OL DOINYO LENGAI GALLERY 2002

It was an awesome but strange week at Tanzania's Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano in Tanzania's African Rift Valley. Our time on the mountain was from 4 August 2002- 9 August 2002. The trip was organized by Fred Belton who is a constant visitoor to the mountain. This trip by far was the most unique ever. On 1130 4 Aug 2002 a new vent opened up at the west base of the T49 complex. The vent was named "Big Lion" unofficially and T49F officially. This new vent sent torrents of lava to the west crater rim. We had to move our campsite due to the possibliity that lava would overun the area, later on proved to be right. Eruptions occurred every hour or so for a 24 hour period. It would continue to erupt over the next 3 days. The repose between episodes got longer on 5 and 6 August. On 0220 5 Aug 2002 a massive torrent of lava swept down the gentle slope of the shield in the center of the crater. The lava flowed to the crater rim in less than a minute. On the west side of the crater rim there was an area we called the "kitchen" For the last few years it was a popular area to camp and eat. A wall 2 feet tall provided protection over the years. The lava moved around the wall and into the tent of our guides, Paulo and Othman, burning Paulo's foot. The flow also destroyed 70% of our food and 50% of our water. Luckily porters brought up some water the next day. This incident scared a German couple who was with us to the point that they wanted to go down the first day. The second night we had to have a lava watch in which each of us stayed up on 2 hour shifts to make sure we are safe from flows. The next day on the 6th the eruption of "Big Lion" stopped at 1500. The Norwegian Film team went down that day as well. Fred and I were the only ones on the mountain until the last day.

The evening of 6 Aug -8 Aug was a very quiet time. On 8 August 2002 1800 we witnessed minor activity from the new cones east of the T49 Complex. We stayed until 2130 and then we went to sleep. On the way back we noticed the tremor was louder than normal and the sulfur smell much stronger than normal. The tremor sounds like a subway system underneath. The commotion was centered on or near a crack 15 meters southeast of the T49 complex. An hour and a half later at 2300 Fred was awaken by a trembling sound as well as the sound of mice pouncing outside his tent. He woke me up and thought it was "Big Lion" coming back to life. As we get closer we realized we are witnessing the birth of another vent. The eruption started out as a fissure eruption 15 meters long over the area where we noticed the strong sulfur smell and tremor earlier. The cone was building at a rate of half a meter an hour. The crack eventually widened to form a violent degassing lava lake. Fountains were 10- 15 meters high. My guess is that this vent is result of a direct magma conduit from below. We stayed up all night until early morning photographing this rare event. We name the vent "Raging Bull" unofficially and T58 officially. Click on Fred Belton's page for more information http://www.oldoinyolengai.org

"Birth of Big Lion 020804" Initial eruptive vent. T49F. Just 10 minutes into our lunch we noticed this new vent. Lasting 3 days the vent has put on a beautiful show. In fact three months later Angelina Jolie was shown coming out of the vent in Tomb Raider 2.	"BL020804-4" Panorama of T49F. Big Lion. Big Lion as it looks from our originally planned campsite.	"BLF0208052" View from south of Big Lion (T49F) vent. Same vent except we moved to the upwind side of the vent to witness the spectacle.
"BLS0208051" Spatter from Big Lion close up.	"BLS0208053" Close up of natrocarbonatite spatter. This is what the fountain looks like before its violent outburst.	"BLF020804-9"" Close up of Big Lion Vent .Large amount of lava ejecting from vent. After three more episodes of this fountaining the Big Lion went into a slumber for the rest of the time we were there
"Lengai Summit 020807" This photo was taken from the summit of Ol Doinyo Lengai. Over the years the crater has been filling up with lava. The crater rim is also starting to become very unstable due to the lava exerting pressure on the side of the mountain	"BLS0208061" Close up of Big Lion Spatter. Two days later the vents slows down to small fountain activity such as you see here.	"Destroyed Kitchen 020805-1"The remainders of our eating area and guide's camping spot. This area was covered by more flows by the end of the day
"Destroyed Kitchen 020805-2" The area is covered even more by afternoon. 020805. This is what our eating area and camp looks like after the destruction.	"Lengai Nite Fountain 2 020804" 6 min time exposure of Big Lion vent. The lava is not that bright so it can be very easy on the camera for night exposure purposes.	"Lengai Twister 020805" 5 m wide "tornado" on north side of crater. Winds can be 50 mph or more! They can also be very annoying
"BLF0208054" Another close up of Big Lion (T49)	"BL0208041" This is what the vent looks like from the original "kitchen eating area"	"BLF0208058" 15 meter tall lava fountain gushes . violently from T49F (Big Lion) vent
"Lengai Gush" Black natrocarbonite lava gushes from T-49F	"Lava Beauty 020808" Dull glow from natrocarbonatite lava. 6 min time exposure	"Lava Beauty 2 020808" 7 min time exposure of natro lava. Very photogenic!
"Silver Silk 020808" 10 sec time exposure of lava flow. Not dark enough to glow yet!	"Year Old 020804" A year ago this was an active flow.See photo to the right to see the difference from last year and this year.	"Lava in Fissure 020727 Same as the photo to the left but was taken last year. Notice how the lava has changed to dust in the photo on the left. Natrocarbonatite lava decays into dust after about six months. Water is the main cause of the breakdown. Also the unusual nature of the lava may have something to do with the plumbing system of Lengai
"South Crater" The inactive crater of Lengai	"Raging Bull 020809-2" Lava Lake with pillow size lava chunks	"Raging Bull 0208094" Massive explosion showers me with lapilli. Thank God I had a heavy jacket. I got burn holes in my jacket from lava
"Raging Bull 0208099" The lava demon rears its ugly face.	Raging Bull Lava Lake 0208091" A giant lava bubble gets ready to burst in the turmoil of the lava lake.	Raging Bull Lava Lake 0208093" In this one minute time exposure you can see the dim glow of the lava!
"Raging Bull Sunrise 020809" A beautiful African morning with our nearest star and a dark lava fountain.	"Lengai Spatter Cone 020809" Spatter from on of Lengai's vents