After more than 3 years I finally had enough time and inspiration to process a freehand panorama photo taken at the volcanically and geothermally still active Krafla region in the northeast of Iceland »»

When magma, which is usually entirely covered by the Earth’s mantle, rises up to the surface and gets in direct contact with water, then experts are only speaking soberly about phreatomagmatic eruptions but the rest of the world gets confronted with an all too often catastrophic explosive power being that immense like a couple of Hiroshima nukes. Back in 1883 such an epic volcanic eruption happened in Indonesia, between Java and Sumatra Islands. More than 20km3 of rocks and ash got tossed into the air followed by an up to 40m high Tsunami that erased all villages framing the Sunda Strait. The old volcano got almost vaporised but its offspring is already waiting in the wings, the Anak Krakatoa; a place that gets reconquered by life under as well as over the waterline »»

The huge cloud packages carried by the south-east trade winds over Papua New Guinea are regulars in the sky spanning the world’s third largest insular state. Unbelievably impressive and beautiful light moods emerge when the sun and clouds are dancing together while letting in particular the small strato volcano Tavurvur, being located inside the Rabaul caldera, appear very photogenic; even that photogenic that it is worth to experiment with a black & white conversion of some already known images »»

Rabaul, a settlement in the East of magic exotic Papua New Guinea, has literally one of the hottest chronicles worldwide. On the one hand the equatorial sun is frying everything at temperatures around 30°C and air moisture of ~90%, on the other hand during World War II. Rabaul was caught in the middle when Japanese and US Americans were battling against each other and for dominance in the Pacific Ocean. That’s only the most recent history though. The biggest imminence was and still is the forces of nature as within living memory they ever emerged at that remote spot of our planet. In particular the eastern end of New Britain Island is at the mercy of volcanism and tectonics; there Earth’s most powerful forces are clashing at top speed and get all too often fully unleashed. Earthquakes are a daily occurrence and being powered by a magma chamber located only 3 to 4 kilometres deep, even two fire mountains – Vulcan Crater and the pretty explosive beast of Tavurvur – are letting off their infernal steam. Although this sounds like hell on Earth life, nature and humans are always coming back to this place and in particular wildlife under water could develop to worldwide unique undersea beauty »»

Echte Lavaseen sind auf diesem Planeten rar gesät. Aktuell ist lediglich eine Hand voll bekannt und dann steht auch noch die Herausforderung, ob und wie man an dessen Ufer gelangen kann im Raum. In der äthiopischen Danakilsenke findet man den wohl interessantesten, schönsten und mythischsten seiner Art – den Lavasee des Erta Ale »»

The debate about the hottest place on Earth is presumably as old as humanity itself. People believing their bedroom among the top 10 of those places will be disappointed when hearing about places like Ethiopia’s Danakil desert, where the sun begins to singe everything having a heartbeat while at 9:30 in the morning West Europeans get ready to enjoy their second breakfast. April is actually one of the worst months to travel the Danakil, as with small nasty gusts and unbelievable top temperatures of up to ~65 degrees Celsius in the African sun the desert unmistakably makes clear who’s the king of the hill here »»

Dallol is the lowest volcanically active spot on Earth’s mainland and to boot Danakil’s hottest place. Not only oven-like air is holding a meeting there, also several chemically enriched pools and its richly coloured salts are courting your retina’s favour. If there’s acidic water pouring out of the ground to your feet and the surrounding air becomes sometimes pretty smelly and corrosive, then it doesn’t sound neither appealing nor inviting. Though visitors of this worldwide unique geothermal highlight will be rewarded with a visual firework of colours, forms and phantasy »»

The Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park is one of Indonesia’s major sights and destination of not a few busses. You can literally start your travel to the Bromo from every of the country’s bigger cities. Writing that, the main reason why the Tengger caldera isn’t an unhurried place already got spoken out. It is really hard to escape from the touristic bustle and at the latest the plastic bag flooded crater bowl of the Bromo will put you off… The most frequented spot is at the same time the highest peak around: Gunung Penanjakan. From there every morning about 200-300 tourists try to watch the magic colourful sunrise. However, doing so can also lead into quite ugly situations… »»

For many people coming to terms with a globalized everyday life became quite an essential daily task. In the East of the Indonesian island of Java, at the Ijen volcano (Kawah Ijen) to be more precise, courageous men are ruining their health day by day. To make their living, everyone literally transforms into a hell of a guy, when wresting sulphur, the yellow gold, from the fumaroles in a height of 2400 meters. And also for me visiting the Kawah Ijen and its acid lake should mean a test of mettle »»

The multi-coloured crater lakes of the Kelimutu volcano are truly the biggest touristic highlights the Indonesian island of Flores has on offer. To get there, needs some talent for spontaneity, especially in low season. It doesn’t matter where you start your travel, if in Ende, Maumere or Moni, travellers are most welcome; helping them is a matter of importance for the locals »»