Volcano land

Have you ever come this close to a very active volcano that’s just about ready to erupt anytime? Well I just did. Adventure beckoned again and this time work took me to the East New Britain Province, PNG. Although my main purpose in going was for a meeting on a new project, but then what’s work without play and a little side trip?

Anyway, if, by some stroke of luck you find yourself on this side of the world, among the must see places is the town of Rabaul where you find Mt Tavurvur and the rest of her family. At the moment Mt Tavurvur is very unsettled, spreading fear and havoc among its inhabitants. Its ash columns have caused the cancellation of many flights and have gotten the people worried, very worried in fact.

Though this is my second visit to the island (and the volcano), the little devil wasn’t as restive as it is today. From where we stood (about 2 kms across the volcano) small ash particles fell while the smell of a million rotten eggs enveloped the air. The volcano hissed constantly sending shivers down our spines. Nearby, a hot spring appeared out of nowhere making the sea look as if it were on fire while orange sulphur deposits were just about anywhere along the beach.

From across the Rabaul bay, one can see Mt Tavurvur, its mother Kabui and two other daughter volcanoes sitting side by side while another notorious daughter called Vulcan is found on the extreme left. Vulcan sprouted like a mushroom and erupted side by side with Tavurvur in 1937. From afar one would think that Vulcan was just a mere hill. But looks are deceiving. Although these volcanoes have erupted successively over a period of more than a hundred or so years, it was the eruption in the early 90’s that destroyed the entire township of Rabaul, once famed as the Jewel of the Pacific. Now, Rabaul is no more than just a town of ruins.