Active volcanoes

Réunion's most famous - and only active - volcano is Piton de la Fournaise. Every second year or so it erupts, but it's impossible to predict. The outer crater is easy accessible, as you can drive all the way to the car park and viewpoint at Pas de Bellecombe (2311 m). The road is winding and narrow, but otherwise in good condition except for the last 4 km, which is a dirt road across an eeri moonscape. In the non-active periods it's possible to hike across the bottom of the outer crater and up to the viewpoint Balcon du Dolomieu (5 h return). During eruptions it's possible to see the spewing lava and lava flow either from the distance from the car park at Pas de Bellecombe or get closeup by walking along the outer rim to the viewpoint at Piton Kapor (3h return). If the volcano is erupting, come in the early afternoon, bring warm clothes and expect traffic jams up to the car park at Pas de Bellecombe.

The towering, oft-smoking Klyuchevskaya Sopka is the Northern Hemisphere's tallest active volcano (4,750 m). You might therefore expect the nearby village of Klyuchi to be at least slightly geared towards tourism. Not so. This collection of wooden cottages and dirt lanes is situated inside a closed area requiring a permit to enter and has not a single hotel, although a vulcanologist who has lived and worked here for over 35 years has a couple of dormitory rooms he rents out to the odd traveller that passes through. From the village there is a track leading to a vulcanologists' cabin at the base of the volcano. In winter you will probably need skis or a snowmobile to reach it though and in summer there are lots of bears in the area, so watch out! One bus a day makes the ten-hour journey to Klyuchi from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky along a road that starts off as low quality asphalt before petering out into a dirt track. On the way there is a river with no bridge: in winter the bus drives across the ice, in summer there is a ferry and for a while in spring and autumn neither bus nor ferry can cross!

Wow! Standing on the rim of an active volcano when it suddenly erupts aggressively is a not-to-be-missed experience in life - that is, if you survive the flying lava. Mt. Yasur on Tanna island is the perfect volcano for that. It is active big time and the crater can easily be reached by foot or even 4WD. At daytime, it is a rather impressive sight with smoke, bangs and flying rocks heading for the sky, but it is nothing compared to the real show at night time. Red hot lava is thrown into the air, changing shape, and landing (hopefully) on the inner side of the crater. If the activity is not too intense, you can even climb the higher rim on both sides of the greater crater and look straight down into the flaming center (there are four crates within the one volcano). Tourists have been killed by venturing too close, so listen to any advice from the locals.