of puff adders, Virungas National Park	Success! Return to the ranger station at the base of Nyiragongo	IMG_5252.jpg	IMG_5332.jpg