Spectacular Diwali Fireworks & Ertale Volcano 🌋

Happy Diwali to everyone celebrating!! 🎉❤️

This is the Ertale Volcano, in the Danakil Depression of the Afar Region of Ethiopia.

We hiked this volcano three times and we saw three different sights. The first time when we climbed there was nothing. Just old frozen black lava. It didn’t seem like there was any volcanic activity at all. I absolutely love volcanoes and this was the one I was really really looking forward to. Disappointed, we came down to our campsite and sat down for dinner.
Just as we were finishing dinner, we heard an explosion and we all looked at Volcano Man (our super enthusiastic guide)- who sprang up and started running screaming “get the drone out!!!”. The whole sky had turned red and we watched as the volcanic fumes rose up. We sent the drone up and sure enough, the volcanic lava was trickling down making patterns on the ground of a heart with sinews and veins. It’s a sight I’ll never forget.
We immediately wore our shoes and almost ran up the hill facing the volcano. I’ve never seen a spectacle such as this. It looked like a city lit up with firecrackers from up there. The majestic volcano right in the middle with lava gushing out and flowing into cracks, forging its way through the crevices.
We climbed the volcano a third time in the morning, and it was like nothing had happened the day before. The lava was black and was starting to harden already.
I’m grateful for a lot of things in life. But being there at that moment to witness the volcano explode and the magic unfold has got to be right up there. @juhisheth and I have some craaaazy brilliant luck we were told. Tourists very rarely get to experience an explosion. They usually see the remnants post the explosion. And to experience this on the Ethiopian New Years- cannot cannnnootttt get better than this. 🙏🏽
With Aspire Ethiopia Tours ❤️