Earth: The Power of the Planet 1. Volcano (3 of 32)

Earth: The Power of the Planet

Once the helicopter leaves, we're on our own for a couple of days.
This place has no water, no shelter, no life...
except, I'm told, for a few snakes, but I think it's really gonna be worth it.
I've come all this way to see one of the most remarkable volcanoes anywhere on the planet - Erta Ale.
The name means "the smoking mountain" to the local Afar people.
It 's reckoned this volcano has been continuously erupting lava for longer than any other on Earth, but no-one's quite sure because it's only been properly studied for the last 40 years.

I've been lucky to see a lot of volcanoes in my time, and I've never seen one that has a permanent lake of molten lava in its crater.
But there's another reason why this volcano is very special.
And to see that, I need to get down into the crater and see the lava up close.
How does that feel?
That's fine.
The rocks here are very sharp and very brittle so it's actually good that we're on an overhang and that we're not gonna crash into it.
Nervous?