Ends of the Earth

Over the course of just 24 days, I found myself traveling to three of the most extreme locations on the planet. We explored a fiery volcanic lake in the Congo, a retreating glacier that hangs above a rainforest in New Zealand, and a murky, ethereal underwater sinkhole in Mexico.

Over the course of just 24 days, I found myself traveling to three of the most unique locations on the planet, crossing 24 timezones, 10 countries, and 5 continents. Sponsored by Casio, the expedition’s aim was to showcase their newest watch’s strength and accuracy under adverse conditions, while I photographed the natural beauty of three of the world’s most extreme environments, each with its own set of challenging conditions.

Our journey began on the Yucatán peninsula, where we descended into a flooded cave system, known as a cenote, to capture a mysterious underwater world. From there, we set out for New Zealand’s South Island to document the fragile, frozen landscapes of the Tasman and Fox glaciers.

The active Congolese volcano, Mount Nyiragongo, provided our expedition with its final and most foreboding location. Towering above dense jungle in a former warzone, the jagged ridge of Nyiragongo’s crater offers a view into the world’s largest open lava lake.

I. Mexico

CENOTE ANGELITA

On the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico, the jungle is full of deep holes or ‘cenotes’ as they are called. Linked together by subterranean cave systems and underwater tunnels that have been created over millennia, a cenote is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of the limestone bedrock, which exposes the groundwater underneath.

We travelled to the region to explore the Angelita Cenote, a mysterious watery underworld shrouded in sulphuric clouds, and punctuated with dead trees and the deposits of the thick jungle that surrounds its rim.

From the surface of the cenote you cannot see the bottom, and if Mordor had a swimming pool, this is what it would look like.

As you descend an island of mud and leaves emerges, with dead trees sticking up. This island is surrounded by an eerie, yet alluring, underwater cloud of green hydrogen sulphide that sits at 27 metres down. It is an incredible experience to see this strange underwater environment, and the Angelita Cenote looks evil in a very beautiful way.

II. New Zealand

FOX GLACIER

In total there are more than 3,000 glaciers in New Zealand of various size and shape, the majority of which are located near the Main Divide of the Southern Alps on the South Island.

Globally, there are more than 300,000 glaciers and yet only two of those descend into temperate rainforest. One of these is the Fox glacier in New Zealand, and which reaches rainforest only 300 meters above sea level.

One of the most impressive aspects of this glacier is the juxtaposition between the steely glacial ice and lush vegetation nearby — the rainforest sits just beneath the retreating glacier. It is the world’s natural beauty at its best.

To get to a good viewing point we headed up a track that had been officially closed due to flood damage, so our team clambered over rocks, boulders and trees to reach a ridge surrounded by tree ferns and other vegetation, with the Fox glacier looking majestic in the background.

A stunning, and worrisome, example of glacial retreat, Fox Glacier was in full retreat for over a century, then advanced between 1985 and 2009, but is now back into full retreat.

III. The Congo

MOUNT NYIRAGONGO

There are many reasons why one probably shouldn’t go to Democratic Republic of the Congo — the security situation in eastern DRC remains ‘unstable’, which is government jargon for an area rife with armed groups, armed rebels, and bandits, many of whom are known to kill, rape, kidnap, pillage, steal vehicles, and to carry out military or paramilitary operations in which civilians and foreigners can be indiscriminately targeted.

However, the DRC also has one of the most amazing environments on the planet in Virunga National Park. Only one other place in the world hosts the majestic mountain gorillas who have been protected since the park was established in 1925 as Africa’s first national park. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 the park is back in the hands of the The Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN).

Soaring 3,470 meters above sea level in Virunga National Park is Mount Nyiragongo. An active stratovolcano, it cradles the world’s largest open lava lake at the base of its impressive main crater.

There have been 34 recorded eruptions since 1882, and the most recent eruption in 2002 saw lava flow down the valley into the city of Goma with devastating consequences, slicing the city in half and leaving more than 120,000 homeless.

Reaching the crater involves a six or seven hour hike up to the windy and cold ridge, and we experienced close to freezing temperatures at night.

As it gets darker the glow of the lava intensifies. Just before sunrise, in the moments when the sun and moon swap places on the horizon, Nyiragongo is lit by the glow of molten magma. In a unique natural phenomenon, it becomes possible to simultaneously photograph the red hot lava and the crater itself, illuminated by the blue hues of dawn.

Photographing on the ridge of a volcano has its own challenges — our tripods had to be secured with ropes, we all wore harnesses when looking down the almost vertical 300 m drop, and we had to beware the dangerous gas emissions as we got closer to the molten lava.

The Nyiragongo crater is a truly amazing sight, but the fact that it is remote and located in a conflict zone certainly made our access to the volcano complicated. It is a rare privilege to have visited this place.

Source:

https://maptia.com/klausthymann/stories/ends-of-the-earth