Mt. Yasur is one of the world’s most accessible active volcanos. We specifically visit Port Resolution on Tanna so we can experience this explosive Volcano.
Mt. Yasur at night from a neighboring village at Sulfur Bay. Her bright red glow can be seen for miles and miles.
We drove around the bottom of Mt. Yasur a few fays prior to our hike up to the caldera and the landscape was amazing. The colors were spectacular and stood out amongst the black lava.
At the bottom of the volcano used to be a beautiful lake, but now just a river flows through the valleys.
About Mt. Yasur
This active volcano has been erupting since 1774, if not before. Its caldera forms a figure 8 with a right and left crater. We stood to the right which had 2 very active vents and 2 more somewhat active vents. The volcano stands 361 meters above sea level on the coast of Sulfur Bay on the island of Tanna. The crater is said to be 400 meters in diameter.
The glow of the volcano was apparently what attracted Captain James Cook on the first European journey to the island in 1774. Today, the mountain is a sacred area for the John Frum cargo cult. Members of the cult revere John Frum, a deified messenger who foretold the bringing of wealth to the island by American forces, and believe he resides in Mount Yasur with his countrymen.[4] The village of Sulphur Bay, the center of the movement, claims the volcano as part of their territory.
Hiking Mt. Yasur
The 7 of us (Rena, Chris, Helena from Moana and Stephan and Kersten from Trinity) pile into the Ute to make the 45 minute drive to the volcano. The entrance is lined with beautiful tikis that appear to be made of lava (top right). The sun was setting as we arrived. We did a quick safety course, then drove the remaining 15 minutes to the car park.
At the car park there is a toilet, but I would not be inclined to use it. In the top left photo you can see the path that we had to walk up to get to the edge of the caldera.
The sun was setting behind the billowing smoke coming from the caldera which made for such a pretty photo.
For the first hour, we were the only ones at the rail, but then a group of 20 people came. There was plenty of room for all of us.
First, you feel a huge push of wind, then a loud bang, then the fire and smoke. The push of wind is enough to make you take a step back and gasp.
These two vents were very active and spewed their firey lava countless times while we were there to watch. I loved the sound of the lava chunks hitting the ground, it was a large kerplunk!
And strangely enough it was not hot. Of course the wind was blowing the other way, but you’d think you could feel the heat from the vents.
Explosions at Night
Then the real fun started when the sun went down and night descended upon us. Please check out our instagram account (either christine.mitchell4 or sv SugarShack) to see the awesome videos. These photos are good, but they don’t do it justice.
It was truly a spectacular evening and opportunity to see the most accessible volcano explode.
Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. This blog post occurred in early June. In our last blog post, we visit the world’s largest banyan tree and a village that believes a man lives in Mt. Yasur.