I trekked up Ethiopia’s Erte Ale volcano to admire its fine lava.  Formerly there was a lava lake at the summit, but this was disrupted in the January 2017 eruption and the lake drained away. However, it has been replaced by a fresh flow of lava being forced up from below. This lava flows across the crater and then plunges down into a subterranean passage, most likely heading down to the new lower crater.

The lava definitely isn’t “oozing” – it is flowing rapidly like water, with maybe 5 – 10 meters/second flow, with stripes of grey mixing with bright red on the surface and with turbulent eddying, splashing and sloshing at the exit. You get to see the flow through a wide fissure near the floor of the crater, perhaps 50 to 100 meters below. There is a good clear view and it is quite remarkably good fun to sit and watch.


A lot of the fun comes from seeing the turbulent flow, so here are a couple of very short video loops of the lava river in action:

 

It was really fun to sit and watch!

I visited on a private tour with Magma Flow Tours who did a really great job of looking after me and guiding me around both Erte Ale and the Danakil. I strongly recommend them!