Iceland author Lisa Shannen takes a new tour inside a dormant volcano to discover a world benearth the surface
Unless you happen to be a daredevil volcanologist or a real life Indiana Jones, taking a trip inside a volcano tube is something you would only imagine possible in science fiction novels such as Jules Verne's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' - that is until now. Thanks to some very adventurous Icelanders, the stuff of your wildest dreams became a reality on the June 15th this year, when the first commercial tours allowing people to safely visit the inside of a volcano tube began. The new tours provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to descend 120 meters (394 ft.) into a bottle shaped lava tube and explore the large chamber at the bottom. The tours will run for a limited period only, with the last tour departing on August 20th 2012.
Image: K.Maack
Now before your imagination gets carried away on a blistering stream of hot lava, this particular volcano, with its tongue twister of a name - Thirhnukagigur (The Three Peaks Crater) is dormant. Its last eruption took place a few thousand years ago giving its upper chambers plenty of time to cool down to temperatures cold enough to give you a chill if you're not dressed properly. The tour starts with a 30-minute bus ride from Reykjavík, followed by a 40-minute hike across a rocky lava field overlaid with a bouncy layer of moss, which creates a soft-solid type of terrain suited best for walking boots. Image: Hans Strand
At basecamp just by the foot of the volcano, you're kitted out with some safety gear and in small groups of five taken to meet the mouth of the volcano tube, where a specialty lift awaits to lower you down to the base of the chamber. As you descend, down the throat-like tube, the daylight is swallowed by the darkness, but the passage is lit by the powerful lighting fixed on the lift which illuminate brilliantly the crimson coloured remnants of the last fiery episode. Tongues of lava line the walls in places and although now solid and cold, are dramatic reminders of the power of nature, frozen in time and suspended like ancient licks of paint clinging to a canvas of mutli-textured rock of varying form and colour.
Image: Roman Gerasymenko
Once at the bottom, you are delivered into a massive chamber of wonders - an Aladdin's cave of nature, where your eyes are treated to a feast of colours and forms. The scene within the chamber is illuminated by strong beams, creating a display of light, emphasizing the details and variations of patterns, and a theatre of shadows as silhouettes of the explorers are cast onto the walls.
Image: Roman Gerasymenko
Being a singer and sound aficionado, I had to ask if was ok to try the acoustics out and was immediately rewarded with a passionate performance of 'I Dreamed a Dream' in Icelandic by our tour guide Jón Gauti. Then we sang together an old Iceland folk song and enjoyed the interesting reverb patterns created by the complex dimensions of the chamber. Image: Roman Gerasymenko
Visitors can stay for up to an hour or less should they wish to return to the surface with the lift as it collects more passengers. To find out more or book a trip, visit the 'Inside the Volcano' website for a truly fantastic adventure. Image: Roman Gerasymenko
