he ground shakes. Suddenly, it cracks open.


T e crack is right under my camera gear. I grab my gear just in time! Moments later, hot lava shoots out of the crack. It flies into the air and lands with a splatter. As a National Geographic photographer,


I’m used to such close calls. I travel to some of the most dangerous places on Earth. T ere’s nothing I love more than coming face-to-face with an active volcano. To get the perfect shot, I’ve crawled into


active craters. I’ve dodged globs of flying lava. I’ve stood on the edge of boiling lava lakes. It thrills me to think of where the lava comes


from. T is hot, melted rock starts as magma flowing deep inside Earth. It pushes up through cracks in Earth’s crust. When it erupts, the lava hardens into rock. It builds volcanoes. To me, though, volcanoes are more than


mountains of rock. As I stand on the rim of a volcano, it feels like Earth is alive under my feet. I hear lava hissing, crackling, and popping. It sounds like music to me.


Getting There I’ve explored volcanoes all over the world. My


favorite volcano might surprise you. It’s not the most dangerous one. It doesn’t explode with huge fountains of lava. In fact, it may be the strangest volcano on Earth. To get to this volcano, my team and I fly to


Tanzania in Africa. T en we’re in for a day of hard driving. First, we cross a vast valley. It’s hot, dry, and


dangerous. Whirlwinds of dust called dust devils swirl in the distance. T e valley seems to go on and on. T at’s because it’s not just any valley. It’s where the edges of two of Earth’s giant tectonic plates touch. Hot, flowing magma deep under these plates pushes and tugs on them. It slowly pulls them apart.


12 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXTREME EXPLORER


Magma Rising T e pushing and tugging creates a giant riſt , or


gap in Earth’s crust. It also weakens the crust. So it’s easier for magma to bubble up to the surface here than in many other places. Once magma reaches the surface, it’s called


lava. In spots, lava erupts through cracks in the crust. I see proof of that far off in the distance. A mountain pokes above the valley floor. From a distance, it looks like a typical


stratovolcano. It towers over the valley like a pyramid. T is volcano may have started to to form about 700,000 years ago. With each eruption, lava spilled out of the ground and hardened. T en ash settled on top of it. Layer by layer, the volcano grew. Now its steep sides rise nearly 3,000 meters (9,700 feet).


Smoke rises from vents in the volcano’s crater.


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