Erta Ale Volcano

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Hidden On: 06 Dec 2002
Waypoint (Landmark): N00473
Open Cache:  Personal use only
Cache type:  Normal
Cache size:   Large

Difficulty:  (hard)
Terrain:  (hard)

Misc:

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Erta Ale Volcano Geocache

Inside the Danakil desert, the 600-meter shield volcano Erta Ale has a crater with a lava lake.

In December 2002, the VEI Expedition reached the place and stayed for five days.

Ethiopia's first Geocache!

Erta Ale volcano geocache is Ethiopia's first geocache!

Not made for the comfort-seeking tourist, you need to get into the world's hottest desert, travel among armed Afar nomad people who are at gunpoint with the ethiopian army and master volcanic territory.

Erta Ale is a shield volcano, part of the East African rift system. In its vast summit caldera there are two pit craters. The smaller crater (140m dia and 60-90m deep) now has an active lava lake. Even now, after the end of the war, the Erta Ale range remains one of the most inaccessible places on earth. There are no roads and temperatures are extremely high. The tribe living there, the Afar people, are proud and strong warriors, often hostile to foreigners.

Getting to Erta Ale is not easy - just to reach the volcano is a test of endurance. The volcano is situated at the bottom of the Danakil Depression, generally considered to be one of the most inhospitable regions on earth, a valley floor 130 m below sea level. The climatic conditions are terrible, with record temperatures 56°C in the shade, but with no shade to be found there.

The lava lake is permanently stirred by fountains of lava and the skin that covers it in some cooler spots makes it seem alive. The lava of Erta Ale is basaltic, which remains molten at 1100°C. The lava lake has a surface area of 4 000 sq m, so the thermal radiation is intense. To lean over the crater without protection is out of the question. Just to have a quick look, one must position gloved hands in front of the face. Aluminium, fire-proof clothing Nomex is a must. To protect the eyes, a sheet of polished gold must be used; it is only few microns thick and so see-through.

With this armour one can at last approach the edge and take some time to admire the view. The surface of the lake is covered in a layer of cooler lava, floating on the molten core like the skin on milk. The lake is moving - a current ripples the lava and makes the skin undulate. This current originates in a fountain spraying molten lava brewed by the high temperature gas that it emits. The skin is black in the shade, and as brilliant as silver in the sun. The fountain is scarlet, becoming orange as its temperature rises. The flow of the lava tears the skin into a huge panels separated by fissures through which lava shows red. Bubbles of gas regularly break the surface of the lake, popping the elastic skin with spurts and incandescent jets. A real volcanologic adventure!

Location

The cache is inside a lava tunnel in safe distance to the pit crater, covered with pieces of broken lava tunnel ceiling.

Contents

The cache contains 2 canisters with 20 liters of treated water, a shovel, a large plastic tarp and several small items useful in a desert camp

Clues:    decode

• In the Caldera 
  
  
  Ybbx ng gur jrfgrea pnyqren jnyy pybfr gb n uhtr ebpx snyy>,?C.

Pictures:

 The Caldera

 The Lava Lake

 The Lava Tunnel with the cache