Dehradun, July 7 -- At the gates of hell

All Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian

Erta Ale is an active shield volcano i.e. a flat one and not one with a classic cone and is part of the Danakil Depression. The volcano itself sits on the Ethiopian side but is a stone's throw from Eretria and many things make it one of the deadliest volcanoes in the world.

It is continuously in local news whenever it starts exploding and the latest major episode took place in January this year when the fresh orange magma covered the entire lava lake. Just to clarify that when the Earth's hot orange mantle is below the lithosphere (i.e. surface) it is in its liquid moving state and at that time it is referred to as magma. However when it comes ...