Fire river in Kamchatka

Picturesque Fire river in Kamchatka

Fire river in Kamchatka
These stunning pictures of a volcanic eruption and lava flow were taken by Russian photographers and traveling bloggers Lyudmila and Andrei. Tolbachik volcano is located in the Far East of Russia, in Kamchatka. ‘A little adventure during the very first night at Tolbachik’, Andrey writes. “For us who were at the volcano explosion site for the first time it was quite unnerving. We had been waiting for the dark to come at the site where a lava tube was coming out of the surface. It was a full moon and perhaps it does make a difference on how active the explosion was. Perhaps it was the same principle that works with the tide in the ocean”.

‘We had been standing up quietly, sipping vodka. ‘Lava was flowing past calmly’.

‘So at some point we realized that something was in the way of lava stream, and it was getting through every hole and crack it could find – or break through.

‘It was also lucky that the crater was big enough to let the stream go through it without obstacles. And we were extremely lucky that the canyon was not blocked completely, so that a part of the lava continued moving through.

The lava stream was only touching the surface close to the place where we stood. It kept moving above us, too, just under the crust

‘Our experienced volcanologists were still laughing at how scared we were at this point – until a fountain of gas beamed out from the center of it, which meant that lava could have started gushing out – and we would be right under the lava rain! This is when panic got to all of us. And the lava stream went down right on the people that stood down the canyon, taking pictures of it. The photographers escaped safely, though, with their sensational pictures.

Fire river in Kamchatka

‘So at some point we realised that something was in the way of lava stream, and it was getting through every hole and crack it could find – or break through

‘So at some point we realised that something was in the way of lava stream. It was getting through every hole and crack it could find – or break through

Clouds over crater

inside fire cave

‘It looks like that the crater, on the edge of which we were standing, actually saved our lives because at least lava started leaking inside it, instead of swelling up the slope.

‘The crater, on the edge of which we were standing, actually saved our lives. In particular, because at least lava started leaking inside it, instead of swelling up the slope

Close up inside lava

‘It was also lucky that the crater was big enough to let the stream go through it without obstacles. And we were extremely lucky that the canyon was not blocked completely, so that a part of the lava continued moving through.

‘Fortunately, the crater was big enough to let the stream go through it without obstacles. And we were extremely lucky that the canyon was not blocked completely, so that a part of the lava continued moving through