User blog:007Jamesdean/Volcanic Trip Part 5

Part 5: ZAIRE

Vanzilla 2.0 is in Helicopter Mode and we are flying over the jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.

Nicole: We're now over the jungles of Zaire and we're heading to a famous volcano widely known here.

Me: This is gonna be interesting.

Varie: It sure is.

We landed by a volcano known around all of Zaire: Nyiragongo.

Nicole: Here we are guys. Mount Nyiragongo, one of Zaire's most active and most dangerous volcanoes.

Lincoln: It's so tall and beautiful.

Linka: It sure is.

Nicole: You haven't seen anything yet.

After we land we donned our volcano suits and went to the top of the volcano and we saw into the crater. In the crater was a lava lake.

Nicole: This is the most amazing part about Mount Nyiragongo. It has a lava lake that is extremely active.

Lola: This is amazing.

Lana: It's incredible.

Naruto: It's an amazing sight and it's really hot.

Sakura: It sure is.

Nicole: It's not just the heat that worries everyone in the world of volcanology. The steam and smoke is loaded with toxic gases.

Lisa: Affirmative. The gaseous vapors coming from a volcano consist of Sulfur Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide and Carbon Dioxide. Very toxic for human life.

Jared: That's right.

Lucy: This is very interesting.

Varie: How can anyone survive going down into a crater like this.

Me: You have to have the right gear and more.

Nicole: That's right. This volcano had some very bad eruptions back in 1977 and 2002 and they were really bad. The 2002 eruption killed 147 people and left 120,000 people homeless and resulted in 15% of the nearby city of Goma being destroyed.

Laney: Where's Goma?

Nicole pointed over to Goma, Zaire.

Nicole: That's Goma right over there.

Fu: That's not that far away.

Luna: Dudes. No kidding. That's just a couple of miles away.

Lori: It literally is.

Leni: Totes.

Luan: This is a Hot predicament for them. (Laughs to Rimshot) Get it?

We laugh.

Me: (Laughs) Good one Luan.

Eddy: (Laughs) That's a good one.

Later we were at Nyiragongo's sister volcano: Nyamuragira.

Nicole: This volcano is Nyamuragira. Both this and Nyiragongo are Zaire's most active volcanoes.

Lynn: This is really interesting.

Jeri: It sure is.

Kion: These volcanoes are in the middle of the Outlands and they are dangerous.

Yuko: That's unusual.

Nicole: Yeah. These are the two most active volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains of Africa.

Sakura: That's amazing.

Fu: It sure is.

Hinata: It's all really amazing.

Lincoln: Lets hope they don't erupt anytime soon.

Nicole: They're not going to now.

Later we packed up and headed to our next destination.

Continues in part 6