Bonjour-Mundo!

Although we had originally planned to go both volcanic places in one day, the icky weather prevented us from going to the valley, the second part of our tour. Luckily our driver was nice enough that he ended up taking us to Waimugu (sorry, I know that’s spelled wrong) Volcanic Valley the following day free of charge. Much better as the following day was clear and we saw some blue sky, much better walking when it was pouring rain.

The Volcanic Valley was also very cool to see. Emily mentioned that it felt prehistoric and I’d have to agree. There times when peering at the mountain sides that I expected to see a dinosaur peering back at me or a tyranadon flying over head. (Alex I know that’s probably not a flying dinosaour, but I tried my best. 😉 ) Everything was full of huge ferns and smoking, steaming lakes. In fact, the hot spring at Waimugu is the largest in the world.

We followed a 3km track, mostly downhill, through all sorts of volcanic activity. Although the volcano hasn’t actually been active for some 100 years, things are still bubbling and steaming all over the place. The hot spring was beautiful set in a crater nestled in gorgeous green mountainsides. Walking further we ecountered more springs, that turn into a river of sorts. Then there is the inferno crater, a huge crater filled with the absolute brightest blue water (seriously it’s almost neon) I have ever seen. Apparently it’s about a 2.5 on the acid side of the ph scale, not something you’d want to take a swim in.

Further down there were more hot pools, and this one area that turned the rocks a shade of orange, I think involved mud again, and it had swallowed up some of the trees, it just looked straight out of middle earth lord of the rings. Not quite sure how to describe it…pictures when I get home in two weeks, I promise this time!

At the end of the hike, although a little rushed as Em and I almost missed the bus back, was a beautiful fresh water lake. Extremely picturesque. They offer boat cruises but the 75 dollar price tag was out of our budget.

Tags: Travel

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