Volcano National Park

The landscape of Volcano National Park is quite amazing. The ground looks as though it has beens scorched black. We drove along one road only to be halted by barriers before the end. Lava flows had crossed the road simply consuming it and everything around it. Not even a four wheel drive vehicle would be of any help here. The black lava rock is smooth in some places, viciously sharp in others, somtimes easy to traverse on foot, sometimes almost impossible, but always absolutely fascinating to look at and to photograph. I may have taken a few too many pictures of this extraordinary landscape - 'oh look! Another black rock' - but capturing the feel of the park is almost impossible. 

The main sight here is the active crater. You are allowed no closer than the viewing platform at the Jaggar museum, but it's an amazing sight - huge steam clouds billowing out miles into the sky. Well worth the visit. Although the current eruption has been going since 1983, there is no real place from which hot flowing lava can be seen. However at one point it is possible to walk through a lava tube - a huge tunnel carved through the solid rock through which molten lava ran as it made its way down the mountain and out into the sea.   

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