Although most of Volcanoes National Park is in the Kau district, the source of the current eruption, the Pu’u O’o vent, is in Puna. These pictures were taken in 2005, with the close ups and views from the air taken in February. I took both a helicopter and small plane tour and got some great shots from both. It is hard to describe being within inches of flowing lava. Heat emanates while it crackles and crawls and occasionally forms small rivers. Getting close can definitely feel dangerous. After leaving the flow, I could see that I and others were standing on lava that was still glowing red underneath.
The exact color of the molten lava is difficult to capture. Some of the shots below are digital and show the lava as more red, while the film shots show it more as orange. The final shots in this series are an a’a flow from 1955 above Kalapana Seaview Estates. It’s amazing how much has grown on solid rock in 50 years.
